The Lesson from Paraguay

Deep in the verdant backwater of South America, something odd is happening. In Paraquay, a small landlocked country wedged between Brazil and Argentina, something alien has taken root and is growing. And what might that be? Why, it's jihad!

CIUDAD DEL ESTE, Paraguay - The Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia has taken root in South America, fostering a well-financed force of Islamist radicals boiling with hatred for the United States and ready to die to prove it, according to militia members, U.S. officials and police agencies across the continent.

From its Western base in a remote region divided by the borders of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina known as the Tri-border, or the Triple Frontier, Hezbollah has mined the frustrations of many Muslims among about 25,000 Arab residents whose families immigrated mainly from Lebanon in two waves, after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and after the 1985 Lebanese civil war.

An investigation by Telemundo and NBC News has uncovered details of an extensive smuggling network run by Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim group founded in Lebanon in 1982 that the United States has labeled an international terrorist organization. The operation funnels large sums of money to militia leaders in the Middle East and finances training camps, propaganda operations and bomb attacks in South America, according to U.S. and South American officials.

Hezbollah in Paraquay? How could an Islamic terrorist group become active in a country thousands of miles from the Middle East whose six million people are almost entirely Christian (roughly 90% Catholic)? The answer is simple: immigration:

In the intervening years [since the early 90's bombing of a Jewish community center in Argentina], Hezbollah has spread throughout Latin America.

On their Web page, local Hezbollah militants in Venezuela call their fight against the United States a “holy war” and post photographs of would-be suicide terrorists with masks and bombs. There are also Web sites for Hezbollah in Chile, El Salvador, Argentina and most other Latin American countries.

“The Paraguayan justice [ministry] and the national police have found propaganda materials for Hezbollah” across the hemisphere, said Augusto Anibal Lima of Paraguay’s Tri-border Police.

And it is not only propaganda. In October, homemade bombs were left in front of the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, which is next to a school.

Police arrested a student carrying Hezbollah propaganda in Spanish. One of the pamphlets showed a picture of children and said, “Combat is our highest expression of love and the only way to offer a healthy and uncorrupted world.”

Caracas police were able to detonate the bombs safely. Police Commissioner Wilfredo Borras said they appeared to be “explosive devices made to make noise and publicity” — very different from what would be used if the United States attacked Iran.

“In [the] United States, there are many Arabs — in Canada, too,” said Meri, the Hezbollah member who spoke with Telemundo. “If one bomb [strikes] Iran, one bomb, [Bush] will see the world burning.

“... If an order arrives, all the Arabs that are here, in other parts in the world, all will go to take bombs, bombs for everybody if he bombs Iran.”

Jihad does not appeal to non-Muslims. Hezbollah and its associated groups are operated, supported and tolerated by Muslims. The only reason these groups are functioning in South America is because Muslims - mostly Arabs - have been allowed to migrate and settle in South America. Once there, those immigrants - or their descendents - hear the call of jihad that is inherent in Islam, and some take up the cause.

Hezbollah's presence in Paraquay perfectly illustrates a fundamental truth: permitting any Muslim immigration to non-Muslim countries inevitably results in importing jihadism and Islamism. Of course, not all Muslims will opt for jihad; but a significant number will - whether they are recent immigrants to a non-Muslim nation, or were born and raised there. The evidence for this can be found in Britain, where the sons of Pakistani immigrants, raised wholly in Britain have turned on the country and culture of their birth with the intention of destroying it. A similar story has emerged in New Jersey, where illegal Muslim immigrants and native born Muslims have been caught planning to massacre American soldiers on American soil.

Since there is no way of reliably determining which Muslim will ultimately side with the Islamists and take up jihad against the non-Muslim country in which he or she resides, the only safe option for non-Muslim nations is to completely prohibit Muslim immigration, and encourage Muslims currently there to leave as soon as possible. The best way of insuring that there will be no acts of Islamic terror in your country is to make sure there are no Muslims there in the first place.

Paraguay also demonstrates that the U.S. should not only be preventing Muslim immigration to its own shores, but that the U.S. should do everything in its power to persuade or compel its allies and neighbors to do the same. This is especially true in the Americas which are geographically linked to the U.S. It also points to the desperate need to secure and defend American borders, which means stopping all illegal crossings into the U.S., by any means necessary. Continuing to tolerate open borders, illegal immigration and allowing Muslims to immigrate to non-Muslim nations simply sets the stage for more Islamic atrocities against the West.

It is surprisingly easy to move across borders in the Triple Frontier, where motorbikes are permitted to cross without documents. A smuggler can bike from Paraguay into Brazil and return without ever being asked for a passport, and it is not much harder for cars and trucks.

The implications of such lawlessness could be dire, U.S. and Paraguayan officials said. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Hezbollah militiamen would raise no suspicions because they have Latin American passports, speak Spanish and look like Hispanic tourists.

The CIA singles out the Mexican border as an especially inviting target for Hezbollah operatives. “Many alien smuggling networks that facilitate the movement of non-Mexicans have established links to Muslim communities in Mexico,” its Counter Terrorism Center said in a 2004 threat paper.

“Non-Mexicans often are more difficult to intercept because they typically pay high-end smugglers a large sum of money to efficiently assist them across the border, rather than haphazardly traverse it on their own.”

Unfortunately, instead of pursuing a policy designed to ensure national survival, the U.S. under George W. Bush continues to permit its borders to collapse, wishes to grant amnesty to millions of aliens whose origins and intentions are comepletely unknown and apparently desires to continue and augment current levels of Muslim immigration to the U.S. (including the 10,000 Saudi students that President Bush is so pleased to have welcomed into the U.S. over the last two years - see posts below). President Bush likes to talk about "fighting them over there (Iraq) so we won't have to fight them over here." But his own immigration policies render that argument false. We will certainly have to fight them over here if we continue to let them settle in the country in the first place. The fact that Hezbollah is setting up shop in Paraquay(!) just underscores the true danger of permitting any Muslim immigration - and serves as a wonderful repudiation of Bush's handling of immigration as well as his complete mishandling of the struggle against Islam.