Power Line: Two Stories and an Anthem

July 28, 2004

Two Stories and an Anthem

Michelle Malkin noted two important stories today, on each of which I have some additional observations.

First, a Muslim convert named Michael Wagner was arrested on Interstate 80 near Council Bluffs, Iowa. In his car, police found "a gun, three bulletproof vests, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, a flight simulator and a bag of flight manuals dating to 2001." In addition, Wagner had a five-foot telescope attached to camera equipment, night-vision goggles and a night-vision rifle scope. The goggles and the scope were hidden in a hollowed-out computer. Along with the small arsenal were "books written in Arabic, including the Koran, along with hundreds of pages printed from the Internet on the Iraq war and terrorism."

Wagner was traveling with his wife; the news story linked to above does not disclose their destination. When the Wagners were left alone in the police cruiser, a tape recording released by the police indicates that they schemed to murder the arresting police officers.

It appears obvious that Wagner intended to commit sniper-style murders along the lines of the killings by John Muhammad and Lee Malvo, who terrorized the Washington, D.C. area last year. An under-publicized fact about Muhammad and Malvo is that they were Muslim converts who idolized Osama bin Laden and intended their murders to advance the cause of Islamic terrorism. We termed them free-lance Islamic terrorists who were inspired by, but probably had no real connection with, al Qaeda.

Michael Wagner is likely in the same "free-lance" category, even though he told investigators that he "knew of activities and people involved in al-Qaida and Taliban." But just as Osama bin Laden inspired John Muhammad, it seems likely that Muhammad and Malvo inspired Michael Wagner.

The second story appears even more significant: On July 19, a woman named Farida Goolam Mohamed Ahmed was arrested at an airport in McAllen, Texas, en route to New York. Federal authorities obviously consider her a major catch. She was on a watch list, is believed to have entered the U.S. as many as 250 times, and authorities say that "capturing this woman could be comparable to the arrest of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of 9/11." So there is obviously something going on here, and, given Ahmed's intended destination, it may well involve the Republican National Convention.

Ahmed entered the country illegally by slipping across the Rio Grande. Michelle, who is probably our leading authority on immigration issues, links to the Tombstone Tumbleweed, which quotes Border Patrol field agents to the effect that "a flood of middle-eastern males have been caught entering the country illegally east of Douglas, Arizona."

There is no information as to whether Farida Ahmed crossed the Rio Grande in Arizona, which is quite a distance from McAllen, Texas. However, located much closer to the Douglas, Arizona thoroughfare, through which a "flood" of illegal Middle Eastern immigrants have entered the country, are the native lands of the Tohono O’odham Nation in central Arizona. The Tohono O'odham are a small and obscure group of Indians, believed to number around 20,000.

What's the point? Coincidentally, last night at the Democratic National Convention, the National Anthem was sung in what Reuters described as "the traditional language of the Tohono O'odham nation of Arizona." The photo below shows the Democratic delegates trying to sing the anthem in Tohono O'odham; as you can see, not many lips are moving, since virtually no one knows the language:

This sounds like a parody; singing the National Anthem in a language that is spoken by only a few thousand people in the name of "inclusion." But, like many Indian tribes, the Tohono O'odham are politically active, mostly because they, like many tribes, make a great deal of money from gambling. They own the Desert Diamond Casino, which has now expanded to three locations in south-central Arizona.

But protecting their gambling monopoly is not the only political interest of the Tohono O'odham. They are also advocates for...you guessed it...open borders. We'll let the Indigenous Peoples' Human Rights Project explain:

In North America, international borders were created at the time of European settlement. These borders divided tribal lands (lands that had known no boundary) of the indigenous populations.
Initially, and for over one hundred years, the Tohono O’odham were able to pass freely over the border. However, in the mid-1980s the border was tightened in an effort by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to stop illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Consequently, a barbed wire fence dividing the reservation in half and increased border patrol has made passing across the border difficult for tribal members. Entry anywhere but official check points is illegal and the entry points nearest to the reservation are 90 to 150 miles away.

The barbed wire fence marking the border inhibits travel of the Tohono O’odham throughout their tribal lands, however, crossing the border at legal check points also creates problems. These problems arise from lack of documentation, border patrol harassment, and an inconsistent policy of the INS toward the Tohono O’odham.

The Tohono O’odham people seek the ability to cross borders uninhibited. An open border for the tribe is important for several reasons. First, kinship and traditional ceremonies are vital to preserve and maintain culture. The border policies constrain the ability to travel to sacred sites, hindering the practice of religion... Second, the border splits families. Some family members are in Mexico and unable to cross the border to visit family on the U.S. side. Third, the border prevents members from getting adequate health care. All members of the Tohono O’odham tribe, including Mexican nationals, are entitled to the basic services provided at the reservation clinic overseen by the U.S. government [Ed.: Huh??], but the border policies prevent this.

It's a pretty typical story. On one side are pious platitudes, backed, as is so often the case, by financial self-interest--here, gambling profits and taxpayer-subsidized medical care. On the other side are valiant, out-spent, out-gunned people, of whom Michelle Malkin is a leading example, who want our immigration laws to be enforced so that, among other reasons, Islamic terrorists like Farida Goolam Mohamed Ahmed cannot easily cross our borders for the purpose of doing us harm--in her case, some 250 times.

So far, the open border forces are winning, hands down.

Posted by John at 08:38 PM |

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