• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

About that fence ....

Cal

Well-known member
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4263968.html

Oct. 17, 2006, 5:28PM
Border Patrol, lawmen outgunned by cartels
Homeland Security panel also says traffickers are forming ties with U.S.-based gangs


By MICHELLE MITTELSTADT
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

The U.S. Border Patrol and other law enforcement agencies at the U.S.-Mexico border are outgunned by increasingly ruthless and well-armed Mexican drug cartels, a new congressional report concludes.

"The cartels use automatic assault weapons, bazookas, grenade launchers and improvised explosive devices," the House Homeland Security oversight subcommittee report said. "In contrast, U.S. Border Patrol agents are issued 40-caliber Beretta semiautomatic pistols."

The report, scheduled to be released today by U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, said drug cartels are able to break the encryptions on Border Patrol and sheriffs' deputies' radios.

"Lookouts for the cartels, using military grade equipment, are positioned at strategic points on the U.S. side of the border to monitor movements of U.S. law enforcement," it continued.


Fear of terrorism
Even as the traffickers expand their drugrunning routes to smuggle immigrants into the United States, they are forming dangerous alliances with U.S.-based criminal gangs such as MS-13 and the Latin Kings, according to the congressional panel.

McCaul, whose district stretches into western Harris County, chairs the subcommittee.

The former federal prosecutor expressed concern that trafficking networks could use their delivery routes to smuggle terrorists or weapons of mass destruction into the U.S.

"The thing that keeps me up at night when I think 'What can we do to prevent another 9/11?' is that they own these delivery routes," he said in an interview Monday.

Hezbollah members already have entered the U.S. from Mexico, the report confirmed.

"As if narco-terrorist violence were not enough, extensions of Middle East terrorism have crept into the United States," the report stated. "Islamic radical groups that support Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamiya Al Gamat are all active in Latin America."

McCaul said he commissioned the report to bring focus to the national security threat and rising violence at the border, which has witnessed a spree of murders and kidnappings linked to warring drug cartels, particularly in Nuevo Laredo.

The federal government has added Border Patrol agents, detention beds and high-tech surveillance systems to deter illegal crossings, he said, with less attention to the border's other problems.

"We put billions of dollars in trying to stop the flow coming in, in a more reactive way, and what I'm suggesting is we also need to take a look at the other piece of this problem and identify what is the root cause and attack the root cause head on," he said. "In my view, the head of the snake is the cartels."

McCaul urged better intelligence gathering in Mexico and Latin America. And he called for greater cooperation with the Mexican government to crack down on the cartels.

Still, he acknowledged that expanding the partnership is difficult in light of persistent corruption in Mexican law enforcement ranks and the deadly attacks the cartels have launched on Mexican authorities.


Growing population
Citing federal estimates that the Border Patrol apprehends only 10 percent to 30 percent of illegal crossers, the report said as many as 10 million illegal immigrants may have entered the U.S. last year.

Estimates by the Pew Hispanic Center and other experts peg the illegal immigrant population in the U.S. at 11 million to 12 million.

And while federal law enforcement seized 1.1 million pounds of cocaine and 6.8 million pounds of marijuana, McCaul's staff estimated the total cocaine flow may have topped 11 million pounds.

"While the United States has taken positive steps to secure its borders, much more is needed to combat an increasingly powerful, sophisticated, organized and violent criminal network which seeks to move illegal contraband ... into our country for profit," the report concludes.

[email protected]
 

Cal

Well-known member
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/column.aspx?UrlTitle=back_door_to_terror&ns=OliverNorth&dt=10/20/2006&page=full&comments=true

Back door to terror
By Oliver North
Friday, October 20, 2006

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Since Sept. 11, 2001, Americans living along the U.S.-Mexican border have been warning that our porous frontier is a back door for terrorist entry into this country. Local, state and federal law enforcement officers, overwhelmed by the flow of human traffic across the border, have acknowledged the threat -- and been widely ignored by the mainstream media and "official" Washington. Last year, in little-noticed congressional testimony, FBI Director Robert Mueller revealed that "individuals from countries with known al Qaeda connections have attempted to enter the United States illegally using alien smuggling rings and assuming Hispanic appearances."

Now, thanks to the investigative reporting of my colleague at FOX News, correspondent William Lajeunesse, the monarchs of the media and the potentates on the Potomac can no longer ignore reality. Lajeunesse took the time to carefully digest a new staff report prepared by the House Committee on Homeland Security. It ought to be required reading for every reporter and official in Washington, D.C.

Titled "A Line in the Sand: Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border," the just-released report confirms what many have long suspected: Our border is a sieve, not a barrier, for radical Islamic terrorists transiting into the United States. The Investigations Subcommittee charges that from Sept. 11, 2001, to the present, hundreds of illegal aliens from countries "such as Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Pakistan and Afghanistan" were apprehended crossing into the United States.

But that's not all the bad news. Investigators also found:

-- In June 2006, seven Iraqis were caught in Brownsville, Texas;

-- In August, an Afghani man was caught crossing the Rio Grande into Texas;

-- Mueller has testified that a Hezbollah cell had been "dismantled" after officials discovered that the terror organization was smuggling operatives across the U.S.-Mexico border to carry out terror attacks inside the United States.

-- Individuals from countries with known al Qaeda connections have changed their Islamic surnames and adopted false Hispanic identities in order to escape detection and blend into American society.

-- Radical Islamic groups that support Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamiya Al Gamat are all active in Latin America.

All that is bad enough, but the bombshell -- as reported by Lajeunesse and confirmed in the congressional report -- is the role being played by Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez. It's well known that the oil-rich Marxist in Caracas has been busy spreading his anti-American "Bolivarian Revolution" throughout our southern hemisphere. But this investigation now concludes that Chavez's nefarious deeds go well beyond a weapons-buying spree and efforts to manipulate elections in Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua.

According to the congressional report, "Venezuela is providing support --including identity documents -- that could prove useful to radical Islamic groups The Venezuelan government has issued thousands of cedulas, the equivalent of Social Security cards, to people from places such as Cuba, Colombia and Middle Eastern nations that host foreign terrorist organizations." These documents can be used to obtain Venezuelan passports and American visas, which in turn allow the holder to elude immigration checks and enter the United States.

Nothing in the report comes as a surprise to Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.). His new book, "In Mortal Danger: The Battle for America's Border and Security," is full of anecdotal information that substantiates the charges made by the House Homeland Security Committee staff. Tancredo notes that a group of Pakistanis were recently apprehended at the U.S.-Mexican border with fraudulent Venezuelan documents.

Somehow, most of this has eluded the crack journalists who purport to write and report "news" for our so-called mainstream media. Even Agence France-Presse took notice that al Qaeda had established a "clandestine travel service" south of the border to help move operatives into the United States. Though American pundits have been quick to accuse citizen organizations like the Minutemen of being "vigilantes" or worse, the people with the poison pens have paid scant attention to the realities contained in this report -- most of which was already in the public domain.

Doubters who cannot accept how essential it is to plug the holes in our southern frontier should read this report and wake up to a clear and present danger. For those who still have trouble understanding, the concluding lines of Section III on Page 32 should suffice: "Given the ever-present threat posed by al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations -- a threat that has been underscored by the recent events in London and the vulnerability of our borders -- the need for immediate action to enforce our borders could not be more apparent."

Oliver North is the founder and honorary chairman of Freedom Alliance and author of The Assassins .
 
Top