Ted Bell - Spy

“America is at war with Mexico,” she said quietly, and the room went dead still.

“I will come to that unfortunate reality shortly. But, I would like to welcome you to the magic island where I was born forty years ago today. My father and mother are Cuban. I am proud to be Hispanic-American. And grateful for this chance to share my hometown with you.

“As the president says, ‘The best pages of history are written in courage.’ We here stand at history’s front line. While Congress spends its days overreacting to yesterday’s attacks, the men and women in this room know that we must concentrate on the most likely current threats.

“Although few acknowledge it as such, there is a new front in the War on Terror. I believe the gravest danger our country faces sits right on our doorstep. Mexico is openly waging a new kind of war on America. Not just the recent border incursions and drug smuggling. Not the tunnels or the deliberate shooting of our Border Patrol agents trying to enforce the law. No. Something far more insidious.”

She paused a beat, and said, “I believe the Mexican government is using an invading illegal population as the latest weapon of mass destruction.

“I personally believe the Mexican government has encouraged and promoted illegal attacks on our country for decades. In my office, I have copies of comic book brochures, printed by the government, explaining how to violate our sovereignty. Now, the millions of illegal immigrants who cross our borders threaten entire social and economic structures. It grows worse with every passing day. We are under siege.

“Citizens living along the southern border face chaos. Many of you have read the reports from the U.S. Border Patrol. Border state law enforcement officials and agents fear the danger of total breakdown. Lawlessness is already rearing its ugly head on both sides. Borders, once sacrosanct, are under attack even as political concepts. To defend one’s borders, one risks being labeled as racist. I am not a racist. I am an American.

“As always, there are two sides to every story. This is especially true along a borderline. Many Americans want a walled fortress. It’s understandable. The Mexicans want jobs and to provide for their families. It’s understandable. But they have been encouraged by their government to think they have inalienable rights to cross illegally. And so anger and violence erupt daily on both sides of the line.

“Sheriff Franklin W.Dixon of Prairie, Texas, is with us today. I believe I see him. He’s the good guy over there in the white hat.”

The audience chuckled at the sight of the somewhat embarrassed lawman removing his white Stetson.

“In our first session tomorrow afternoon, Sheriff Dixon, as well as members of California, Arizona, and New Mexico regional law enforcement agencies and local sheriff’s departments, will provide firsthand accounts of this tragic story. They will ask for our help in solving this problem. As you know, the president has committed six thousand National Guard troops to the border. He asked me to assure you that other measures are being taken to solve this situation.

“But the broader crisis we face in Latin America is not limited to the Mexican borderline. No, this new threat goes far deeper than that. It reaches into the jungles of Brazil and Argentina and Ecuador. It stretches to Caracas, where yet another Communist dictator joins Fidel Castro in his grand dreams of humbling Uncle Sam. The Venezuelan dictator has the oil reserves, and thus the money, to make his dreams a reality.

“Castro and his kindred spirits are determined to wreak havoc in our hemisphere. Chávez has said so publicly, and we believe him. Our next speaker, Commander Alexander Hawke, will offer dramatic evidence of a Venezuelan scheme to disrupt oil shipments in the Gulf of Mexico.

“Indeed, as you will soon hear from our distinguished guest, Commander Hawke of the Royal Navy, there is a rising tide of anti-Americanism throughout Latin America, fueled only in part by an oil-rich Venezuela. I have read his report carefully. I wish I could tell you this new threat was posed by ragtag guerrilla armies with little training and unsophisticated weaponry.

“But that is far from the truth. Let me summarize briefly Commander Hawke’s findings in his own report to British Intelligence. ‘Since the early seventies, the Amazonian jungles have been havens for al-Qaeda. Radical Islam has made great inroads in Latin America. They have deep connections to groups like the Shining Path in Peru or FARC in Colombia, or the Montaneros in Argentina. They have incorporated organized crime families and street gangs within these countries, converting them from mere criminals to fervent revolutionaries.’

“Using literally hundreds of millions of dollars generated by the sale of Number Four Heroin, these Latin Islamist cells are now financing the creation of well-equipped and well-trained terrorist armies. Hard intel recently acquired by Commander Hawke’s Service suggests these powerful new al-Qaeda operations may have purchased dirty nuclear weapons from Iran and in other markets. They are almost certainly developing biochemical weaponry in sophisticated jungle laboratories. So, where do they intend to use these awful weapons?

“The new Latin American terror armies are transnational. They are beholden to no single country. But they do have one common enemy. America. They are bringing this war to the very doorstep of our American allies. And I believe they are preparing to move and soon.

“I will conclude my personal remarks by saying that America is challenged on many fronts. We face threats from every point of the compass. But, for the next two days here in Key West at least, we will concern ourselves with only one compass point. A veritable tsunami, boiling up from all points south.”

She paused and gazed out at her audience, her eyes finally coming to rest on Alex Hawke. After a moment, she actually smiled.

“Commander Hawke, welcome to Key West.”

41

L ights and cameras swung in Hawke’s direction as Alex rose to his feet and said, “Thank you, Madame Secretary. It’s an honor.”

The monitors arrayed around the room instantly displayed maps and satellite imagery of Brazil rain forest.

Hawke said, “This the Mato Grosso area of Brazil. I recently had the misfortune to spend a lot of time in this region of the Amazon rain forest. Here is the true epicenter of burgeoning terrorist activity in Latin America. This region is the home of large leftist guerilla army units that include narco-terrorists, criminal gangs, and international Islamist terrorist operations.”

A hand shot up. Hawke saw it belonged to a famous-face CNN reporter, Hardy Porter.

“Why do you say that, Commander Hawke? Since when have Islamic terrorist groups had a foothold in Latin America?”

“Since 1983, when Hezbollah became the first to establish a base here. These were Shiite Muslims funded, armed, and trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. These dense jungles were rightly seen as an ideal place to both raise money for jihad and train raw recruits from the countryside. The plan was to forcibly recruit, indoctrinate, and train armed teenage thugs to form a large army of ruthless fighters. The plan has succeeded.”

“You’re saying such camps actually exist? How do you know?”

“I saw work camps with my own eyes. I lived among them for months doing road construction as a slave laborer. These jihadistas are comprised of every nationality, made up of every kind of narco-guerilla and criminal element. The foot soldiers are mere farmboys, recruited with the promise of high pay and cheap narcotics. The officers I saw, however, were Arab and Chinese.”

“Jihadista? Never heard that expression before.”