http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200608/NAT20060814a.html
"One of 8,000 Documents Gets Neighbors Past U.S. Border"
By Kevin Mooney
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
August 14, 2006
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "(CNSNews.com) - A freshman Republican congressman from Texas believes Canadian, Mexican and Caribbean visitors to the United States should be required to present a passport before they are allowed into the country, just as visitors from all other countries do.
Rep. Ted Poe said it is a "human impossibility" for border control agents to check the thousands of documents currently accepted as valid identification from those three locations.
"Right now anyone arriving from Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean Islands can get in based on one of 8,000 documents," Poe told Cybercast News Service. "They could include everything from baptismal certificates and birth certificates."
In the absence of "universal documentation," such as a passport, Poe is convinced that border agents are being asked to perform an impractical task at lawful entry points.
"The average border patrol agent takes about 22 seconds to determine whether or not someone is lawfully entering the U.S.," Poe said. "Sometimes they ask for paperwork, and sometimes they don't."
Poe noted that the 9/11 Commission called for mandatory passport usage by visitors from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean islands.
"For political reasons, this recommendation was not implemented," Poe said. "The Canadian government was very opposed.""
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http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewSpecialReports.asp?Page=/SpecialReports/archive/200608/SPE20060808a.html
"Illegals From Terror-Sponsoring Nations At Large in US"
By Kevin Mooney
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
August 08, 2006
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "(CNSNews.com) - Almost half of the illegal aliens arriving in the U.S. from terrorist-sponsoring or "special interest" nations in the past few years have been released into the American population following their apprehension. This key finding is published in an internal audit of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) obtained by Cybercast News Service .
The so-called "catch and release" policies have allowed more than 45,000 illegal aliens from countries that are well known for their anti-American views or considered "hotbeds of Islamic fundamentalism" to be freed.
U.S. Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas), in conversations with sheriffs operating along the Texas-Mexico border, learned that illegal aliens of Middle Eastern descent have been able to blend into the culture south of the U.S. border and pass themselves off as Mexicans.
"They learn Spanish and assimilate into the population," Poe said. "Coming across the Canadian border they would be more conspicuous."
The U.S. State Department's list of State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSTs), currently includes five countries -- Syria, Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Sudan. However, the DHS audit lists another category called Special Interest Countries (SICs).
At the moment there is no public list of SICs, however, information made available through the office of U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) indicates that countries with large Islamic fundamentalist populations such as the U.S.-liberated Afghanistan, Yemen and Saudi Arabia, are included on the State Department's SIC list."
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http://www.defenselink.mil/news/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=442
Terrorists Killed in Thwarted Attack on Afghan Soldiers
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Aug. 13, 2006 – An estimated 18 to 20 terrorist extremists died in a thwarted attack on an Afghan National Army command post in the Bermel district of Paktika province early this morning, military officials said.
Five ANA soldiers were killed and six were wounded when their unit received small-arms and rocket-propelled-grenade fire from a group of extremists. Three of the wounded soldiers suffered only minor wounds and were returned to duty after being treated on the scene. The three other wounded soldiers were evacuated by air to a coalition medical facility for treatment, officials said. No report was available on their condition.
The ANA unit, with a coalition embedded tactical training team attached, repelled the attack by directing mortar and artillery fire from nearby coalition bases.
“With the coalition’s assistance, Afghan national security forces are gaining long-term capability and presence in these areas to provide security and stability to the Afghan people,” said Lt. Col. Paul Fitzpatrick, spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force 76. “Steady progress is being made, and we will continue together to pursue the enemy wherever they try to hide.”
Meanwhile, Afghan and coalition forces continue operations in eastern Afghanistan to strengthen the government through an increased Afghan security presence and reconstruction and humanitarian aid assistance, officials said.
In other news from Afghanistan, a combined Afghan and coalition force killed three al Qaeda members and detained their three associates in an early morning raid Aug. 11 in Khowst province. Numerous AK-47 assault rifles with armor-piercing ammunition, along with grenades and other ordnance, were found at the location.
Fitzpatrick said the raid likely prevented more innocent Afghan civilian deaths, because these extremists “clearly had devious intentions to use these items to carry out violent acts.”
On Aug. 10, enemy extremists in Paktika province tried to abduct a truck driver who was delivering gravel to local villages in Zarghun Shahr district. The terrorist extremist ambushed the driver using small-arms fire. The driver was able to evade them and reported the incident to local authorities.
“This was not an attack against the coalition, or even against Afghan security forces,” Fitzpatrick said. “This was an attack against what we in America call “an average Joe” – a hardworking citizen, a man just trying to make a living, delivering gravel, that is part of this country’s reconstruction effort to improve lives, and get this country moving.”
(Compiled from Combined Forces Command Afghanistan news releases.)