Expel the enemies among us

During World War II, a popular comic book ran a story about an entire Japanese infantry division that had somehow managed to sneak into New York City's Central Park and were getting ready to storm out of their well-dug-in concealed positions and take the town.

I remember it curdled my bone marrow. You've read about people paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for a comic book from the 1940s in good condition. I begin to understand. I'd give a hundred to charity just to read that story again!

Because the concept of hostile foreign troops on American soil entered my mind when I was younger and stronger, maybe I can control my rage and not throw the piano through the plate-glass window at some late-breaking news. But it's hard when you read, not in the comics but on Page 1, that entire sections of Arizona are now under the control of Mexican drug cartels. Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu says his deputies are outgunned and outmanned by the drug traffickers.

Listen to him: "Mexican drug cartels literally do control parts of Arizona. They have radios. They have optics. They have night-vision goggles as good as anything law enforcement has."

We're not talking about "occupied" ranches in Texas just across the border from Mexico, a rumor spread earlier this year. We're talking about territory 70 to 80 miles north of the border; 30 miles from the fifth largest city in the United States. Sheriff Babeu says he asked the Obama administration for 3,000 National Guard soldiers. Instead he got 15 signs warning folks to stay away from the badlands.

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The fact that American power does not control all of America is bad enough, but put that aside for the moment. There are countries and forces that wish America's demise. Will placid surrender of parts of Arizona scare them into inactivity, or quicken their pulse?

Let's say you're an American ally, or you're asked to become one or remain one. Will America's toleration of criminal occupation inspire you to say, "Yes, let's be partners with the America that beat Germany and Japan!" or, "Hold on; this is no longer the America of Turner Classic Movies"?

Above all, do you consider such questions right-wing redneck fear mongering, or all-too-sound security considerations?

Attacks against Border Patrol agents are up 46 percent! Are you prepared to believe that Americans who spot suspicious activity are advised only to call 911? Not exactly a D-Day-type response.

Midterm elections are coming up. In 1952 power shifted from Democrats to Republicans aided by the campaign battle cry, "Who lost China?" Why aren't Republicans demanding now to know "Who lost Arizona?"

My fear is that political wise men have concluded that more Americans would rather have a map detailing the still-safe parts of Arizona than an expeditionary force dispatched to retake the unsafe parts of Arizona. And I think those "wise men" will turn out to be the "wise guys".

I believe a "declaration of war" against the cartel invaders would win the favor, the gratitude, the reverence and, of course, the vote of overwhelming masses of the American people.

We've got the ways and means to put the cartels to rout. We lack the will. There should be a sudden, dramatic, comprehensive military assault on all cartel strong points simultaneously, a headline game-changer, not some nibbling little "reinforcement" of our pitifully inadequate defense of our core homeland.

Is it legal to use the American military in such an operation? I'd say that's worth at least five minutes of debate in both houses of Congress. Who will say, "No," and when is he up for reelection?

France, we know, has declared many "official" zones of "no-control" rather than risk inflaming angry Muslims. In Malmo, Sweden's third-largest city, firemen and police don't enter Moslem neighborhoods without the permission of the local imam. Sweden and France are delightful countries that enjoy democracy but haven't done much to rescue it.

America has saved the world before, however much liberals gag at such an utterance. Pushback in Arizona might be a low-cost way for America to save the world again.

It's not important for the cartel to know what hit it. It's only important that they don't want to get hit like that again. Let our enemies as well as our friends ask, "Hey! What's going on with America?"

When America had the respect of foe and friend alike, our communiqués were economical and terse: "Sighted sub; sank same!" Maybe now we can shout, "Arizona is in our zone again!"

A Greek proverb tells us, "If you want to attract wolves, act like a sheep."

Needed corollary: If you want to repel wolves, act like a 1941-1945 American.