Fences for everyone,
except U.S.
Posted: November 17, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Joseph Farah
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

Have you noticed how many countries around the world are building security fences?

There is a near mania to build walls separating nations from neighbors who threaten them with illegal immigration, crime, poverty and terrorism.

Some of the largest countries in the world are building them. Some of the smallest countries in the world are building them. Some of the richest countries in the world are building them. And some of the poorest countries in the world are building them.

It seems security fences are for everyone – except the very richest, most powerful nation in the world.

Recently, for instance, Russian officials met with Israelis to learn about the much-maligned but highly effective security fence that separates the Jewish state from Palestinian communities in the West Bank. Russia is determined to build a security fence along its border with Chechnya because of the continuing terror threat it faces from that Islamic neighbor.

India, for instance is set to build a 2,500-mile-long fence along its border with Bangladesh. India has tried to reason with its neighbor. It has tried to quell the infusion of terrorists in other ways. Nothing has worked. So, no matter the cost, India is committed to building a security fence.

Egypt, which criticized Israel's decision to build a security fence, is building one of its own around the tourist hot-spot of Sharm el-Sheik. It seems Egypt wants to keep the terrorists away from the tourists.

Even the little kingdom of Brunei is building a security fence along its 20-kilometer border with Limbang – merely to stop the flow of smuggled goods.

There are hundreds of other security fences separating nations around the world. It's the rule rather than the exception.

Yet, for some reason, the United States is the exception.

We continue to find excuses not to build a security fence between the United States and Mexico – 2,000 miles of largely unpatrolled, maybe even unpatrollable, territory crossed by tens of thousands illegally daily.

Even after experiencing the worst terror attack in the history of the world, we didn't build it.

Even after watching at least 12 million immigrants walk across the southern border unmolested and take up permanent residency in the country illegally, we didn't build it.

Even after watching crimes perpetrated by illegal aliens skyrocket, we didn't build it.

Even after watching schools, hospitals and police taxed to the breaking point as a result of the invasion, we didn't build it.

After all this, and even long after most Americans have noticed the very character of their nation changing for the worse without debate and without a vote and despite the duly enacted laws on the books, we didn't build it.

Some say it would cost too much. The conservative estimate for the cost of the entire 2,000-mile stretch is $2 billion. On the high side the estimate is $8 billion.

To put that amount in perspective, understand that just last week, President Bush signed a $100 billion food and farm spending bill that covers only the Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration and related agencies, for only a portion of the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.

Now I concede spending is out of control in Washington. But, for heaven's sake, scrap the Department of Agriculture and build the fence!

This is a matter of national security, national tranquility and the public safety. A fence will save American taxpayers hundreds of billions in just the next few years – not to mention the lives of Americans.

The American people want it. Every poll shows it. Projects like this represent one of the few legitimate reasons to have a federal government.

It's constitutional. It's legal. It's cost-effective. It's smart. It's necessary. It's the right thing to do. It should have been done a long time ago.

We need a fence. Stop the excuses. Build it now.

Joseph Farah is founder, editor and CEO of WND and a nationally syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate. His latest book is "Taking America Back." He also edits the weekly online intelligence newsletter Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, in which he utilizes his sources developed over 30 years in the news business.