International Crisis Zone in the Backyard

One is more likely to be kidnapped in south Texas than in Iraq.

No foolin'.

LAREDO, Texas – This border area is one of the least publicized international crisis zones. More Americans have been kidnapped just in this area than in all of Iraq by Islamic terrorists.

Twenty-six Americans are now officially listed as missing in the Laredo-Nuevo Laredo region of the U.S.-Mexico border—in addition to the more than 400 Mexicans reported to be suffering a similar fate.

The number of American civilians missing or kidnapped in Iraq since the beginning of the war is 23 as of last September, the latest figure released by the State Department.

The execution rate leaves something to be desired too.

Unlike Muslim jihadists, enforcers from the feuding Gulf and Sinaloa Mexican drug cartels favor off-camera basement executions and oil-drum burials.

“I’ve seen these barrels with bodies stuffed into them,” said a U.S. law enforcement official, who, like most here, spoke on condition of anonymity. “It’s horrible, but it is really happening.”

First acid is poured in to break up flesh and bone. Then the drum is filled with diesel fuel.

A match—that’s all it takes to turn a life into a heap of ashes.

How many of those unaccounted for have already been “processed” this way?

Nobody here knows—or is eager to find out.

There's more to the story, important stuff, and if you care to be informed you ought to read the whole thing.

If you enjoy the Ostrich Position, so be it. Just don't come crying when your tail gets shot off. Or boiled in acid.