january 27, 2006

al-Qaeda in Colombia: Be Very Afraid

This is the story I’ve both feared and expected.  AP reports that Colombia has dismantled a false passport ring with links to al-Qaida and Hamas terrorists.

The report says “(t)he gang allegedly supplied an unknown number of citizens from Pakistan, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt and other countries with false passports and Colombian nationality without them ever stepping foot in the country. The counterfeited passports were then used to facilitate their entry into the United States and Europe.”

Although the article doesn’t mention the FARC, there has been speculation about the potential of an al Qaeda-FARC partnership ever since the war on terror began, and here is the fear:  the FARC, a ruthless Marxist terrorist group in Colombia, raises money by running drugs through Central America and into the southwestern United States. If the FARC is already doing that, would it smuggle a WMD or Islamic terrorists across the Rio Grande for cash? Most certainly.

AP says the passport ring “penetrated Colombia's federal bureaucracy and secret police.”

Great.  Add to that other recent events:

Officials uncovered yet another tunnel under the Mexico border this past week. These tunnels are built to carry much more than sacks of drugs.

There is some speculation in intelligence circles that the 4 senior al Qaeda leaders killed in the predator strike in Pakistan two weeks ago were meeting to put the finishing touches on a major attack on the United States. They and their families, including women and children, were, in spy parlance, “terminated with extreme prejudice.”

And then there is the recent bin Laden tape, which may or may not be authentic, which warns of another major attack.

We’ll see. Keep praying.