Resident Finds Backpack w/Arabic Notebook (short Title)

The Sierra Vista Herald | February 12, 2003 | Bill Hess

[HiJinx]

On his property, resident finds backpack
containing diary with Arabic writing

By Bill Hess
Herald/Review

Hereford, AZ -- It is not unusual to find backpacks near their home, but a local man and his wife were surprised to find one that contained a diary written in Arabic.

Click to see a (much) larger scan of this photo.

Walter Kolbe said he was chasing some javelinas away from his home Thursday when he stumbled upon the backpack. He said he brought it home and didn't think much about the find.

He and his wife, May, went away for the weekend. When they returned Sunday, his wife's curiosity led her to look into the backpack. That's when she discovered the diary.

A path used by illegal immigrants is on their property, which is on the east side of the San Pedro River, Walter said.

"I found it (the backpack) about a hundred yards from the house, near a barbed-wire fence," he said. "I was just going to throw it in the trash."

After his wife went through the backpack, which included dirty clothing, they decided not to discard the material because of the diary.

Most of the writing was in Arabic, though there was some Spanish writing in it as well, May Kolbe said.

Looking through the small book, she noticed two names and telephone numbers -- one listing in Canada and the other Iran -- and confirmed the beginning numbers were the international codes for those two countries.

Walter Kolbe called the FBI on Monday morning and agreed to bring the diary by the local office the next time he was in Sierra Vista. The FBI representative also told him that if the agent with responsibility for terrorism investigation thought the diary was important they would make arrangements to pick it up.

Such turned out to be the case. An agent called Tuesday and said they would show up to pick up the material, which they did that morning.

The Kolbes said they wonder how many Middle Eastern people are coming into the United States illegally.

Rob Daniels, a spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson Sector, said he is not allowed to talk about the number of non-Mexicans his agency detains.

"We can't get into specifics about the number," Daniels said.

Mario Villarreal, (sic) a spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol headquarters in Washington, D.C., said 99.4 percent of the 955,310 people apprehended by the agency from Oct. 1, 2001, through Sept. 30, 2002, were from the Americas, which includes Canada, Mexico and other Central and South American nations. The remainder comes from 140 countries, he said.

"Because of 9-11 (the terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001) there has ben restrictions and guidelines when talking about special interest countries," he said.

The decision not to be specific about how many people come from the Middle East is a directive of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, he said.

However, the Border Patrol continues to seek information about illegal immigrants and individuals are encouraged to call (877) 872-7435.

[cavtrooper21]

True, but our liberty has been slowly eroded in the last 4 decades, and we have not really been "at war" the entire time, have we. The Constution will not steer us back, people who belive in what it says and the freedoms that it represents will.

[Spiff]

WorldNetDaily has picked up the story here.

[American in Israel]

Now, now. You know the Constitution doesn't protect whatever group Freepers set their eyes on.

How about you actualy read the Constitution. Notice how it does not match the current government much at all? Notice how the first and second admendments are both null and void? How about the part on taxation?

There is only enough left of the Constitution to put sheeple to sleep at this point, and for liberal idiots to rant and wave in the air as they enslave America.

Tell me, how does the Constitution protect the rights of illegal immigrants oh so wise-arse one?

And you know there's no legitimate reason anyone in the United States would ever use a non-Latin alphabet. Must be terrorists. Gotta be.

It is the inside America part you missed, Oh Blind leading the blind one. The indications that this backpack was just another ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT leave behind, like all the others, that are so often found on this freeway to Americas Heartland.

You are so clueless it would be funny if it was any other country than my own... Study how Hitler enslaved Germany dude, and then compare it to America today. You are nine tenths the way down the road to destruction and still, you party...

Tell me, if racial profiling is so horrible that we search 80 year old grannys and take away their nail clippers when they get on planes, how come they let the GROUP of Middle Eastern MEN with RAZORS get on a plane the other day? What a Maroon...

[aeronca]

bump and thanks (my sister lives in Sierra Vista)

[American in Israel]

No, Illbay doesn't think the Constitution should be shredded. He is against that. That was the point he was making.

Actually Ill Bay has a long time history of being pro-Palestinian and terrorist. Just do a search on his posts. He was trying to get the sheep to go back to sleep because it is easier for him and his buddies to have their way with them.

But we do not have to worry, because the INS intercepts around 10% of the Illegals, and that only makes 1200 Arab Jihadists in the country this year. What the heck can only a handfull of terrorists do anyway?

[American in Israel]

But then, why station the tanks at the borders when we can post them on every street corner instead.

Bingo! The only reason to place tanks in airports is to train sheep. What are they going to do, drive a tank on the plane and arrest someone?

There are no tanks in the streets of Jerusalem, yet Israel's Calender looks like this:

In times of war you do not occupy your own land and disarm your own people. This is how you use tanks:

I like the way Israel uses tanks. Britain could take a few lessons in freedom from the Jews.

[Caesar Soze]

"Wise-arse?" My 80-year-old grandfather can flame better than that. Your response showed all the focus of a Vaseline-smeared camera lens, the sharpness of a children's bowling ball, and all the applicability to my post of a random selection of quotes from Bill Murray movies (though not the wit). You prove Godwin's Law faster than, I suspect, even Godwin believed possible. You refer to one aspect of a story from an internet news/opinion website, ignoring the fact that the story presented several alternate version of events, because only one of them happened to suit your agenda.

In any case, it is quite obvious to me you didn't bother reading the messages to which I was responding. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, and assume you don't want to criminalize the practice of a major religion in America, and I'll give you this advice. If you want to have intelligent conversations, please try to keep up. If you want to flame people, spend a few weeks on alt.flame or FYAD and pick up some techniques.

Ta!

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Excellent posting effort for a scary topic - ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION ALERT!

[Cultural Jihad]

I have to question the wisdom of publishing a picture of the Arabic writing without first knowing what it might say.

[Cultural Jihad]

Thanks for the political cartoons. The first one hits really hard.

[fishtank]

Did you get the translation of the text?

[HiJinx]

Thanks for the link to the WND article. That's the first thing I saw when I logged on this morning. Pretty quick on the uptake, eh?

[Spiff]

By the way, this Hawkeye turned in 5 border intruders this morning on my way to work. Met up with Glenn Spencer, verified the SBIs location and then flagged down the Border Patrol. They're getting a hot meal and a free ride home today.

[HiJinx]

You da' Man!

[American in Israel]

Typical, all flame and no content. Kinda like lighting a fart. I was not flaming you, I was pointing out you have no idea what you are talking about by aluding to some glaring political points, but it seems you missed that.

The "Constitutional" government you want me to salute because you ran it up the flag pole? The gun banning, child aborting, all religions are taught in school but bibles are banned, while the people are taxed in the grave for giant political party, but don't smoke, and wear your seatbelt and helmet, dont dare cut your own trees or build anything on your own land without paying your fees, and taxes, and asking mother may I paint my house green and vote for republicrats or democraps "constitutional" government?

This thread was about Arabic terrorists sneaking over the borders, not about religion Until YOU labeled terrorists an endangerd religious practice. Do you know something WE don't know Mohamad?

Substance over form, try it sometime...

[Polly]

It has now been a few weeks since they found the backpack. Has anyone heard if any genius translated what is written in the notebook?

[SandRat]

Thought you should know. KVOA TV in Tucson finally did a video story on this on the 2200 Evening News on Sunday Night. No idea if the other stations did one. FreeRepublic beat the major media by 18 days on this.

FreeRepblic Scoops Major Media once more!!!

[HiJinx]

From Monday night's (03/03/03) Sierra Vista Herald/Review:

SIERRA VISTA -- Some of the Arabic writing found in a diary (2/12/03...HJ) of an apparent illegal immigrant was the poetic ramblings of a man who had a less than successful relationship with a woman.

Phoenix FBI spokeswoman Susan Herskovits said the contents of the diary found by Walter Kolbe on Feb. 6 on his property "is not of concern to the FBI."

While most of the writing was in Arabic, some was in Spanish.

Walter's wife, May, said she could read some of the Spanish, noting one phrase, "Go with God," was used. The phrase is a common expression in Hispanic culture.

Herskovits said while the contents of the diary are of no concern, someone entering the United States illegally is a matter of concern to the FBI and an investigation is continuing to see if the writer can be found. Two telephone numbers were written in the diary -- one of a listing in Iran and the other in Canada.

**snip**

So, a lovelorn illegal isn't a terrorist, right? Susan Herskovits probably can't say what else is going on in the investigation...at least, I hope there's more going on in the investigation..