THE COMING QUESTION:  We have all watched in horror the news reports coming from the Mideast.  The sheer intensity of the coverage, a credit to a news industry we ordinarily like to criticize, has forced us to see things we hoped we'd never see. 

But a question is now being asked, on news programs and in newspaper columns:  Could it happen here?  Our southern border is practically wide open.  The assumption that all those who cross illegally into this country are from South or Central American countries has been shattered repeatedly.  If truth be told, a number of young men of fighting age, and from the Mideast, have made their way into this country, and we don't know who they are.

Fewer than 20 men carried out the 9-11 attacks.  Are we preparing the way for another 9-11?  From Fox: 

Thousands of "special interest aliens" from numerous countries, including the Middle East, have been arrested by Border Patrol agents while attempting to cross the U.S. southern border illegally over the last two years, according to internal Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data leaked to Fox News.

"Special interest aliens" are people from countries identified by the U.S. government as having conditions that promote or protect terrorism or potentially pose some sort of national security threat to the U.S.

That data, confirmed by multiple CBP sources and reflects apprehensions between ports of entry between October 2021 and October 2023, shows that agents encountered 6,386 nationals from Afghanistan in that period as well as 3,153 from Egypt, 659 from Iran and 538 from Syria.

Agents also encountered 13,624 from Uzbekistan, 30,830 from Turkey, 1,613 from Pakistan, 164 from Lebanon, 185 from Jordan, 139 from Yemen, 123 from Iraq and 15,594 from Mauritania. The data does not include information on how many of those migrants were removed or who were released into the U.S. with a court date.

COMMENT:  That is a chilling picture.  I have to believe that some of those who slipped in are trained terrorists.  I have to believe that they're working right now to do something awful on American soil. 

But is anyone showing any sense of urgency?  Or are we asleep again, as we were before Pearl Harbor, or 9-11?

October 11, 2023