We rationalist political observers with a memory of history already know we can blame the current Iraq fiasco on Bush Jr. This is the little asshole that launched an invasion of a sovereign state run by a secular gov't - because his daddy was 'threatened' in some offhand manner. So because of personal pique, this yahoo launched a 'shock and awe' operation that claimed 600,000 Iraq lives, over 4,400 U.S. lives and may well end up costing us over $4 trillion when all the medical costs from PTSD and injuries are tallied up. Obama ought to have turned this piece of dung over to the International Court in the Hague, but he was too generous- begging us to "look forward not backward". Well, now the backward roosters have come home to make a mess of our foreign policy - as the ISIS bunch feeds on the sectarian system the Bushie neocons and their associated imps left behind.
Now, flash forward to the current ungodly mess on our borders, with over 52,000 immigrant children - mainly from Honduras- having flooded across in the first nine months of this year. The situation is so dire that our housing-detention facilities are stretched to the limit, and they are having to be dispatched to other states (like California) to relieve the crowding.
As usual, the neocons and Bushite sympathizers blame Obama for the situation, but in fact this rotten egg can be placed on Bush's door step too. I refer to a 2008 'anti-sex trafficking" law signed by Bush which guarantees an immigration hearing before any deportation, for any child outside of Canada or Mexico seeking safe haven. Why these exceptions at all when there's arguably as much sex trafficking in Mexico as in Central America?
Now, irrespective of your humanitarian welfare position, it is this law that's causing the current back up congestion and lack of resources to deal with the flood of kids. Thus, instead of simply deporting the kids and families, everything must be held up for the guaranteed immigration hearings and there are not enough competent judges available to do it.
For this reason, President Obama has requested $3.7 billion with just over half ($1.8b) to provide emergency housing, food and medicine for the incoming kids, and the rest to provide the money to hold the necessary hearings to expedite deportation. Of course, the Repukes are balking - bellowing that Obama is "asking for a blank check". But what's their solution? To simply let the kids be put in overcrowded detention facilities, forced to lie on bare floors covering with aluminum foil, and getting about as much food as the kids already on food stamps - which is about one decent meal a day.
As for the soft-brained, soft -hearted liberals who just say "Let 'em all in!" , they need to back up and think of what they're advocating. Sure, we can perhaps take in 52,000 -odd kids but if anyone thinks that will be the end of it they need to think again. The very optics going worldwide (especially to Central America) will send the message that 'the gates are open, come on in one and all". At that juncture, you will be seeing 1 million a year pour through, and don't believe for a second that's an exaggeration. The harsh fact is that as large and flush with resources as the U.S. is, it doesn't have enough to take care of future millions flooding its borders. Hell, we can barely take care of our own people now languishing on inadequate food stamps and under-employed in minimum wage jobs. We therefore cannot be the simple solution for all Central American problems of poverty and violence. This isn't being selfish, but realistic!
Hence, deportation is the only rational answer, especially given the fact though many will say "Take care of the kids! We want them in!" once the NIMBY meme emerges, all that gemütlichkeit will vanish. Again, it's simply not fair or rational to demand free, unimpeded entry to eventually accommodate these kids and their families in some USA burg - IF you don't want them in your burg and especially as next door neighbors. That's plain old hypocrisy and cannot form a basis for human values.
What's driving these kids and their families in Honduras to seek sanctuary in the U.S.? Basically, because the whole country is ruled by violent gangs making it one of the top three most dangerous places in the world. As a UN rep described conditions to Chris Hayes ('All In') last night, the gangs often send messages to those that don't toe the line- and in one case chopped a young woman up and left the pieces all over a highway to intimidate others. In many respects Honduras has descended to a failed state run by terrorists who spit in the face of the impotent, ruling government.
Of course, Reagan also bears some responsibility for creating the original chaos in Honduras, as well as Guatemala in the 1980s. This was done by setting up right wing death squads to impose a kind of pseudo-American rule that obliterated the seeds for setting up a healthy democracy.
So the basis for widespread violence was laid back then. Our incessant meddling in other nations, it appears, almost always sows unproductive and violent seeds which bear future fruit that's toxic and creates blowback. Look no further than Iraq.....and Honduras.
See also:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/william-boardman/56900/children-at-the-border-another-u-s-foreign-policy-debacle
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