DOOMED!
Posted on 10/12/2004 8:42:25 PM PDT by knak
The Chechen group is suspected of having links to Islamist terrorists seeking to separate the southern enclave of Chechnya from Russia, according to officials familiar with intelligence reports.
Members of the group, said to be wearing backpacks, secretly traveled to northern Mexico and crossed into a mountainous part of Arizona that is difficult for U.S. border security agents to monitor, said officials speaking on the condition of anonymity.
The intelligence report was supplied to the U.S. government in late August or early September and was based on information from an intelligence source that has been proved reliable in other instances, one official said.
A second U.S. official said the report is being investigated, but said it could not be determined whether the group of Chechens actually entered the country, as the intelligence source reported.
"We don't know whether or not that report is true," this official said.
A spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed that the intelligence report was provided by another government agency, but said Border Patrol agents were unable to verify its accuracy.
It could not be learned whether the reported infiltration is related to the recent Education Department warning to school officials to examine security in the aftermath of the attack last month by pro-Chechnya Muslim terrorists on a school in Russia, in which more than 300 people were killed and some 700 wounded.
In the Russian attack, heavily armed Islamists took over and wired with explosives the school building in Beslan, North Ossetia. It is believed that an accidental explosion set off a battle between Russian security personnel and the terrorists, who set off several explosions and shot schoolchildren and teachers as they tried to escape.
U.S. officials believe the Beslan terrorists included some al Qaeda-linked foreign terrorists.
The Education Department letter said that school officials should examine "protective measure guidance" for helping to prevent and respond to a similar terrorist attack, were it to occur in the United States.
The notice said the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are "currently unaware of any specific, credible information indicating a terrorist threat to public and private schools, universities or colleges in the United States."
The letter stated that indicators of terrorist surveillance before an attack include interest in site plans for schools, bus routes and attendance lists from persons who don't normally request such information.
Authorities also were advised to remain alert for "static surveillance" by people who may be disguised as panhandlers, shoeshiners, newspaper or flower vendors, or street sweepers who seem out of place in a particular area.
Other indicators of terrorist surveillance can include spying on school security drills, people staring at employees or vehicles in parking areas, and surveillance by pedestrians.
Fears of an attack on American schools also were raised by the recent discovery in Iraq of a computer disk containing data showing the layout of six schools in the United States, including districts in California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, New Jersey and Oregon.
Officials believed the disk may have been part of a terrorist plot. However, FBI officials said on Friday that there did not appear to be a terrorist threat connected to the computer disk.
The Iraqi who had the disk, a member of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party, apparently was collecting information from the Internet sites of American schools that would be useful for emergency planning for Iraqi schools, U.S. officials said.
U.S. security officials have been concerned in recent months that al Qaeda or other terrorists are planning to enter the United States from Mexico.
Intelligence officials said a suspected al Qaeda leader who has been in the United States was spotted recently in Mexico. Officials believe Adnan Shukrijumah, whom the FBI wants for questioning, met with alien smugglers in Mexico and Honduras and was seeking ways to bring al Qaeda members into the United States. Shukrijumah was seen in August in the Sonora province of northern Mexico, officials said.
Since October 2003, authorities have arrested five Arabs attempting to cross illegally into the United States from Mexico.
In July, officials dismissed as untrue an Internet report that said a group of Middle Eastern men were recently caught trying to cross the border from Mexico.
The report apparently was based on a group of Oaxacan tribesmen who were stopped as they tried to cross the border in Arizona. The tribesmen spoke an Indian language native to southern Mexico that may have been mistaken for Arabic, officials said at the time.
None...but thats the point of my post...think about it.
It's huntin' season in AZ boys and girls, lots of us roamin' the hill's and desert in search of trophies. Time to add some varmints to the list of acceptable game in the huntin' regulations.
DOOMED!
John Kerry's plan is to take his Chinese assault rifle down to the border and walk back and forth and ask each person "Do you know who I am? Why, I fought in Vietnam?" That will scare them off.
Utter tripe
What a nuisance these terrorists are...don't they know the Red Sox are trying to win the world series this year? They are fu-king everything up!
Bill Gertz has often printed major stories, though at the expense of breaching national security by blatantly compromising classified documents. In this instance, I'll have to wait for the Wash Times story to pass real judgment. However, the locales given ("northern Mexico" and "mountainous Arizona") and the time ("summer") leaves me cold.
The point is that the Germans went through Belgium, bypassing the Maginot line. You build a wall on the southern border they will come in via numerous other places.
Doesn't matter if they are Chechenese...But they are most certainly muzlims...An Egyptian muzlim terrorist is no different than a Saudi muzlim terrorist or a Chechen muzlim terrorist...
Speaks for itself.
"You are an absolute idiot if you think we can seal our thousands of miles of borders."
Yup, you're right, the task is impossible for us even though the Soviet Union did it and even though we are under threat of atomic terrorist attack, and even though new technologies abound, so no point in even trying.
We should continue our airport policy and continue to strip search grandma.
If this report is true, then we need President Bush more than ever!
Whatcha smoking? BUSH has done nothing but try to sneak thru legislation to legalize this pestilence. What do we need, another token increase in Border Patrol with their hands tied behind their backs? Sheesh.
I live in Northern Arizona, and I wrote to our Congressman Rick Renzi (R) about this very problem, and here is some of his reply:
"Congress must enact legislation to secure our borders from illegal immigration. Better equipment, more manpower, more aircraft, and directed budgetary resources are needed to curtail the flow of illegal immigrants. I strongly advocate the implementation of new border control measures that will emphasize the utilization of modern technologies and secure the border with a unmanned aerial vehilcle (UAV's) to monitor our border. UAV's assist Border Patrol agents in intercepting potential drug smugglers, human traffiker and foreign terrorists. These technologies will assist agents in their efforts to ensure that our border securtiy is not compromised."
I'd like to know what Congress is waiting for?!!!!
There is nothing to confirm it and they have had since July to find confirmation.
Maybe they found out after the fact from the Russians? Perhaps they turned up more disks in Iraq? Maybe Gertz just looked into his crystal ball? How dare you ask such a probing question! *sarcasm*
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