You have to hand it to Sue Myrick: When she finds a new paranoid fantasy, she holds on for dear life. We reported recently on the latest bee to fly under the congresswoman’s bonnet — a supposed connection between Mexican drug cartels and Islamic terrorists. I guess she couldn’t think of a way to include blacks with guns in the conspiracy, so she barely missed hitting the White Republican Fears trifecta. But two out of three is crazy enough.
Myrick recently asked Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano to quickly convene a task force to investigate her theory of a Hezbollah-Mexican drug conspiracy (Homeland Security declined, saying it “does not have any credible information on terrorist groups operating along the Southwest border”). That’s not stopping our Sue, though. Now, she’s appearing in a taped “conversation” with Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA), in which she expands on her newest fairy tale, weaving a convoluted theory that Iranian agents are learning Spanish in Venezuela, then sneaking up through Mexico to get into America, in order to pursue their nefarious, evil schemes, whatever those may be (Myrick hasn’t worked that part out yet).
The congresswoman’s evidence for this intricate plot is that some prisoners in California have tattoos that say “Hezbollah,” and other tatts written in Farsi, which, of course, is the language spoken in Iran. Earlier, Myrick said, “Farsi implies a Persian influence that can likely be traced back to Iran and its proxy army, Hezbollah.” And as I said at the time, “Yeah, and I know a woman who has her name tattooed on her butt in Russian, so she’s probably a spy for Putin, right?”
Despite the sub-flimsy evidence, Myrick says her theory “scares” her. Well, Sue, a lot of us here in the reality-based community find it scary that you’re so fond of ludicrous, paranoid conspiracy theories. And here is something even scarier: As ThinkProgress notes, “Myrick is the ranking member of the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Intelligence Community Management, and would become the chairwoman if Republicans take back the House of Representatives in the midterm elections.”
Watch Myrick’s tattoo/Iran/Venezuela/Mexico conspiracy theory conversation here:
This article appears in Jul 13-19, 2010.
And we all know how much weight circumstantial evidence carries…
Oh right, none.
You got a cross I could borrow? Maybe a hood too?
I really have to say common sense has left the building. When the open border approach fails to stop a terrorist from entering the county and that terrorist acts; There will be blood on the hands of all the supporters of the open border.
Grooms’ piece is misguided at best and mistaken at worst. If being prudent and proactive is goofy, so be it. There is an significant body of evidence that suggests that terror groups like Hamas and Hizbollah have already infiltrated our southern border with Mexico. Mynick’s inquiry into this growing body of evidence is precisely what our elected representatives are elected to do, especially those tasked with intelligence subcomittee positions. Sept 11th happened because we failed to connect the dots. Mynick is asking questions of DHS not because she is a conspiracy theorist, or an Iran- hater; but because the evidence warrants it. Relying on identifiable tattoo markings in farsi on inamtes arrested for immigration and/or other violations is not only reasonable, but necessary, particularly in age where terror groups and like-minded criminals are hell bent on menacing their foes and maintaining their survival. Would Grooms have called reports in the President’s daily intelligence briefing about planes used as missiles as a CIA paranoid fantasy? … based on his comments on this issue, he probably would have. Rational paranoia has merit Mr