[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15506]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  0940
                     IRANIAN CONNECTION WITH ZETAS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Poe) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, in the last 2 days, we have been 
learning some disturbing information about the Nation of Iran and its 
dictator, Ahmadinejad. It seems as though, with the consultation with 
Iran and the drug cartels in Mexico, it was the idea that the Iranian 
Government, through one of its operatives, would commit a crime against 
the United States. We're learning more and more about this, but it's my 
opinion that the Iranian Government was in the middle of this attempted 
assault on American soil.
  The idea that the Embassy down the street that belongs to the Saudi 
Arabians would be attacked, that the Saudi Arabian Ambassador would be 
murdered somewhere in a restaurant in Washington, DC, with a possible 
attack on the Israeli Ambassador, with a possible attack on the Israeli 
Ambassador and the Saudi Arabian Ambassador in Argentina, was being 
plotted by the Iranian Government against us is something that we 
should be aware of and conscious of and be very concerned about.
  Thanks to good law enforcement, this terror plot was thwarted. But 
what if it had occurred? What if the will of this terrorist would-be to 
go to Mexico and meet with what he thought was a Zeta cartel member to 
smuggle explosives into the United States from Mexico that would be 
used in an attack in Washington, DC, what if that had actually 
occurred? Certainly, if the Iranian Government was involved in it, we 
would consider that an act of aggression against the United States.
  And it's interesting to me that the Iranian Government was so bold 
that they thought they could do something like this and get away with 
it. Did they believe that the United States would not do anything about 
it? Did they perceive us to be so weak that we would not have shown 
them consequences for this action against this Nation? We don't know. 
But the truth is we should show the Iranian Government that there are 
consequences for an attempted attack such as this by the Iranian 
Government.
  There are a couple of things that I think are important for us to 
realize. One, we should hold the Iranian Government accountable for 
this attempted attack on American soil, to show them that you must 
leave us alone no matter what your political philosophy is. But just as 
equally disturbing is the fact that this operative--that I believe was 
dispatched by the Iranian Government--had the wherewithal to go to 
Mexico, our neighbors, and try to work with the drug cartels down 
there, and working in unison to come into the United States to commit a 
crime. Now, granted, the person that he was working with was not a Zeta 
cartel member. It was one of our own law enforcement officers. But the 
person thought he was working with the drug cartels. And the reason he 
was working with the drug cartels is because they, too, are at war with 
the United States, and they have easy access into the United States.
  On a daily basis, the Zeta drug cartel--which I think is the worst of 
the worst in Mexico--comes into the United States and brings drugs and 
people, traffics humans, anything for money. And on a daily basis, they 
go back to Mexico and they take that money and they take weapons 
because they have access to our porous borders. If you want to get into 
the United States, hook up with one of the drug cartels and they'll get 
you in the U.S. And that's obvious what this Iranian operative was 
trying to do was to hook up with them. The drug cartels, for little 
money, will do anything, including commit murder in the United States.
  So that should tell us that the border is still porous, Mr. Speaker. 
We hear that it's not, it's safe. It is porous, Mr. Speaker. There are 
portions that are safe, but the portions that are not safe are where 
the drug cartels go back and forth.
  So, two lessons we should be learning are that the Iranian Government 
has it in for the United States--at least some people do in their 
government; two, that the border is porous, and we need to protect the 
national security of the United States' southern border.
  So what are we going to do about it? We've heard that, well, we're 
going to impose some more sanctions to try to isolate Iran. 
Historically, sanctions have never worked any time countries have tried 
to use them. It is true that we could actually have some sanctions that 
would do some good, such as keeping Iran from having refined gasoline 
going back into the country, and maybe keeping crude oil from going out 
of Iran, but that doesn't solve the problem long term.
  The long-term solution in Iran is a regime change. And let me make it 
clear, that regime change should be by the people of Iran who live in 
Iran and people who support the freedom fighters in Iran.
  It's time that the regime of Iran be removed by the good folks who 
live in Iran. And the United States' policy publicly should be that we 
support those dissidents to get rid of the rogue regime of Ahmadinejad.
  And that's just the way it is.

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