Is now when people begin waking up?

SSgt (Join to see), great topic for discussion. Unfortunately, I feel SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA is correct, unfortunately. Most Americans won't wake up to the monsters just outside our doors (and for that matter, already present amongst us) until they are either victimized or inconvenienced in a direct and personal way. When that day comes, rather than conceding that they were warned and chose foolishly not to listen, be prepared, because they will be pointing angry fingers in our direction; demanding accountability, wanting to know how we could allow something so horrible to happen to them; they're good people, after all!

These 'sheeple' are deaf to the threats that linger in train the Mexican No-Man's Land that is Ciudad Juarez or the State of Chihuahua, because unless you have business with the Cartels who control these areas, you have no business traveling there. Sure, many US businesses have transferred their manufacturing facilities into Juarez, but these are largely confined to a heavily-protected sector of the city that is sheltered from the rest of the town; where crime is king. This is where our most lethal and vicious enemy has found a safe-haven, a place to train and prep it's forces just miles from one of the easiest places to breach the border undetected; miles away from a major US Army installation; at the intersection of major north/south and east/west Interstate Highway systems; a major railroad hub, El Paso, Texas may be a relatively small city, but it provides high-speed connections to Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Albuquerque, San Diego, and Los Angeles.

It is against this backdrop that ISIS salivates at it's many prospective targets here in the U.S. Now add to this chaos that which was manufactured by the Administration last summer as a cudgel to force Congress to pass it's version of Immigration Reform. All of the evidence indicates that what occurred on our Southern Border last summer was an orchestrated, manufactured crisis. The evidence was there in the contracts that were put out months in advance seeking Spanish-speaking bus carriers for transportation contracts, lodging contracts, etc. What followed was a humanitarian crisis that overwhelmed our Border Protection apparatus, pushing it to it's breaking point. Who and what exploited weaknesses as a result of that fiasco is anyone's guess; but guess what? It's happening again; it's already begun.

I did a mission last August down at Fort Bliss. We drove the Border. We even decided to go shopping one night, and took $250.00 worth of diapers, water, wet-wipes, and toys to the Border Patrol Station; much to the delight of Border Patrol Agents, children, and young mothers alike. I never imagined that barring a major natural disaster, I would see such conditions inside a Federal Office Facility on US soil! To think it's going to happen again makes me seethe with righteous indignation. And yet, a few miles west, and few miles south, ISIS trains and prepares; eager to exploit that chaos, using it for their benefit.

I'm awake! Hell, most nights, I can't sleep anymore. But then again, I'm informed!

I really don't think our elected officials are paying any attention at all. We can't afford another 9/11 on U.S. Soil. We need to act to protect our Great Nation from all threats. The focus shoul be our home land and security of our liberties and rights. Unfortunately our elected officials are to damn worried about gaining votes and money for a reelection instead of doing their job. A Soldier is a Soldier for life and does what he or she is was trained to do. We don't do it for ourselves we do it for our Nation. We don't put our personal needs above our Country. We sacrifice all to ensure the safety of others. So the question is why don't our elected officials do the same. It's to late to wake up when the damage is done, we need to be proactive not reactive to any situation that could bring harm to our Nation and our people. When less than 1% of our elected officials have served our country and understand the threat there is a problem. Soldiers train and live to defeat the threat we just don't sit by and wait for the threat. I strongly believe that we need more military leadership in the ranks of our elected officials to make good decisions that focus on protecting our way of life.

No, I don't think too many have woken up, yet. The masses likely won't ever wake up, until there's national crisis near the border and the media paints a picture for them.

I'm going to go ahead and call this crap. First of all, though ISIS may wish to infiltrate Mexico as a means to crossing the border into the U.S. there are many issues with being able to believe it happened the way the article said. One, we have numerous resources in the area and I'm sure we would be aware of it before they could establish a "camp". Two, I find a huge issue with the fact that the cartels are working with ISIS. First, they are 2 different religions which might not mix well, no matter how much money is involved. Second, the cartels enjoy a strange status of semi-immunity from the U.S. while they operate in Mexico so to begin to help a terrorist organization would bring down the wrath of the U.S. military on their operations, something they surely don't want. And finally, if they did have a "camp" set up, and we had somehow missed it before, once they had it it would be destroyed, and quickly.

Now, to address people "waking up" I don't see that happening. The world is a scary place, too scary for many people to even contemplate and so they shut it out and don't think about it. As a country, and especially our politicians, we often talk about national security and the threats we face. The truth is most of those threats to security and stability are small and require small military forces with long commitments to deal with. We don't like that for a number of reasons, so we talk up the big dogs (Russia, China, Iran, etc.) and scare people more, convincing them further that they should just hide and let someone else protect them. It is easier for simple minds to believe that everyone can live in peace than to realize that there is always going to be evil in the world that has to be dealt with.

wait till 2016/17 when there is a new administration. Be prepared

To much religious differences? The only religion the cartels have is money and isis has plenty of money. If only half of this article is true, oh wow gee, what could possibly go wrong! The Big Bad Wolf is at the, what's your house made of??

SPC Jan Allbright: Who said that "prayer rugs and Qurans and Arabic writing = ISIS"? It must have been you, because I didn't. I believe you are trying to use a debate technique called "add ons". To summarize the original article claimed that Mexican Army representatives have stated that they believe that ISIS members have camped along the Mexican/US border. These statements were off the record and cannot be confirmed (but it does not necessarily mean they are untrue). Your article on Snopes basically stated that the first article was untrue because "they" could not verify its source, and that the US Congressman, quoted in my article, was lying because he would not provide Snopes with Classified documents to prove his statement (which would be a crime).

As for how I would close the border? I don't think we should. We do need to put the border patrol back on the border (FYI: they are now stationed 25-50 miles inside the border). We also need a freedom of movement agreement with both Mexico and Canada. If you want some further reading material on this I recommend this article titled "If Mexicans and Americans Could Cross the Border Freely". http://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_14_01_6_delacroix.pdf

Balance that with this...

http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/isismexico.asp