Flood Of Non-Speaking Middle Eastern Males Crossing Border

BushCountry.org ^

[CholeraJoe]

How dare you question the geniuses at "BushCountry.org" (whatever that is)?

Er...um...cause I know what the f*ck I'm talking about?

[Texas_Dawg]

Our local Border Patrol agents work their butts off, but until they get the manpower and logistics they need, its just an exercise in frustration for them and the residents of Cochise County.

What would they say if our federal government decided to just let them go, eliminated their positions, thanked them for their work, and sent them off into the private sector? Would they be able to handle that?

[conshack]

Forgive me but wouldn't an agent be protected under whistle blower status? Why would he or she remain anonymous? If the story is true, I do not appreciate the half-assed attempt at bringing the story to light. What's more important to this supposed BP Agent? His Country or his job?


Whistleblower protection is a joke. Even bigger joke if a beaurocrat can remotely tie it to national security. If this guys name is identified, his job is in jeopardy.

[philetus]

How Southern Arizona became home base for terror http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/news/31354.php Flight schools, hot climate, visa availability cited By Barrett Marson ARIZONA DAILY STAR Southern Arizona became the home to numerous radical Islamists in the early 1980s when they moved here and began raising money for Afghan freedom fighters, some experts say. Their anger and fund-raising efforts were redirected against the United States after America ended its financial and political efforts in Afghanistan as the Cold War with the Soviet Union began to thaw. People such as Wadi el-Hage, a personal assistant to Osama bin Laden who raised money in Tucson for the Afghan effort, did not cease raising cash because the United States withdrew its support of the Afghan mujahedeen, or holy warriors, said Harry Ellen, a Phoenix businessman and an FBI informant in the 1990s. "That helped radicalize them not only for their cause but against us, too," said Ellen, who met el-Hage several times. "We became a host that slapped their guest." El-Hage is now in federal prison for life after his conviction for conspiring to bomb two U.S. embassies in Africa. With the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the U.S. government took notice of the radical leanings held by some Arizona Muslims. A joint FBI-CIA analysis titled, "Arizona: Long Range Nexus for Islamic Extremists," likely explores the history of Tucson's rise to prominence among Muslim radicals but remains classified. Its existence was revealed in the bipartisan 9/11 commission's final report released Thursday. That leaves others to explore the reasons why Tucson and Arizona became a destination for Islamic fundamentalists. FBI spokeswoman Susan Herskovits would not talk specifically about the analysis but said Arizona offers numerous attractions that make it a destination for many Arabs, including legitimate scholars and law-abiding residents. The University of Arizona recruited Middle Easterners for its science programs, and Arizona's weather makes flight training schools popular. The desert climate reminds Middle Easterners of home. And Tucson's popularity spread through word of mouth, she said. "Once people from another culture end up in a place like Tucson, other people hear about it and want to be there," Herskovits said. In addition to el-Hage, Tucson and the Phoenix area have been home to numerous al-Qaida operatives, including: ● Hani Hanjour, who attended the UA and a flight school in the Phoenix area before piloting American Airlines 77 into the Pentagon on Sept. 11. ● Mubarak al Duri, who lived in Tucson and, according to the 9/11 commission's report, served as bin Laden's principal procurement agent for weapons of mass destruction. ● Wa'el Jelaidan, who was president of the Tucson Islamic Center in 1984-'85 and helped found al-Qaida later that decade. Most known or suspected terrorists seem to have been drawn to Tucson and Arizona by two lures - the availability of flight schools and student visas, said David D. Van Fleet, a professor and terrorism expert in the School of Management at Arizona State University. He said that may also explain why fund-raising organizations linked to bin Laden branched into certain U.S. cities with "little clusters" of Muslim extremists. The 9/11 commission reported that the al Khifa organization, which had branches in Tucson, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh and New York City, recruited American Muslims to fight in Afghanistan - including some who later took part in terrorist actions in the United States and against U.S. embassies in East Africa. That doesn't mean the UA or the state was "somehow fostering or festering these kinds of folks," Van Fleet said. "It's simply the convenience of where to get into a flight school or get into a country through a student visa." Activities of Muslim extremists have been detailed in two reports stemming from the Sept. 11 terror attacks - one by a joint congressional committee that released its report last year and another by the bipartisan commission that released its findings this week. Tucson and Arizona played prominent roles in both reports. Each contained high-profile sections related to a memo written in July 2001 by an FBI agent warning of Islamic extremists taking flight training classes in Arizona. And each detailed the prominent al-Qaida figures who had moved in and out of Arizona in the two previous decades. Ellen, a Muslim convert in the 1980s who lived in Ajo between 1975 and 1991, often visited the Islamic Center of Tucson to learn more about his adopted religion and culture to help in planned business dealings in Egypt, he said. He said he later gave information to the FBI on trips he made to meet with Palestinian leaders, including Yasser Arafat. While at the Islamic Center, Ellen gained a vast amount of knowledge about the Islamic community in Tucson, where he said he met el-Hage, al Duri and others who have played a part in al-Qaida or aroused the suspicion of the FBI. El-Hage and others rarely voiced extremist views, Ellen said. But they sometimes took exception to the political tones set in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. "When you did talk to them, they were angry about the politics of Egypt, they were angry about the politics of Saudi Arabia," he said. Bin Laden has often cited the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia as a reason for his war against America. Ellen fell out of favor with the FBI, however, in 1999. A U.S. Justice Department inspector general's investigation of how the Phoenix FBI office handled Ellen is continuing and is being run from the Tucson office, he said. Herskovits would not comment on the Ellen case. Ellen said Arabs are not only attracted to the Tucson area because of the hot weather and the UA, but also because of its low-key, out-of-the-way location. Los Angeles or New York, while big cities that have lots of amenities, don't provide the cover that Tucson offers. "They are not here to have fun," Ellen said. "In Tucson, clearly, they weren't being looked at." Karl Delaguerra, who runs an anti-terrorism training and threat-assessment firm in Tucson called the Palladium Group, said Tucson is very accepting of people with diverse backgrounds. That allows Muslim extremists and others to fly under the radar and not raise suspicion. "That is the kind of environment that radicalized individuals would be drawn to be able to operate quite freely," said Delaguerra, who has worked with the government on terrorism issues and studied Tucson's connections to terror. But Stuart Marsh, a professor at the UA's Arid Lands Resource Sciences program, scoffed at the notion that the university attracts a large number of radicals. "We have never had a student who was considered any kind of problem," Marsh said. "It's a bad rap." Whether Islamic extremists would continue to use Tucson as a base is unknown. But Ellen would not discount it. "No one would expect lightning," he said, "to come from the same source twice." ● Reporter Enric Volante contributed to this story.

[Texas_Dawg]

Why on earth do you think it isn't plausible?

Because hundreds of Syrians wouldn't last a second in Mexico before being asked what they are doing there... (if they had any clue how to get around in Mexico to begin with).

It only took 19 guys to destroy both WTC towers, attack the Pentagon, and kill a plane-load of people in a field in Pennsylvania. Let's say "only" 100 of them are here now, preparing for the next attack. That's 5x September 11.

Where is their money coming from? Do you know how much money it costs for 100 people to just live, travel, and train in the US for years without having jobs to support themselves so they were free to train (like with the 9/11 attackers)?

And if they're not close to any attacks here anytime soon, then why on earth did Tom Ridge recently remind us all to be alert, that they are hearing credible chatter, and that Al Q intends on hitting us here at home THIS YEAR, and specifically to interrupt our voting process? Was that just political, like the DemocRATS said, to deflect attention from Kerry choosing Edwards??

Yes. And more power to them. Whatever it takes to win so that we keep destroying Islamist terrorists and their networks, imho.

[JackelopeBreeder]

What would they say if our federal government decided to just let them go, eliminated their positions, thanked them for their work, and sent them off into the private sector? Would they be able to handle that?

A lot of them are already leaving voluntarily -- fed up with seeing the job they try to do constantly marginalized and sabotaged by girlie-men politicians.

[Texas_Dawg]

A lot of them are already leaving voluntarily

Good deal. Those are the ones I can respect. (Although I'm sure it has a lot to do with the private job market improving a lot lately and much more money to be made there. Which is understandable of them of course.)

fed up with seeing the job they try to do constantly marginalized and sabotaged by girlie-men politicians.

I have very little sympathy with people who choose to go work for the federal government and then bitch about it.

[conshack]

A lot of them are already leaving voluntarily -- fed up with seeing the job they try to do constantly marginalized and sabotaged by girlie-men politicians.

And most of the actual agents(boots on the ground types) are junior in grade and don't make enough to put up with the bull$hit.

[jonascord]

Just spit-balling here. Not based on anything other than imagination.

AFTER the Republican convention, security slacks off. In the last three years, let's say 10,000 have actually slipped across the border. Loaded with cash, handlers have parked 10 man teams in latino and arab neighborhoods from Portland Maine to Portland Oregon with a 100 mile exclusion zone around NYC. The INS can't get anyone to talk to them here, and since no one else is looking for them, and with Clinton's leftover DAs providing cover thru inaction, with them busy trying to keep guns out of schools, and suing towns to allow gay marriage, these teams are safe. They are fed, housed and equipped by these minders, with women imported under threat of death to keep them happy.

Let's say, on Labor Day weekend, with everyone in the world on the road, they all hop in trucks and vans and head to Manhattan. Coordinated with cellphones, and loaded with purchased weapons and home cooked explosives, at 12 noon on Monday, they blow the bridges onto the island, the electrical towers as well, and all the tunnels except the Holland. Remember, no one is at work, so the working city is empty. The residents on the island are paying $5,000 per month for an apartment and can't afford a gun to protect themselves. They own the heart of the Great Satanic City for the greater glory of Allah. If it only lasts for 24 hours, that's enough. How many "zionists" could they kill? Is the 10th MN Div still at Ft. Drum? Is the 2nd Marine Div still at Camp Lejeune? There is no one to mount an counterattack for 10 days to two weeks.

Could it happen?
Can Kerry win the election?
Would Bush lose because of such a thing?

It's a whole new world, and we are still trying to fight the last war, with last century's morality...

[Trident/Delta]

And why haven't they attacked us in 3 years, in your opinion?

Since your massive amount of intelligence on the matter is evident, allow me to offer that the 9/11 incident was planned for over 5 years. Given those details, If I were of a mind to establish a world-widw caliphate, which, by the way, is the stated goal of al-Qaeda, I would undertake several options. Most noteworthy, is the assimilation into the local population and focused efforts to alter the thought process of established residents.

Personally, I subscribe to a bit more of a tin-foil based probability. To wit: Last year, it was rumored in LE circles (I am a Police Officer) a plot that was referred to as "overkill". According to rumor, there were a several "kill teams" in some major cities. The plan was for the home invasion, totally at random, of homes in minority neighborhoods. Once there, everything is killed. Moms, Dads, kids, dogs, cats, birds fish, everything. The teams would hit 3 or 4 houses per city per night. The purpose was to alienate minorities by demonstrating that they weren't safe anywhere. That the government could not protect them.

now, if you extrapolate the impacts of the same MO in several major cities, the spectre of the DC sniper pales in comparison. The rumor has it that the FBI arrested one of the players in Cleveland who dropped dime on the whole program. There were several "LEO advisories" regarding potentials for home invasion.

But, I am certain that you will just issue some flip comment. It strikes me that you are of the opinion that our adversaries are somehow stupid or inept. That they would just rush across the border and do something. All that you demonstrate is that you have no concept of the nature of the threat that our country faces. Your handy little pithy remarks go far in establishing your bona fides as a true faux intellectual.

I recommend that you actually take the time to learn about our enemies. These are a people that feels the Crusades happened just last year. A people that won't move until they feel they have planned for all eventualities. The fact that their plans went sideways with Flight 93 just steels them to the focus to redouble thier planning efforts.

I have lived among these people for several years. I can assure you that your western mind cannot even begin to grasp the levels of hatred and their Machiavellian nature.

Now I am certain that you will say something slightly humorous that ends in some insult. But, that will only go towards proving my point.

Vaya con 'Dios, and Bon Chance.....

Semper Fi

[philetus]

Activists opposing Protect Arizona initiative

Protect Arizona Now is a "mean-spirited" initiative that would harm public health and safety, said Isabel Garcia, founder of Coalición de Derechos Humanos.

Alexis Mazón, an attorney representing opponents of the measure, disputed the study's findings.

[Texas_Dawg]

Not based on anything other than imagination.

Haha. Obviously.

Fwiw, there won't be any attack before the election. Even if they were capable of pulling it off currently (and they're not), they wouldn't do it in the US b/c the majority of Americans would go to GWB (who they already say they trust much more than Kerry on the terror issue) if that issue was suddenly pushed clearly to the forefront (as it was in Spain, where the majority hated Aznar (although until the attacks, they had dropped the Iraq issue further down the list and were willing to re-elect him on the good economy of theirs)).

If anything they will try to nuke an American base in Iraq or nuke Baghdad, since that is the one area they can affect where GWB is vulnerable. It is the only way I could see GWB losing at this point.

[conshack]

Good analogy. Something is going to happen. The logistic are yet to be seen. Texas Dawg is a refugee from DU and none of here on FR is going to educate him.

[Texas_Dawg]

It strikes me that you are of the opinion that our adversaries are somehow stupid or inept.

Not at all. I think many of them are absolutely brilliant, fwiw.

All that you demonstrate is that you have no concept of the nature of the threat that our country faces.

I do actually. That's why I support GWB so whole-heartedly.

[philetus]

Latino leaders: Our clout growing

The Associated Press


PHOENIX - The Hispanic community's political clout isn't proportional to the size of its population, but the nation's largest minority group is gradually gaining influence, several Latino leaders said yesterday.

Though politicians across the country are courting Hispanics, one of the Latino community's biggest political challenges is raising its voter turnout, said leaders at the National Council of La Raza's convention in Phoenix. The group is dedicated to promoting Latino issues.

Hispanic turnout is poor because of low voter interest, some Latinos aren't legal citizens and a significant portion of the community is too young to cast ballots, the leaders said.

"You have got immigrant groups that you are going to (have to) wait for the second generation, who always have a greater degree of participation than the first," said Alex Zermeno, board chairman for the Unity Council in Oakland, Calif.

Latinos, who vote at a lower percentage than other minority groups, should have a greater influence in many elections, said Adam J. Segal, director of the Hispanic Voter Project at Johns Hopkins University.

"The end result of this is that Hispanic voters have less true direct representation, and as a result their issues are not as focused on as they should be," Segal said from his office in Washington, D.C.

Though Hispanic political advances are happening at a slower pace than they should, Latinos are becoming more politically astute, even in places not thought of as bastions for Latinos, Segal said.

Latinos are gaining more influence across the nation, though the momentum is stronger in certain regions, said George Martinez, an official with the Oro Development Corp., a nonprofit agency in Oklahoma whose clients include migrant workers.

"The political clout in Oklahoma is not what we would like for it to be," Martinez said. "We are getting there slowly."

In a speech yesterday before the civil rights group, presumed Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry said Hispanics have values that made America strong. "You embody the American ideal," he said.

Ronnie Perez, a counselor from Phoenix, said he believes Hispanic clout is in line with the size of the country's Latino population, but that voter participation remains a big problem.

"(Hispanics) may not feel their vote makes a difference, and it's also that they may not feel that the issues that are currently being discussed are relevant to them," said Ruth Armendariz, recruiter for a bank.

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[Texas_Dawg]

Texas Dawg is a refugee from DU

I'm 100% behind GWB, fwiw (which most definitely cannot be said about Tom Tancredo fans and many here at FR).

[Trident/Delta]

Also, it hasn't gone unnoticed that your habit of using cute little smiley-face avatar/icons is an extremely popular over at DU.

Semper Fi

[Texas_Dawg]

Also, it hasn't gone unnoticed that your habit of using cute little smiley-face avatar/icons is an extremely popular over at DU.

I've never even been to DU.

I am 100% behind GWB. Numerous FReepers are not and loathe the man, including several regulars here.

[conshack]

I'm 100% behind GWB, fwiw (which most definitely cannot be said about Tom Tancredo fans and many here at FR).


Well TD, looks like you don't care much for us folks here on FR. Please go back to DU for all your information. GW will appreciate your vote though.

[JackelopeBreeder]

It's not just the junior agents -- a lot of the experienced "bush apes" are tossing it in.

There are about 800 agents here in Cochise County. They aren't just faceless green uniforms -- they're our friends and neighbors. They know they catch only about one in five, so that 905,000 they caught last year means about 3.6 million made it through safely. Your goobermint really doesn't want you to think about that, though...

"Press 1 for ingles..."