Defense of our borders

So emotional it has become, this dilemma of U.S. federalization versus the CNMI Covenant. How valid is the growing fear that come June 1, 2009, the Department of Homeland Security’s takeover of the Commonwealth’s immigration will effectively demolish tourism dollars by barring Russian and Red China tourists from visiting our islands?

We all know that answer.

That’s followed by another stinger: Ousting foreign workers (currently employed in the menial jobs locals don’t want) to return to their point of origin, thereby gutting our labor force. So if the locals won’t, who will do the menial jobs? And the other political hot potato, that being the contention of “local self government” (by losing control over immigration and effectively, labor) versus the fed’s mandate to protect the borders and the citizens of the Northern Mariana Islands while building up its massive military forces throughout the Mariana chain of islands. Arguments will be emotionally voiced while opinions will naturally differ, but all together now: What’ll happen to a once thriving community called the CNMI?

Pack your bags.

There exists, however, another side to the predicament as witnessed by Guam’s boast of an “exciting and historic time for Guam as we prepare our people for an unprecedented era of prosperity,” while the CNMI bemoans its bleak future. But one thing is for certain: the mushrooming threat of terrorists with weapons of mass destruction, and the potential of a rogue nation(s) attacking a U.S community accelerates the need to guard our borders. But whether steeped in criticism or praise, there is more to the military buildup and the takeover by the feds than most islanders can comprehend. All of this demands a hard-nosed clarity and stark awakening that the forthcoming changes are not make-believe.

For the simplest case in point, let’s examine Stalinist North Korea 2,000 miles north of our shores. The communist country is about to test-fire its long range missile, the Taepodong-2. The same missile failed in 2006, but will it fail today? With or without being nuclear-tipped?

According to a 2008 Defense White Paper by the Ministry of National Defense, the missile is thought to have an intended range of about 4,200 miles (6,700 kilometers), which, if true, could give it the capability of striking Alaska or Hawaii—and the Marianas. All this comes with the deployment of new medium-range ballistic missiles to bolster its naval forces and 1.2 million-strong military, while expanding special forces training (following U.S. military tactics in Iraq and Afghanistan) during 2008.

Like the jihadist Muslims around the globe bent on the destruction of Americans and Zionists, are these the kind of people we wish to visit our shores? I don’t think so. And viewed in the whole, Red China and Russia, both being communist nations bordering the Pacific Ocean, forebode that same fear.

Now let’s hear it from former U.S. President Bush. Before departing the office of the U.S presidency, and speaking before a Joint Session of Congress, he underscored the real threat to Americans everywhere:

“We will direct every resource at our command—every means of diplomacy, every tool of intelligence, every instrument of law enforcement, every financial influence, and every necessary weapon of war—to the disruption and to the defeat of the global terror network. I will not yield; I will not rest; I will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the American people.”

Whatever history’s ultimate judgment, in that moment, President Bush set the standard for his Presidency: to protect Americans from another 9/11 suicidal attack and hit Islamist terrorists and their sponsors abroad. By his own standard, Mr. Bush achieved the one big thing he and all Americans demanded of his Administration: not a single man, woman or child has been killed by terrorists on U.S. soil since that morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

So what’s the end game of why the U.S. is taking over our borders? Defense. To defend us from attack, pure and simple. And how close is the Marianas to this menace? Look no further than what lies 1,500 west of the islands. After several years of assistance by the U.S. military quelling terrorists attacks in the Philippines, a revitalized breed of Abu Sayyaf has once again emerged and beheadings, bombings, and kidnappings are on the increase. Or Iran, half a world away, a country which is nearing its own nuclear capability and whose repercussions can be felt in our Pacific-Asia region, as well.

For the Mariana Islands the clock is ticking. Today there exists tremendous forces exerted by jihadist terrorists or rogue nations that lie far beyond our reasoning or control. We can only hope DHS and the buildup of the military forces on Guam, Tinian and Saipan is enough and in time to defuse what could become a Mariana Islands 9/11.