Like President Obama (Bam AWOL on Vets Day, by Charles Hurt, New York Post, November 11, 2010), VDARE.COM arguably did not do enough to mark Veterans Day. But it's not over, so here's a helpful thought: why not occupy Smuggle Island?

"Smuggle Island", is one of Mexico's uninhabited Coronado Islands, just 20 miles south of San Diego bay. The city's Channel 10 station has just reported:

10News uncovered a deserted island and the risky operation that is making it possible for illegal immigrants to sneak into San Diego.

Abandoned fishing pangas have become a common sight on San Diego beaches. Very rarely are the passengers found, since they are illegal immigrants who are smuggled into the United States in the dark of night.

Illegal border crossings are down, according to the Department of Homeland Security. However, the number of immigrants using the sea to illegally enter the United States in panga boats is up

Deserted Island Being Used By Illegal Immigrants: Immigrants Make Stop At ‘Smuggle Island’ On Way To United States, 10News, November 8-10, 2010.

As far as I can see, this report of a flagrant ongoing open conspiracy to violate U.S. sovereignty has been picked up nowhere in the MSM (even though linked to on the quick-witted Drudge Report).

What would happen in a sane world: the Obama Administration would protest to Mexico and demand that the islands be policed. If that did not happen (or if the Mexican forces turned out to be in league with the smugglers, as seems frequently to be the case), the U.S. would seize the islands.

Years ago, I suggested in Forbes Magazine that the U.S. distrain upon Baja in exchange for that decade's bail-out of the Mexican banking system, partly because it would result in a more defensible border. This would be so much easier. The biggest island is only 450 acres.

But simply to suggest this idea makes you realize how strange it has become to expect that U.S. forces should be deployed in the U.S. national interest.