Time Magazine reports that al-Qaeda has worked on plans to smuggle nuclear weapons out of Europe and into the US through Mexico, putting border security and immigration back to the center of war strategy:

A key al-Qaeda operative seized in Pakistan recently offered an alarming account of the group's potential plans to target the U.S. with weapons of mass destruction, senior U.S. security officials tell TIME. Sharif al-Masri, an Egyptian who was captured in late August near Pakistan's border with Iran and Afghanistan, has told his interrogators of "al-Qaeda's interest in moving nuclear materials from Europe to either the U.S. or Mexico," according to a report circulating among U.S. government officials.

Masri also said al-Qaeda has considered plans to "smuggle nuclear materials to Mexico, then operatives would carry material into the U.S.," according to the report, parts of which were read to TIME. Masri says his family, seeking refuge from al-Qaeda hunters, is now in Iran.

Masri's account can't be confirmed, and it could just represent a scare tactic on the part of AQ. After all, if AQ had its hands on any nuclear weapons, you can be sure that they would have detonated them already, either in Europe or around Iraq. Even if they're serious, they still have to get the weaponry and move it across the ocean, neither of which is terribly easy to do.

If it is a scare tactic, it's effective only because the southern border is such a sieve and everyone knows it. Both Mexico and the US have to get better control of the US-Mexico border. Bush made a creative proposal last year to create a guest-worker program that would allow legitimate economic workers to enter the US and improve their lives. We also need to work with Mexico to create an economy south of the border which meets the needs of its citizens in order to reduce or eliminate the powerful economic incentives that exist to cross the border illegally. But first we need to create an effective barrier to keep immigration controlled and secure, instead of the free-for-all we've tolerated for decades.

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» Al Queda Possibly Targeting The U.S. Through Mexico With Nuclear Weapons from Hyscience
Time Magazine is reporting that al-Qaeda has worked on plans to smuggle nuclear weapons out of Europe and into the US through Mexico. A key al-Qaeda operative seized in Pakistan recently offered an alarming account of the group's potential plans to tar... [Read More]

Tracked on November 14, 2004 9:09 PM

» al-Qaeda Plans To Smuggle WMD's And Nukes Into U.S. Through Mexico from Diggers Realm
Could al-Qaeda terrorists be planning to smuggle WMD's or nuclear weapons through Mexico and into the United States? I say yes. I also think it is entirely possible with the state of our southern borders security and our Presidents lack... [Read More]

Tracked on November 15, 2004 8:00 AM

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Tracked on November 15, 2004 11:25 AM