Shannon Love

Last month Time magazine did an article suddenly discovering that the U.S./Mexico border is a sieve that lets millions of people and tons of drugs pass across it every year. In an age of terrorism, this looks like a disaster waiting to happen. If migrant workers and drug runners can cross the border, then obviously terrorists can do so just as easily.

A look at the empirical evidence, however, suggests just the opposite. Comparing Mexico to our other border with Canada, we find that while several dozen suspected and actual terrorists have been caught crossing over from Canada none have been caught trying to cross over from Mexico. Moreover, none have been found in the U.S. after having passed through Mexico. If the Mexican border is such a security sieve why do the terrorists not flock there in droves?

The answer is easy. Mexico isn’t the place most Americans imagine it is.

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During the Vietnam war, one of the most emotionally wrenching parts of military service was watching the vilification of service people by the anti-war movement back home. It really seemed to affect the service people of that era profoundly that some segments of the population back home questioned their collective and individual morality.

In looking at the postings and emails from service people in Afghanistan and Iraq, I don’t think this generation of service people gives a damn what the protesters or even anyone moderately associated with them think about the war and the people who fight. I think the Left burned any moral credibility it had with that segment of the U.S. population that volunteers for military service by its actions during Vietnam.

I think this is good, especially for the mental health of the service people. The psychic toll on the Vietnam-era service people seemed quite severe. People of that era expected moral support from the general populace, even from those who opposed the wisdom of the war. When they got condemnation instead it really had an impact.

I can’t help but worry though, that this represents a further divide in our culture. The military no longer cares about the opinions of a large section of the political spectrum. That can’t be healthy long-term but the Left has only itself to blame.

Gen-X’ers complain that we can’t get away from Vietnam. A war that ended 30 years ago still dogs us shaping our debates about fighting an entirely different war. But that is how every war is fought. The ghost of the wars that a generation of leaders fought in as youths still haunt them when become the nation’s elders. Vietnam still haunts us because it was the war of the youth of the baby-boomers currently directing national policy.

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Peoples political ideas spring from an underlying coherent model of reality. Understanding that model is key to predicting their future behavior. In last night’s debate Kerry revealed a key component of his world-model.

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A lot of pundits have been saying that Kerry must present a clear plan for how he would “win” in Iraq or at least provide for an “exit” strategy. If he can’t do that then he is through, say the pundits.

Well, Kerry is throughly screwed because he can’t offer a plan to “win” in Iraq.

On the other hand neither can Bush.

Nobody can provide a clear plan for “winning” in Iraq because the conflict in Iraq cannot be “won.”

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