Dean's World

Michelle Malkin, who I think is missing a crucial point again, had a stirring piece on her blog yesterday about yet another possible terrorist sneaking across the border from Mexico, using a South African passport.

I might well agree with her that we should be doing more to protect our borders. Then again, I have to note that, by her own reckoning, the suspected terrorist was caught, which hardly makes this incident compelling evidence that our law-enforcement authorities are failing to catch terrorists coming up out of Mexico. Indeed, the suspect seems to have, in the esteemed Ms. Malkin's words, "traipsed across our southern border" right into the hands of the authorities, despite the fact that she had a South African passport. The last I looked, South Africa's not exactly a Middle Eastern nation.

Unfortunately, I cannot find a photograph of Farida Goolam Mohamed Ahmed, although I'd love it if someone could find us a picture of her. However, thanks to Ms. Malkin, I did find this photo of Aafia Siddiqui, and I note that, without her head scarf, she doesn't look much different from Polish, Spanish, Armenian, Indian, or Israeli women I've run across. I've got relatives who look a lot like that woman, and I'm as lilly-white as they come.

I also note the rather obvious fact that the lady in question is, uhm, female. And I find myself remembering that not long ago, before we stopped Saddam from paying Palestinian terrorists, and the wall began to go up, the Israelis were finding that Palestinian terrorists were starting to use women once they figured out that the Israelis concentrated mostly on scrutinizing men.

So I must point out that here we have a case of a woman who could easily pass for a citizen of many European, Asian, or southern African nations, using a non-Arab passport, who seems to be a terrorist.

This hardly makes for gripping support for calls by so many on the right that "our enemies are not Norwegian-looking grandmothers," especially because I can think of at least one Norwegian-looking grandmother still alive and well in the United States with a terrorist past she to this day expresses no regrets over. Although there is no evidence that that good old Bernadine still has any interest in terrorism, does anyone really suppose no one could find women like her who'd be interested in helping groups that hate America? I'll bet some of these people would jump at the chance if it presented itself. I'll bet some of these people would too.

I also note that there is evidence to this day that Tim McVeigh and Terry Nichols had ties to Middle Eastern terrorists. I further note that Al Qaeda is recruiting non-Arabs and people with U.S. citizenship to do its dirty work. I further note that we know that the Irish Republican Army has ties to middle Eastern terrorist groups.

Now I look at the nine most-wanted Al Qaeda-linked terrorists and what do I see? Adam Yahiye Gadahn, who looks like could pass for a gumpy white kid from suburban Chicago or Pittsburgh.

I also see Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani and Fazul Abudullah Mohammed, who look like hundreds of cats I've met in the city of Detroit. Hell, isn't one of them on the starting lineup for the Pistons? (Joke.)

I see Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, who looks like he could be from Bombay, Sri Lanka, or Portugal--or Seattle.

Finally, we have a chick who could probably pass for Israeli, Spanish, Italian, or Polish. In fact, she's got a passing resemblance to my black-haired, dark-skinned, 100% Irish grandmother, the late Gloria Jean Carnahan.

Now our latest terrorist, a female, appears to have been caught trying to enter the country with a South African passport, a country that's no closer to the Middle East than Germany.

Back when the World Trade Center was first bombed in the 1990s, one of the terrorists was an Arab with fair skin, red hair, and freckles. (I spent about an hour trying to find his photo on the Internet and failed, but am I the only person in America who remembers this guy? 500 points to anyone who can find me his photo.) Just such an Arab runs a convenience store not far from my house.

So let's add all this up: terrorists can be white, black, or brown, and maybe even mixed-race looking like filipinos. They may be carrying passports from any country, and they may in fact be U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

Yet somehow, we've gone three years without a terrorist attack on home soil, and when a chick with a South African passport who could pass for a half-dozen racial groups sneaks into the U.S., the Feds nab her.

Can you folks on the Right who are absolutely convinced that we must target Arab-looking males with Arab passports, and that terrorists are casually "traipsing across the border," explain to me what exactly your reasoning is again? Because it seems to me that not only are our law-enforcement authorities doing a good job, but that profiling people based on sex or perceived nationality is a fool's game. It further seems to me that our only serious tool is rigorous intelligence networks, spooks on the ground ferretting out the terror networks, and to be looking at everyone who comes through our airports, not just the men with light brown skin and big noses.

With all due respect, while Ms. Malkin makes many good points and is a good writer, I would suggest that she often undercuts her own arguments.