Inside track.(US foreign policy)

"Americans must think that our political and academic elites have gone utterly mad at a time when three-and-a-half years, approaching four years after September 11, we still don't have border security. And this group of elites is talking about not defending our borders, finally, but rather creating new ones. It's astonishing."

CNN commentator Lou Dobbs, on his June 9, 2005 "Lou Dobbs Tonight," was referring to a Council on Foreign Relations panel that wants the United States to "create what effectively would be a common border that includes Mexico and Canada." This objective is now being pursued under the Security and Prosperity Partnership established by President Bush and his Mexican and Canadian counterparts in 2005.

"The ultimate goal of any White House policy ought to be a North American economic and political alliance similar in scope and ambition to the European Union."

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, in a September 7, 2001 editorial, called for North American integration.

"After consultation with our Canadian partners, we will strive to consolidate a North American economic community whose benefits reach the lesser-developed areas of the region and extend to the most vulnerable social groups in our countries."

Meeting at Rancho San Cristobal in Guanajuato, Mexico, President George W. Bush and President Vicente Fox jointly announced their intent for a "North American economic community" on February 16, 2001.

"NAFTA was merely the first draft of an economic constitution for North America."