Terrorism is intended to do just what the word implies—terrorize. By responding to 9-11 as we have seems to me to be a knee-jerk reaction. The one-trillion spent in Iraq would have been better spent on a reasoned and sensible solution to the border problem, among other things. As one (forced) retired general stated, “Why commit ourselves to a long-term quagmire in Iraq when we had him contained on the cheap?” The ‘noble’ cause of bringing freedom and democracy to a people who have never experienced it, and whose culture is diametrically opposed to it, is just so much propaganda. What is and will remain to be of paramount importance is controlling the flow of the oil that fuels our economy, all noble ideals aside. As for the simplistic view that the choice is “fighting them over there or over here,” the terrorists can not mount any greater threat than they already do. We will fight them “over here” much better by redirecting our resources from “over there.” The idea of subverting their effectiveness by taking away their free base of operations in Afghanistan was a good one, but this pathological fixation on Saddam Hussein effectively screwed all that up.
On the border issue, we can not expect, and will not get, a significant law which cuts illegal immigration to any measureable degree. There are too many vested interests which now depend on immigrant labor, legal or not. Any law enacted will be ambiguously worded and laxly enforced. The “Great Wall of America” may force illegal immigration from the south to go aquatic, but I doubt that it will even acheive this. The best solution remains the same as it has always been—force employers to validate the credentials of every crew member they hire, not just the one person they contract with, who then brings in his crew of illegals. Put the onus on the backs of the employers. The simple fact is, we won’t ever see this solution, because so many vested interests have come to depend on immigrant labor. We all know how that game is played, and the builders love it, as do the farmers who hire seasonal help.