War on the Home Front by William S. Lind

Focused as we are on Fourth Generation war in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is easy to forget that the phenomenon is vastly larger than any single war or opponent, even Islam. An article in a local Washington paper, The Journal, reminds us that 4GW is also being fought on American soil, by parties that have nothing to do with the armies of the Prophet.

The article, by staff writer Robert Arkell, was titled "Police: MS-13 threatened Maryland officers:"

The notorious E1 Salvadoran gang known as MS-13 has threatened to execute Prince George’s County police officers as tensions continue to escalate between officers and gang members, police said.

MS-13, which stands for Mara Salvatrucha, has increased its presence in Prince George’s County with more than 600 active members…

Some of those MS-13 gang members recently confided to police about carrying out a deadly ambush plan that targeted county police officers…

If members of a gang based on a foreign ethnic identity ambush cops, it is more than a crime: it is an act of war, Fourth Generation war to be precise. Hopefully, it will not happen in Prince George’s County. But it has happened elsewhere in the United States. It is not for nothing that the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department is a more avid student of 4GW theory than any American military service.

Future historians will find it interesting that at the same time a supposedly conservative President has enmeshed us in Fourth Generation wars abroad, he has opened the flood gates to importing Fourth Generation enemies at home. President Bush’s first act upon reelection was to resurrect his proposal for an amnesty for illegal immigrants. It is a safe bet that MS-13 gang members would be among those who benefit from such an amnesty if Congress were so foolish as to allow it to become law.

As I have said before in these columns, in a Fourth Generation world, invasion by immigration easily can be more dangerous than invasion by a foreign army. At some point, the foreign army will go home. But immigrants stay, and if they do not acculturate, they permanently change the cultural landscape. As the Dutch recently discovered, the changes may go beyond introducing some highly spiced dishes into an otherwise bland cuisine.

If an American President were seriously interested in protecting this country from Fourth Generation threats, aka the "War on Terror," his top priority would be real immigration reform. Real reform means:

Controlling our borders. Given the magnitude of illegal immigration across our southern frontier, we need to put in place something like the old East-West German border. Anyone trying to cross it unlawfully risks getting shot.
Immediate deportation of any non-citizen who commits a felony, along with all identifiable family members. That would give immigrant communities an incentive to control their own members who might be criminally inclined. There should be no such things as gangs made up of immigrants.
A neutral policy of Americanization of all immigrants. As was true for the forefathers of many American citizens, they are welcome to maintain their national language and customs in their homes, but all business in the public square must follow American norms, starting with English-only. Far from hurting immigrants, that policy made it possible for children born in Ukraine ghettoes to join the American middle class.
Mechanisms to foster Americanization, beginning with the public schools. If we need a model, look at New York City’s superb public schools of 100 years ago.
Restriction of the rate of immigration so that we do not take in more people than we can Americanize.

These measures, taken together, would do far more to keep Fourth Generation war away from our doorsteps than hundreds of billions of dollars in additional defense spending. If our grandchildren end up cursing us, it will probably be for an open-borders immigration policy that left them a civil war to fight.

William Lind [send him mail] is Director of the Center for Cultural Conservatism at the Free Congress Foundation. The views expressed in this article are those of Mr. Lind, writing in his personal capacity. They do not reflect the opinions or policy positions of the Free Congress Foundation, its officers, board or employees.