Pubdate: Sat, 13 Oct 2001
Source: Augusta Chronicle, The (GA)
Copyright: 2001 The Augusta Chronicle
Contact:  http://www.augustachronicle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/31
Note: Does not publishing letters from outside of the immediate Georgia and 
South Carolina circulation area
Author: Zell Miller

MILLER: THE TERRORIST THREAT IN OUR OWN BACK YARD

"IF IT WAS a snake, it would have bit you." That's the age-old response for 
failing to see the obvious, something right under your nose. I think of 
that adage these days as our undivided attention is riveted on the other 
side of the world.

The fact is, one of the biggest bastions of terrorism is not a world away, 
but right under our nose.

A two-hour flight south from Miami will land you in Colombia, the most 
dangerous and terroristic country in the world. Nearby, the tri-borders 
area of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil is a lawless place where members of 
Hamas, Hezbollah and other groups linked to Osama bin Laden are probably 
huddling to plan their next terrorist attacks. And from the bottom of South 
America straight up to Tijuana, El Paso and other U.S. border cities flows 
a pipeline of illegal drugs and weapons.

THIS IS NOT the far-away, distant Middle East. This is our neighborhood in 
the Western Hemisphere.

As my predecessor, the late Sen. Paul Coverdell, R-Ga., fully understood 
and often stated: We ignore our neighbors in the Western Hemisphere at our 
own peril. Our foreign policy in this region has been conducted in fits and 
starts, driven mainly by crises.

Recently, we have failed to tend to the region, and cracks have appeared in 
what just five years ago was an emerging shield of democracy, security and 
economic opportunity. Today, Argentina is on the verge of financial 
collapse. Oil giant Venezuela has a president who is openly hostile to the 
United States. And Nicaragua is on the verge of electing a former communist 
with strong ties to Libya and Iraq. Civil unrest, unemployment and crime 
are on the rise in many of Latin America's democracies.

But what should concern us most is that this region is home to 
well-established, well-financed criminal networks - networks with better 
resources than the governments that are trying to stop them. A third of the 
world's identified terrorist groups have operations in Latin America. In 
1993, surface-to-air missiles were found in the suburbs of Managua. This 
summer, Irish Republican Army bomb-making experts were seen cavorting with 
Colombian rebels.

So, what can we do?

First and foremost, it is imperative we install a strong diplomat for the 
top Western hemisphere post at the State Department. The Senate needs to 
send the message that we understand this region and we take seriously the 
security threat it poses. It is deplorable that we have stalled in filling 
this critical job when our commander in chief and our secretary of State 
have been urging us to do so.

WE HAVE already increased security along our borders, and not a moment too 
soon. Just think what might have happened if authorities had not stopped 
the Algerian terrorist at the Canadian border in December 1999 before he 
had a chance to carry out his plan - and Osama bin Laden's plan - to blow 
up a Millenium celebration with his carload of explosives.

Now, it is time to obtain better intelligence and greater cooperation among 
our allies in the region. We should focus on isolating terrorists and their 
backers with economic weapons and strategic alliances. Sen. Coverdell 
agreed with current Western Hemisphere Chairman Christopher Dodd that we 
should establish a regional security alliance patterned after similar 
arrangements we formed after World War II. I am very encouraged that the 
Organization of American States recently passed a similar resolution of 
security cooperation in support of the United States. We should build on 
this momentum.

We should also hit drug and terrorist groups through strong 
money-laundering legislation, such as that passed by the Senate Banking 
Committee recently. The Treasury Department is now implementing the "Drug 
Kingpin" legislation passed in the last Congress by Sens. Coverdell and 
Diane Feinstein, D-Calif. This legislation targets American individuals and 
companies who willingly do business with drug dealers, terrorists or other 
enemies of the United States. Now, we must back up this law with enough 
resources to make it a viable tool.

WHILE ALL eyes are now on the Middle East, the forces of evil to our south 
are scheming and stretching their reach around the globe. While Osama bin 
Laden is hiding in a cave in far-away Afghanistan, his lesser-known 
lieutenants are a two-hour flight away from Miami. Soon, this snake is 
going to bite us. It is time to shift some of our focus closer to home, on 
these volatile, hostile countries harboring terrorists right under our nose.

(Editor's note: The writer is a Democratic U.S. senator from Georgia.)
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MAP posted-by: Beth