SUICIDE OF THE WEST WATCH -- DUTCH BISHOP BIDS CHRISTIANS PRAY TO ALLAH
GrassTopsUSA Exclusive Commentary
By Don Feder
08-27-07
Even for the Dutch – tolerant to the point of national suicide -- it was a tad much.
Martinus “Tiny” Muskens, Catholic bishop of Breda, told a television audience that Catholics should pray to Allah, as a way to ease tensions with their Islamic neighbors.
“Allah is a very beautiful word for God. Shouldn’t we all say that from now on we will name God Allah?” asked the bishop who spent 8 years in Muslim Indonesia. (Our Allah who art in heaven, hallowed be thy jihad?)
The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) thought the prelate’s proposal a capital idea. “It reinforces the fact that Muslims, Christians and Jews worship the same God,” CAIR Spokes-thug Ibrahim Hooper told FOXNews.com. Then, why don’t Muslims begin praying in the name of Jesus, or use the Hebrew word Adonai (Lord) in their prayers?
Just for a change, why don’t Muslims do something to ease tensions? They fly planes into buildings, kidnap and behead, assassinate, try to blow up airliners and spread the most vile hatred imaginable – and it’s our job to reassure them.
“What does God care what we call Him? It is our problem,” Muskens declared. Hooper agreed, “I don’t think the name is as important as the belief in God and following God’s moral principles.” If Hooper said that in Islamabad, Riyadh, or Cairo – he’d be stoned to death by his ecumenically minded co-religionists. FYI: CAIR’s adherence to “God’s moral principles” may be seen in its status as an un-indicted co-conspirator in the federal trial of the Holy Land Foundation for aiding Hamas, now in progress.
If there’s nothing in a name, why didn’t Joshua order that on entering the Holy Land, the God of Israel would henceforth be known as Baal, to facilitate relations with the Canaanites? Why did Jesus instruct his disciples to pray in his name?
My friend Bill Donohue, the tough-talking president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights said the bishop “can pray to ‘Allah’ all he wants, but only addlepated Catholics will follow his lead.”
A poll in De Telegraaf, the largest paper in the Netherlands, found 92% of the Dutch opposed to the bishop’s bootlicking.
The papers were filled with comments like “Sure. Let’s call God Allah. Let’s call a church a mosque.” Hollanders can also pray toward Mecca, dress their women in burquas and beat them when they’re “disobedient.” Why go half-way?
After the 2004 murder of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh by a homegrown jihadist, the Dutch are starting to reassess their anything-goes ethos.
In a 2006 opinion survey, 63% said the Religion of Peace is incompatible with modern European life, 68% felt threatened by “immigrant or Muslim young people,” 53% feared a terrorist attack by Dutch Muslims and 47% believed that at some point in their lives, Holland would be governed by Islamic law.
In 1955, John Wayne made “Blood Alley,” a movie about a shipload of Chinese villagers dodging danger as they fled the Chi-Coms. Along with France, Germany and the United Kingdom, the Netherlands is beginning to look like Allah Alley.
Due to immigration and procreation, Dutch Muslims have gone from 22,000 in 1973 to more than 1 million today, roughly 6% of the population. In March, the Dutch government announced a 10 million Euro program to combat the radicalization of Muslim youth. The methods to be employed weren’t specified. Presumably, they will not include buying prayer rugs for Catholics.
Besides the slaughter (literally) of Van Gogh - because he had the temerity to do a documentary on the abuse of women under Islam - last November, four Dutch Muslims were convicted of plotting a terror campaign.
The ringleader, Samir Azzouz, had prepared a suicide video intended to “strike terrible fear into the Dutch people.” The cell’s targets included Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and former MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who renounced Islam and helped Van Gogh with his film.
In December, 2004, the Dutch Ministry of the Interior released a 60-page report titled “From Dawa (proselytizing) To Jihad,” which conservatively estimated that there are 50,000 Islamic radicals amongst the tulips and windmills.
According to the report, the Saudis have financed a number of mosques and Islamic organizations (never a good sign), including Amsterdam’s Tawheed mosque, where Van Gogh’s killer prayed, and whose imam refers to Christians and Jews as “kindling for hell fire.” Now there’s a good-will gesture for you – one guaranteed to ease tensions.
The report rated the ability of Dutch society to resist Islamic extremism “low,” though this seems to be improving. It also noted that the Dutch Muslim community is particularly susceptible to radical influences.
Like Romans in the dying days of the empire, Europeans have let barbarians in the gates, with predictable consequences. There are an estimated 20 million Muslims in Europe today. The percentage of Muslims in the population of the European Union doubled between 1995 and 2005.
Go to any major city in Western Europe and see who’s pushing strollers with two and three children. It won’t be Babette, Anka or Inga. In Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Brussels, the most popular name for baby boys is Mohammed – not in honor of the American boxer.
The birthrate of European Muslims is three times that of their non-Muslim counterparts (the latter well below replacement level). In less than 20 years, it’s estimated that one-third of all European children will be born into Moslem families. By 2050, one in every five Europeans will pray to the same god as Osama bin Laden and the Iranian ayatollahs.
Some Europeans are fatalistic.
An October 25, 2006 article published in The Brussels Journal quotes German author Henryk M. Broder, who told the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant that young Europeans who don’t want to live under a Caliphate should leave while they still can. Sitting on a balcony in Berlin, pointing to passersby, the author sadly commented, “We are watching the world of yesterday.”
Others choose accommodation, and even consider themselves heroic innovators for their pathetic gestures – like Britain’s Booby Prince Charlie, who says that instead of “Defender of the Faith” (a traditional title of British monarchs), he prefers to think of himself as “Defender of the Faiths.” (Why not skip the interim step and go directly to “commander of the faithful”?) This after a conspiracy of Muslim doctors tried to blow up a number of his mum’s subjects in July.
Less sanguine is a French-born rabbi serving a synagogue in Brussels. Writing in The Jerusalem Post last October, Rabbi David Meyer confessed: “I am frightened not just by the anti-Semitism, but by the collective European response of indifference and appeasement. Today, Europe worships compromise. It is ‘fanatical’ in its non-violence. It is a Europe that, in the face of Islamic fanaticism, is ready to stay silent” – or suggest that we all begin praying to the god of jihad.
“By refusing to truly battle the Islamist ideology, by refusing to firmly and consistently oppose the dangers of Iranian nuclear proliferation, by refusing to support Israel in its battle against the menace of Hezbollah, Europe is saying everything is ‘negotiable’” – even the faith of its fathers.
Goodbye, Christendom. Hello, Caliphate. Allah – what a beautiful way to say “I give up; please don’t hurt me!”
It’s fun to chuckle at the Europeans – feckless, faithless, gutless. But America too is on a suicide watch, thanks to the treason of the elites.
· In September, New York City will open the first public school for Arabic-speaking students. One can imagine a typical math lesson: If Ahmed can saw through flesh and bone at the rate of an inch a minute, how many Zionists can he decapitate in an hour?
· In May, the Department of Homeland Security announced a $15,000 grant to the Islamic Society of Baltimore, to help upgrade its security system. This is part of a $24-million program to aid non-profit organizations “deemed high-risk for a potential international terrorist attack.” Why international terrorists – who aren’t exactly Presbyterians – would want to attack American mosques is a mystery. The ever-helpful CAIR (which sits on the FBI’s community advisory board) is encouraging Islamic organizations to belly up to the bar. Giving an anti-terrorism grant to a mosque is like airport security doing a pat-down on an octogenarian nun, while expediting the boarding process for a flying imam.
· In June, The Detroit News reported that the University of Michigan-Dearborn will spend $25,000 to install “foot-washing stations” on campus, to facilitate Muslim religious practice. That the university is a public institution apparently presents no problem for the “church/state separation” crowd. This at a time when college administrators – at public and private institutions – are busy removing crosses from chapels and renaming Christmas parties.
· At its winter meeting, the Democratic National Committee was led in prayer by Imam Husham Al-Husainy of the Dearborn, Mich. Karbalaa Islamic Education Center. The Imam asked Allah to: “So guide us to the right path. The path of the people you bless, not the path of the people you doom.” According to the Koran, Islam is “the path of the people you bless,” while other religions are the “path of the people you doom.” The dumb Democrats didn’t realize they were praying for their own conversion. And, if they did, would it have mattered?
· The State Department has issued visas to hundreds of fundamentalist Muslim clerics, who come from countries like Egypt, Pakistan and Jordan – areas of intense Al Qaeda activity - many of them recent graduates of Saudi-supported Wahhabi seminaries. Law enforcement agencies are urging the State Department to exercise more discretion here. But Condoleezza Rice’s boys are determined to prove to the Islamic world just how much we love that old religion of peace. (The Secretary of State calls Islam a “religion of peace and love,” and has referred to Hamas as a “resistance movement.”) Come to the land of opportunity, where the streets are paved with explosives! Come on over and create more Jose Padillas.
· To honor the heroes of Flight 93, the brave passengers who fought back against 9/11 hijackers, by an act of Congress, our government is creating a national memorial in the shape of the Islamic crescent, which is called (I kid you not) “The Crescent of Embrace.” While the architect who designed this multicultural monstrosity maintains there’s no religious symbolism, if you stood facing the middle of the half-mile wide crescent, you would be almost exactly oriented toward Mecca. Tom Burnett Sr. – father of one of the Flight 93 heroes – says he won’t allow his son’s name to be used on a memorial that incorporates the faith of the killers. Imagine the uproar if they’d designed the World War II memorial in the shape of a giant swastika.
In the past, I’ve referred to contemporary leftists as residents of the Happy Land of Make-Believe, where the real world isn’t allowed to intrude on comforting delusions. In her new book, “The Death of the Grown-Up,” Diana West has another name for it – “dreampolitik” – an entrenched reality-avoidance which characterizes many of the ‘60s generation, who are frozen in an adolescent time-warp.
You’ll encounter them at Starbucks, ordering their favorite environmentally friendly beverage. You’ll see them zipping around town in their VWs, plastered with “War is Not The Answer” bumper-stickers. What is the answer, anyway – surrender, submission, slavery, self-destruction?
As he prepares for dhimmitude (the inferior status of unbelievers) in the coming Caliphate, Bishop Muskens may have forgotten that a year ago the people he’s trying to appease by adopting the name of their god were threatening to kill the head of his church.
When Benedict XVI quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor to the effect that everything wasn’t groovy with the creed of the Prophet, Muslims from Jakarta to London were chanting “Death to the Pope,” and burning in effigy the spiritual leader of a billion Roman Catholics.
To show just how offended they were by the suggestion that Islam is violent, they shot a nun in Somalia, firebombed a number of West Bank churches and murdered some Hindus (who never imagined they were agents of the Vatican).
Despite the pope’s repeated apologies, an Iraqi gang predicted, “The day is coming when the armies of Islam will destroy the ramparts of Rome.” (They already have a beachhead and unwitting fifth-columnists to facilitate the conquest.) When it comes to Islam and every other religion, sensitivity and magnanimity are a one-way street.
To accommodate Islam, praying in the name of Allah may not go far enough. In the ultimate gesture of solidarity with those of the jihad persuasion, perhaps infidels should start cutting off their own heads – following the good example of the Bishop of Breda.
http://www.grasstopsusa.com/df082707.html
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Okay While I agree that not all muslims are bad or out to kill us (if they were we'd be dead already), but I do think great caution is needed and stricter enforcement of our laws and borders to keep the crazies out. Many immigrants refuse to adapt to new laws and society, so they form little clusters where they speak a different language, go by their own beliefs, and hide from society. We need to prevent this as clusters only breed hate, distrust, fundemental beliefs.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
U.S. soldiers befriend Iraqi children
U.S. soldiers befriend Iraqi children
Kids unafraid of gentle giants with body armor, dark glasses, weaponry--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: August 29, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
Matt Sanchez
Editor's note: U.S. media coverage of the Iraq War focuses almost exclusively on the latest terror incidents and politics, but very little on the amazing on-the-ground reality of what the U.S. military is accomplishing there.
Reporter Matt Shachez, currently embedded in Iraq with the 1st Squadron 4th Cavalry out of Fort Riley, Kan. – the 1-4 Cav – has been providing WND readers with a glimpse into the Iraq war most Americans have never heard from a press increasingly hostile to the war effort.
In this, his second dispatch from the front lines, Sanchez takes readers into the Dora neighborhood of Southern Baghdad. Despite its being one of the bloodiest and most dangerous neighborhoods in Iraq's capital city, Sanchez discovers genuine hope for the future in the midst of war.
By Matt Sanchez
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
BAGHDAD, Iraq – It was a very nice street. The residents of Dora came out as the 1-4 Cav walked down the mostly paved road.
Paving a road is a good sign of safety in Baghdad, where deep-buried IEDs are deadliest. An Army staff sergeant explained how the terrorists liked to burn tires over a pressure-plate IED and set it off under an unsuspecting Humvee. This street had no pressure plates, but plenty of residents who had felt the pressure of day-to-day life.
An English-speaking man in his mid-40s was one of the first to greet Lt. Col. James Crider and his men. He was animated but welcoming, even when he complained that he had waited in line and got no propane. Propane was the main means of cooking in Baghdad and throughout Iraq. During the Saddam era, propane, gasoline and electricity were given out in a type of spoils system. With United Nations sanctions imposed over several years, the era following the first Persian Gulf War was a difficult one for the people of Iraq, but several older Iraqis pointed to the Iran-Iraq war of '79-'88 as the beginning of the downward trend in living standards. Ration cards and long waits were the only means for securing the essentials. No ration – no gas, propane or other amenities. Thereafter, the black market was your only option, and that put you in the vulnerable illegal sphere that more and more Iraqis entered as the arrival of American forces became inevitable.
Baghdadis still have their ration cards for when benzene (gas) and propane are legally available. It is difficult to explain shortages in oil products for a country that has some of the largest known oil reserves in the world, but then, neither can one readily explain the scarce usage of solar panels in an area renowned for soaring heat. After security, distribution of goods – especially oil, propane and benzene – is the second greatest problem. There's an oil refinery not far from the neighborhood. Only after interviewing Iraqi government officials, Coalition forces and everyday Iraqis does it become understandable how essential goods make it to the general populace.
"Someone" at the MOI – Ministry of the Interior – is supposed to supply "someone" with a truck and make contact with "someone" in the neighborhood so necessities like propane can make it to "someone" in Dora. There is this constant criticism that Baghdad functioned just fine before the invasion, but nothing could be further from the truth.
Lt. Col. Crider cut through the red tape and sent trucks to the refinery to escort a delivery of propane back to the neighborhood. It was the first legal supply of propane these residents had seen in months. When the trucks arrived, the lines were filled with men, women and children. Each had a banged-up and well-used container and a ration card, to guarantee they got only one serving for personal use. The idea was to prevent people from buying too much for the purpose of reselling it a higher price. The price was set, so the 1-4 Cav asked both the vendors and the buyers how much they had paid.
Dora is the traditional home to a rapidly decreasing Iraqi Christian population. I entered a Christian home and was very surprised to see an image of Madonna and Child. Half-joking, I asked the owner of the house, "where did you all come from?" She said, "We've been here for over a thousand years. Welcome."
Despite high unemployment, Iraqis seem to possess plenty of cash. In fact, Iraqis are known for purchasing their homes in cash, a habit that has not changed even after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
The man who approached the 1-4 Cav got no propane. He said the trucks had run out of it before he reached the head of the line. In perfect English, he jokingly said he was the "Iraqi Omar Sharif" and invited me to take a picture of him. His story was like that of many who had stayed after Saddam's fall. He had been an international basketball referee during a time when Iraq had a love for the sport. Old, neglected basketball courts still stand in a country that is now prone to playing soccer. The "ref" was a Sunni man; he called Dora home since the mid-'70s. Wanting to prove he was a real Dora resident, he proudly introduced me to his son, a man in his late 20s who had grown up in the area.
Nature's gifts can skip a generation. Where the referee was suave and relaxed, the son was fidgety, awkward. They both spoke English and the son insisted on telling me about what he considered to be the main threat in Iraq. To my right, another Iraqi who said he was a professional photographer joined the gathering group of neighbors.
"Iran, it is Iran – these guys will kill all Iraqis and they run this government. It is Iran that is the biggest threat."
I asked him if he was afraid because of the violence in the area, but he said no, that he was willing to fight for his country.
"Do you blame Americans for this situation?"
He paused and said: "I blame America for not letting us, some of the people like me, defend ourselves against the real threat and some of the bad people who are running the government."
Throughout Iraq, there is frustration with the central government. The Sunnis of Anbar complain they are ignored, the Sunnis of Baghdad fear they may be getting too much attention. Shias will say the central government has done nothing, that Saddam is gone and was supposed to be the sole stumbling block between an isolated nation and an emancipated Iraq.
The referee's son looked around, unsure as to whether he would come to regret his words. He calmed down. He had a degree from the University of Baghdad and was looking for work. As he wondered aloud what he could do for the military, the children began to gather around us and someone gave him information on becoming an interpreter.
Iraqi kids are plentiful, and unabashed by the presence of American military. Back home, only 1 percent of the population serves in the armed forces. In some places, like Manhattan, New York, where I live, it's possible to never meet someone who has served in the military. The typical Iraqi has had far greater contact with the U.S. military than the everyday American citizen. The military, for better or worse, will leave an impression on the Iraqi people, especially the young ones who eagerly want to talk to Americans. Some kids want footballs, others will insist on chocolate, but what is striking is how unafraid the children are of towering soldiers in complete body armor, dark glasses and imposing weaponry.
Despite it being a time of war, paradoxically the Fertile Crescent is still vibrant, and the proof of rejuvenation is in the abundant presence of young kids at all levels of society. Children in Iraq laugh a lot and entertain themselves with the simplest of toys – but all activity stops when the Americans come to town.
The kids especially like to pose for cameras, so I've had no shortage of young children asking me to take their picture. They pose with their friends and ask questions that I mostly don't understand, but that doesn't seem to bother them. One sign of how the Iraqis see their future: Older children will hold up their sibling toddlers for a photo – picture perfect.
On one block, the 1-4 Cav is such a frequent guest that the children follow them around. Despite the heat, heavy body armor and the constant threat of enemy attack, I have never seen a member of the military lose his or her temper – even when the kids on occasion can be annoying, they'll just walk away.
In a country where the culture will naturally spin toward exaggeration, children are one of the few barometers of an honest, direct answer. I talked to one young boy who insisted on a picture (the girls are far more shy):
"Are you in school?" He nodded.
"What do you want to be when you grow up?" "I want to be a doctor."
The boy was 13 years old and living in a country that had many problems, but beyond imagination children know no boundaries. Tomorrow, this child will inherit an Iraq that is built – or destroyed – today.
Iraq is filled with doctors, engineers, teachers. As with many totalitarian governments, particularly in developing nations, the push was to create a workforce that could maintain a nation wishing to modernize. In the '60s and '70s, as the cost per barrel of oil rocketed, Iraq was poised to become a new, modern state. Universities quickly turned out engineers and teachers, the way a baker places loaves of bread on a shelf. Even before the beginning of hostilities in Iraq, many of Iraq's educated class left the country for a better life in Jordan or Syria for higher pay and a better life.
"Where do you want to live? Do you want to leave Iraq?" "No, I want to live here in my neighborhood."
"Who are you afraid of?"
The child spoke of bullets flying down the streets.
"Are you afraid of Americans?"
"I love them!"
"Why?"
"Because they don't shoot at us."
Before the 1-4 Cav placed the giant Texas Barriers at the end of streets like Airplane Road, bullets from the neighborhood across the freeway could hit someone, anyone, on the other side. Afraid, parents kept their kids indoors, and the fact that so many children were now outside was a vote of confidence that the situation was changing – for the better.
Recently, bullets were not the only problem. Someone had thrown a hand grenade at one of the Humvees. With a violent whack that sounds nothing like the slow-motion Hollywood explosions, the deadly grenade ricocheted underneath the truck and detonated. No one was harmed.
On the streets, we saw a young man with a bandage on his head. He looked uncomfortable when Crider asked him if he wanted his medic to look at the wound. Like many young men in the neighborhood, this resident wore a soccer shirt and seemed a lot like anyone else, except for the bandage on his head. It takes two witnesses who are willing to fill out a report to arrest someone for suspicion of terrorism. The lieutenant colonel did not intend to arrest the man whose eyes never left the sidewalk, but he was very clear in his message to the man.
"You don't want to get involved with the bad guys in this neighborhood." Most believe the "hardcore" irreconcilables are few, and that some young men like to attack American forces out of boredom, quick cash or a test of male bravado.
The scouts of the 1-4 Cav had nothing to prove, they had taken enemy fire in the past and enjoyed the current peace. After each successful mission, one of the smokers smeared a smiley face on to a wall with the butt of his cigarette. What looked like a swath of fuzzy marks from afar was actually the running total of missions without incident. But like many things seen from a distance, the real details only became clear from close up.
Kids unafraid of gentle giants with body armor, dark glasses, weaponry--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: August 29, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
Matt Sanchez
Editor's note: U.S. media coverage of the Iraq War focuses almost exclusively on the latest terror incidents and politics, but very little on the amazing on-the-ground reality of what the U.S. military is accomplishing there.
Reporter Matt Shachez, currently embedded in Iraq with the 1st Squadron 4th Cavalry out of Fort Riley, Kan. – the 1-4 Cav – has been providing WND readers with a glimpse into the Iraq war most Americans have never heard from a press increasingly hostile to the war effort.
In this, his second dispatch from the front lines, Sanchez takes readers into the Dora neighborhood of Southern Baghdad. Despite its being one of the bloodiest and most dangerous neighborhoods in Iraq's capital city, Sanchez discovers genuine hope for the future in the midst of war.
By Matt Sanchez
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
BAGHDAD, Iraq – It was a very nice street. The residents of Dora came out as the 1-4 Cav walked down the mostly paved road.
Paving a road is a good sign of safety in Baghdad, where deep-buried IEDs are deadliest. An Army staff sergeant explained how the terrorists liked to burn tires over a pressure-plate IED and set it off under an unsuspecting Humvee. This street had no pressure plates, but plenty of residents who had felt the pressure of day-to-day life.
An English-speaking man in his mid-40s was one of the first to greet Lt. Col. James Crider and his men. He was animated but welcoming, even when he complained that he had waited in line and got no propane. Propane was the main means of cooking in Baghdad and throughout Iraq. During the Saddam era, propane, gasoline and electricity were given out in a type of spoils system. With United Nations sanctions imposed over several years, the era following the first Persian Gulf War was a difficult one for the people of Iraq, but several older Iraqis pointed to the Iran-Iraq war of '79-'88 as the beginning of the downward trend in living standards. Ration cards and long waits were the only means for securing the essentials. No ration – no gas, propane or other amenities. Thereafter, the black market was your only option, and that put you in the vulnerable illegal sphere that more and more Iraqis entered as the arrival of American forces became inevitable.
Baghdadis still have their ration cards for when benzene (gas) and propane are legally available. It is difficult to explain shortages in oil products for a country that has some of the largest known oil reserves in the world, but then, neither can one readily explain the scarce usage of solar panels in an area renowned for soaring heat. After security, distribution of goods – especially oil, propane and benzene – is the second greatest problem. There's an oil refinery not far from the neighborhood. Only after interviewing Iraqi government officials, Coalition forces and everyday Iraqis does it become understandable how essential goods make it to the general populace.
"Someone" at the MOI – Ministry of the Interior – is supposed to supply "someone" with a truck and make contact with "someone" in the neighborhood so necessities like propane can make it to "someone" in Dora. There is this constant criticism that Baghdad functioned just fine before the invasion, but nothing could be further from the truth.
Lt. Col. Crider cut through the red tape and sent trucks to the refinery to escort a delivery of propane back to the neighborhood. It was the first legal supply of propane these residents had seen in months. When the trucks arrived, the lines were filled with men, women and children. Each had a banged-up and well-used container and a ration card, to guarantee they got only one serving for personal use. The idea was to prevent people from buying too much for the purpose of reselling it a higher price. The price was set, so the 1-4 Cav asked both the vendors and the buyers how much they had paid.
Dora is the traditional home to a rapidly decreasing Iraqi Christian population. I entered a Christian home and was very surprised to see an image of Madonna and Child. Half-joking, I asked the owner of the house, "where did you all come from?" She said, "We've been here for over a thousand years. Welcome."
Despite high unemployment, Iraqis seem to possess plenty of cash. In fact, Iraqis are known for purchasing their homes in cash, a habit that has not changed even after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
The man who approached the 1-4 Cav got no propane. He said the trucks had run out of it before he reached the head of the line. In perfect English, he jokingly said he was the "Iraqi Omar Sharif" and invited me to take a picture of him. His story was like that of many who had stayed after Saddam's fall. He had been an international basketball referee during a time when Iraq had a love for the sport. Old, neglected basketball courts still stand in a country that is now prone to playing soccer. The "ref" was a Sunni man; he called Dora home since the mid-'70s. Wanting to prove he was a real Dora resident, he proudly introduced me to his son, a man in his late 20s who had grown up in the area.
Nature's gifts can skip a generation. Where the referee was suave and relaxed, the son was fidgety, awkward. They both spoke English and the son insisted on telling me about what he considered to be the main threat in Iraq. To my right, another Iraqi who said he was a professional photographer joined the gathering group of neighbors.
"Iran, it is Iran – these guys will kill all Iraqis and they run this government. It is Iran that is the biggest threat."
I asked him if he was afraid because of the violence in the area, but he said no, that he was willing to fight for his country.
"Do you blame Americans for this situation?"
He paused and said: "I blame America for not letting us, some of the people like me, defend ourselves against the real threat and some of the bad people who are running the government."
Throughout Iraq, there is frustration with the central government. The Sunnis of Anbar complain they are ignored, the Sunnis of Baghdad fear they may be getting too much attention. Shias will say the central government has done nothing, that Saddam is gone and was supposed to be the sole stumbling block between an isolated nation and an emancipated Iraq.
The referee's son looked around, unsure as to whether he would come to regret his words. He calmed down. He had a degree from the University of Baghdad and was looking for work. As he wondered aloud what he could do for the military, the children began to gather around us and someone gave him information on becoming an interpreter.
Iraqi kids are plentiful, and unabashed by the presence of American military. Back home, only 1 percent of the population serves in the armed forces. In some places, like Manhattan, New York, where I live, it's possible to never meet someone who has served in the military. The typical Iraqi has had far greater contact with the U.S. military than the everyday American citizen. The military, for better or worse, will leave an impression on the Iraqi people, especially the young ones who eagerly want to talk to Americans. Some kids want footballs, others will insist on chocolate, but what is striking is how unafraid the children are of towering soldiers in complete body armor, dark glasses and imposing weaponry.
Despite it being a time of war, paradoxically the Fertile Crescent is still vibrant, and the proof of rejuvenation is in the abundant presence of young kids at all levels of society. Children in Iraq laugh a lot and entertain themselves with the simplest of toys – but all activity stops when the Americans come to town.
The kids especially like to pose for cameras, so I've had no shortage of young children asking me to take their picture. They pose with their friends and ask questions that I mostly don't understand, but that doesn't seem to bother them. One sign of how the Iraqis see their future: Older children will hold up their sibling toddlers for a photo – picture perfect.
On one block, the 1-4 Cav is such a frequent guest that the children follow them around. Despite the heat, heavy body armor and the constant threat of enemy attack, I have never seen a member of the military lose his or her temper – even when the kids on occasion can be annoying, they'll just walk away.
In a country where the culture will naturally spin toward exaggeration, children are one of the few barometers of an honest, direct answer. I talked to one young boy who insisted on a picture (the girls are far more shy):
"Are you in school?" He nodded.
"What do you want to be when you grow up?" "I want to be a doctor."
The boy was 13 years old and living in a country that had many problems, but beyond imagination children know no boundaries. Tomorrow, this child will inherit an Iraq that is built – or destroyed – today.
Iraq is filled with doctors, engineers, teachers. As with many totalitarian governments, particularly in developing nations, the push was to create a workforce that could maintain a nation wishing to modernize. In the '60s and '70s, as the cost per barrel of oil rocketed, Iraq was poised to become a new, modern state. Universities quickly turned out engineers and teachers, the way a baker places loaves of bread on a shelf. Even before the beginning of hostilities in Iraq, many of Iraq's educated class left the country for a better life in Jordan or Syria for higher pay and a better life.
"Where do you want to live? Do you want to leave Iraq?" "No, I want to live here in my neighborhood."
"Who are you afraid of?"
The child spoke of bullets flying down the streets.
"Are you afraid of Americans?"
"I love them!"
"Why?"
"Because they don't shoot at us."
Before the 1-4 Cav placed the giant Texas Barriers at the end of streets like Airplane Road, bullets from the neighborhood across the freeway could hit someone, anyone, on the other side. Afraid, parents kept their kids indoors, and the fact that so many children were now outside was a vote of confidence that the situation was changing – for the better.
Recently, bullets were not the only problem. Someone had thrown a hand grenade at one of the Humvees. With a violent whack that sounds nothing like the slow-motion Hollywood explosions, the deadly grenade ricocheted underneath the truck and detonated. No one was harmed.
On the streets, we saw a young man with a bandage on his head. He looked uncomfortable when Crider asked him if he wanted his medic to look at the wound. Like many young men in the neighborhood, this resident wore a soccer shirt and seemed a lot like anyone else, except for the bandage on his head. It takes two witnesses who are willing to fill out a report to arrest someone for suspicion of terrorism. The lieutenant colonel did not intend to arrest the man whose eyes never left the sidewalk, but he was very clear in his message to the man.
"You don't want to get involved with the bad guys in this neighborhood." Most believe the "hardcore" irreconcilables are few, and that some young men like to attack American forces out of boredom, quick cash or a test of male bravado.
The scouts of the 1-4 Cav had nothing to prove, they had taken enemy fire in the past and enjoyed the current peace. After each successful mission, one of the smokers smeared a smiley face on to a wall with the butt of his cigarette. What looked like a swath of fuzzy marks from afar was actually the running total of missions without incident. But like many things seen from a distance, the real details only became clear from close up.
Now Arizona law chases illegals out
Now Arizona law chases illegals out
'I would say we are losing at least 100 people a day'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: August 29, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
A new Arizona state law to require employers to verify the immigration status of employees is being blamed – and credited – for chasing illegal aliens out of the state.
It's the second such development in just the last week: WND reported earlier how a new Oklahoma law requiring the deportation of arrested illegal aliens was prompting an exodus from that state.
The developments are the result of state actions already launched when a brokered plan in the U.S. Senate to create a path to legal residency for the millions of illegal aliens in the country collapsed.
The new report comes from the Arizona Republic, which said the state's strong economy has been a magnet for illegal aliens for years, but the law is looming on Jan. 1.
"I would say we are losing at least 100 people a day," Elias Bermudez, founder of Immigrants Without Borders and host of a daily talk-radio program aimed at undocumented immigrants, told the newspaper.
The report said it's impossible to count exactly how many illegal aliens have fled because of the new law, but interviews with immigrant advocates, community workers and real-estate agents confirm the number is significant.
"Some are moving to other states, where they think they will have an easier time getting jobs," the report said. "Others are returning to Mexico, selling their effects and putting their houses on the market."
The report said the number is expected to mushroom as the deadline approaches.
"This is exactly what it is supposed to do. (Illegal aliens) have no business being here, none," said state Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, an architect of the law to sanction employers. "Shut off the lights, and the crowd will go home. I hope they will all self-deport."
Companies found in violation of the ban on knowingly hiring unauthorized workers face a 10-day business license suspension on the first offense. A second offense could mean they would be ordered to shut down permanently.
But others say the state's economy will pay a price for the sanctions.
"If these workers leave, it's going to hurt the economy and put the state at an economic disadvantage with other states," Judith Gans, program manager for immigration policy at the University of Arizona, told the newspaper.
Said Ann Seiden, of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, "Nobody is going to be untouched by the ramifications of this law." Her organization is among a group that has gone to court to try to block the law.
The newspaper said a study released in July forecast economic output would drop annually by at least $29 billion, or 8.2 percent, if all non-citizens, which include illegal aliens, were removed from Arizona's workforce.
An estimated 14 percent of the 2.6 million workers in Arizona are foreign-born; about two-thirds of non-citizens are undocumented, officials said.
Officials say construction, manufacturing and agriculture in Arizona depend on immigrant labor, both legal and illegal, because the native-born population is aging and more highly educated.
Gans said frustration with illegal aliens "is understandable," but the state could hurt itself with its actions.
But Pearce said, "Whatever adjustment takes place in the market, it will be worth it."
State Sen. Robert Burns, R-Peoria, said the problem could be resolved with more ways for immigrants to enter the U.S. legally, but only the federal government can make those changes.
The state, he said, must act because people are "fed up with illegal immigration."
"I wouldn't wish hardship on anybody and I don't want the economy to go south, but maybe we need a jolt to show people what's going on," Burns said.
The newspaper reported Abel Ledezma, a telephone technician from Mexico's Chihuahua state, holds a work permit but his fiancée is undocumented, so Ledezma is selling his house.
"I feel like the people's attitudes towards not only immigrants but also Hispanics has become very rude," he told the newspaper.
Another illegal alien, identified only as Adrian by the newspaper, said he's undocumented and plans to return to Mexico as soon as he can sell a parcel of land he owns in Tonopah.
"Yes, we are desperate to leave the moment I sell my property," Adrian told the newspaper. He's a foreman for a building company. But he's worried. "There is a lot of uncertainty. I supervise five workers, and the boss told us they are going to be checking the documents of each worker."
Real estate listings surpassed 52,000, up 17 percent from a year ago, officials added.
In Oklahoma, a law that mandates deportation for illegal aliens who are arrested and limits benefits for others is being blamed – or credited – with the departure of thousands of Hispanics.
A report from KTUL television in Tulsa said authorities are making their preparations for a full enforcement of the law when it takes effect in November.
Deputies from the Tulsa County sheriff's office are going through training to handle the apprehension and deportation procedures that are being set up. Their training will prepare them to handle the multiple duties of deputy sheriff as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
When they are finished they will be prepared to identify illegal aliens who commit crimes, and make sure they are deported.
On the television station's forum page, a listener suggested: "We need to put up more signs that say: OKIES don't hate illegal immigrants they just want them legal! Deport all illegal immigrants now."
The Republican who wrote HB 1804, Randy Terrill of Moore, said the plan doesn't discriminate, harass or single out anyone, unless they are breaking the law.
"This isn't about whether you are for or against immigration, or for or against immigrants. It doesn't matter what your skin color is or if you speak with an accent. What matters is if you are in the country legally or illegally. The only people threatened by House Bill 1804 are those who choose to break the law," he said.
'I would say we are losing at least 100 people a day'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: August 29, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
A new Arizona state law to require employers to verify the immigration status of employees is being blamed – and credited – for chasing illegal aliens out of the state.
It's the second such development in just the last week: WND reported earlier how a new Oklahoma law requiring the deportation of arrested illegal aliens was prompting an exodus from that state.
The developments are the result of state actions already launched when a brokered plan in the U.S. Senate to create a path to legal residency for the millions of illegal aliens in the country collapsed.
The new report comes from the Arizona Republic, which said the state's strong economy has been a magnet for illegal aliens for years, but the law is looming on Jan. 1.
"I would say we are losing at least 100 people a day," Elias Bermudez, founder of Immigrants Without Borders and host of a daily talk-radio program aimed at undocumented immigrants, told the newspaper.
The report said it's impossible to count exactly how many illegal aliens have fled because of the new law, but interviews with immigrant advocates, community workers and real-estate agents confirm the number is significant.
"Some are moving to other states, where they think they will have an easier time getting jobs," the report said. "Others are returning to Mexico, selling their effects and putting their houses on the market."
The report said the number is expected to mushroom as the deadline approaches.
"This is exactly what it is supposed to do. (Illegal aliens) have no business being here, none," said state Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, an architect of the law to sanction employers. "Shut off the lights, and the crowd will go home. I hope they will all self-deport."
Companies found in violation of the ban on knowingly hiring unauthorized workers face a 10-day business license suspension on the first offense. A second offense could mean they would be ordered to shut down permanently.
But others say the state's economy will pay a price for the sanctions.
"If these workers leave, it's going to hurt the economy and put the state at an economic disadvantage with other states," Judith Gans, program manager for immigration policy at the University of Arizona, told the newspaper.
Said Ann Seiden, of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, "Nobody is going to be untouched by the ramifications of this law." Her organization is among a group that has gone to court to try to block the law.
The newspaper said a study released in July forecast economic output would drop annually by at least $29 billion, or 8.2 percent, if all non-citizens, which include illegal aliens, were removed from Arizona's workforce.
An estimated 14 percent of the 2.6 million workers in Arizona are foreign-born; about two-thirds of non-citizens are undocumented, officials said.
Officials say construction, manufacturing and agriculture in Arizona depend on immigrant labor, both legal and illegal, because the native-born population is aging and more highly educated.
Gans said frustration with illegal aliens "is understandable," but the state could hurt itself with its actions.
But Pearce said, "Whatever adjustment takes place in the market, it will be worth it."
State Sen. Robert Burns, R-Peoria, said the problem could be resolved with more ways for immigrants to enter the U.S. legally, but only the federal government can make those changes.
The state, he said, must act because people are "fed up with illegal immigration."
"I wouldn't wish hardship on anybody and I don't want the economy to go south, but maybe we need a jolt to show people what's going on," Burns said.
The newspaper reported Abel Ledezma, a telephone technician from Mexico's Chihuahua state, holds a work permit but his fiancée is undocumented, so Ledezma is selling his house.
"I feel like the people's attitudes towards not only immigrants but also Hispanics has become very rude," he told the newspaper.
Another illegal alien, identified only as Adrian by the newspaper, said he's undocumented and plans to return to Mexico as soon as he can sell a parcel of land he owns in Tonopah.
"Yes, we are desperate to leave the moment I sell my property," Adrian told the newspaper. He's a foreman for a building company. But he's worried. "There is a lot of uncertainty. I supervise five workers, and the boss told us they are going to be checking the documents of each worker."
Real estate listings surpassed 52,000, up 17 percent from a year ago, officials added.
In Oklahoma, a law that mandates deportation for illegal aliens who are arrested and limits benefits for others is being blamed – or credited – with the departure of thousands of Hispanics.
A report from KTUL television in Tulsa said authorities are making their preparations for a full enforcement of the law when it takes effect in November.
Deputies from the Tulsa County sheriff's office are going through training to handle the apprehension and deportation procedures that are being set up. Their training will prepare them to handle the multiple duties of deputy sheriff as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
When they are finished they will be prepared to identify illegal aliens who commit crimes, and make sure they are deported.
On the television station's forum page, a listener suggested: "We need to put up more signs that say: OKIES don't hate illegal immigrants they just want them legal! Deport all illegal immigrants now."
The Republican who wrote HB 1804, Randy Terrill of Moore, said the plan doesn't discriminate, harass or single out anyone, unless they are breaking the law.
"This isn't about whether you are for or against immigration, or for or against immigrants. It doesn't matter what your skin color is or if you speak with an accent. What matters is if you are in the country legally or illegally. The only people threatened by House Bill 1804 are those who choose to break the law," he said.
U.S. under U.N. law in health emergency
U.S. under U.N. law in health emergency
Bush's SPP power grab sets stage for military to manage flu threats
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: August 28, 2007
11:15 p.m. Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
David Nabarro is new U.N. system influenza coordinator
The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America summit in Canada released a plan that established U.N. law along with regulations by the World Trade Organization and World Health Organization as supreme over U.S. law and set the stage for militarizing the management of continental health emergencies.
The "North American Plan for Avian & Pandemic Influenza" was finalized at the SPP summit last week in Montebello, Quebec.
At the same time, the U.S. Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, has created a webpage dedicated to avian flu and has been running exercises in preparation for the possible use of U.S. military forces in a continental domestic emergency involving avian flu or pandemic influenza.
With virtually no media attention, in 2005 President Bush shifted U.S. policy on avian flu and pandemic influenza, placing the country under international guidelines not specifically determined by domestic agencies.
The policy shift was formalized Sept. 14, 2005, when Bush announced a new International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza to a High-Level Plenary Meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, in New York.
The new International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza was designed to supersede an earlier November 2005 Homeland Security report that called for a U.S. national strategy that would be coordinated by the Departments of Homeland Security, Health and Agriculture.
The 2005 plan, operative until Bush announced the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, directed the State Department to work with the WHO and U.N., but it does not mention that international health controls are to be considered controlling over relevant U.S. statutes or authorities.
Under the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, Bush agreed the U.S. would work through the U.N. system influenza coordinator to develop a continental emergency response plan operating through authorities under the WTO, North American Free Trade Agreement and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
WND could find no evidence the Bush administration presented the Influenza Partnership plan to Congress for oversight or approval.
The SPP plan for avian and pandemic influenza announced at the Canadian summit last week embraces the international control principles Bush first announced to the U.N. in his 2005 International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza declaration.
The SPP plan gives primacy for avian and pandemic influenza management to plans developed by the WHO, WTO, U.N. and NAFTA directives – not decisions made by U.S. agencies.
The U.N.-WHO-WTO-NAFTA plan advanced by SPP features a prominent role for the U.N. system influenza coordinator as a central international director in the case of a North American avian flu or pandemic influenza outbreak.
In Sept. 2005, Dr. David Nabarro was appointed the first U.N. system influenza coordinator, a position which also places him as a senior policy adviser to the U.N. director-general.
Nabarro joined the WHO in 1999 and was appointed WHO executive director of sustainable development and health environments in July 2002.
In a Sept. 29, 2005, press conference at the U.N., Nabarro made clear that his job was to prepare for the H5N1 virus, known as the avian flu.
Nabarro fueled the global fear that an epidemic was virtually inevitable.
In response to a question about the 1918-1919 flu pandemic that killed approximately 40 million people worldwide, Nabarro commented, "I am certain there will be another pandemic sometime."
Nabarro stressed at the press conference that he saw as inevitable a worldwide pandemic influenza coming soon that would kill millions.
He quantified the deaths he expected as follows: "I'm not, at the moment at liberty to give you a prediction on numbers, but I just want to stress, that, let's say, the range of deaths could be anything from 5 to 150 million."
In a March 8, 2006, U.N. press conference that was reported on a State Department website, Nabarro predicted an outbreak of the H5N1 virus would "reach the Americas within the next six to 12 months."
On Feb. 1, 2006, NORTHCOM hosted representatives of more than 40 international, federal and state agencies for "an exercise designed to provoke discussion and determine what governmental actions, including military support, would be necessary in the event of an influenza pandemic in the United States."
NORTHCOM and other governmental websites document the growing role the Bush administration plans for the U.S. military to be involved in continental domestic emergencies involving health, including avian flu and pandemic influenza.
NORTHCOM participated in a nationwide Joint Chiefs of Staff-directed exercise – code-named Exercise Ardent Sentry 06 – to rehearse cooperation between Department of Defense and local, state and federal agencies, as well as the Canadian government.
A pandemic influenza crisis was one of the four scenarios gamed in Exercise Ardent Sentry 06, involving a scenario of a plague in Mexico reaching across the border into Arizona and New Mexico.
As has been customary in SPP documents and declarations, the Montebello, Canada, announcement of the North American Plan for Avian & Pandemic Influenza acknowledges in passing the sovereignty of the three nations.
The announcement says, "The Plan is not intended to replace existing arrangements or agreements. As such, each country's laws are to be respected and this Plan is to be subordinate and complementary to domestic response plans, existing arrangements and bilateral or multilateral agreements."
Still, the SPP plan argues the risk from avian and pandemic influenza was so great to North America that the leaders of the three nations were compelled "to work collectively and with all levels of government, the private sector and among-non-governmental organizations to combat avian and pandemic influenza."
Moreover, the SPP plan openly acknowledges, "The WHO's international guidance formed much of the basis for the three countries' planning for North American preparedness and response."
WND previously reported NORTHCOM has been established with a command center at Peterson Air Force Base, tasked with using the U.S. military in continental domestic emergency situations.
WND also has reported President Bush signed in May two documents, National Security Presidential Directive-51 and Homeland Security Presidential Directive-20, which give the office of the president extraordinary powers to declare national emergencies and to assume near-dictatorial powers.
Following the Montebello summit last week, the SPP North American Plan for Avian & Pandemic Influenza was published on a made-over SPP homepage redesigned to feature agreements newly reached by trilateral bureaucratic working groups.
Bush's SPP power grab sets stage for military to manage flu threats
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: August 28, 2007
11:15 p.m. Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
David Nabarro is new U.N. system influenza coordinator
The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America summit in Canada released a plan that established U.N. law along with regulations by the World Trade Organization and World Health Organization as supreme over U.S. law and set the stage for militarizing the management of continental health emergencies.
The "North American Plan for Avian & Pandemic Influenza" was finalized at the SPP summit last week in Montebello, Quebec.
At the same time, the U.S. Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, has created a webpage dedicated to avian flu and has been running exercises in preparation for the possible use of U.S. military forces in a continental domestic emergency involving avian flu or pandemic influenza.
With virtually no media attention, in 2005 President Bush shifted U.S. policy on avian flu and pandemic influenza, placing the country under international guidelines not specifically determined by domestic agencies.
The policy shift was formalized Sept. 14, 2005, when Bush announced a new International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza to a High-Level Plenary Meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, in New York.
The new International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza was designed to supersede an earlier November 2005 Homeland Security report that called for a U.S. national strategy that would be coordinated by the Departments of Homeland Security, Health and Agriculture.
The 2005 plan, operative until Bush announced the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, directed the State Department to work with the WHO and U.N., but it does not mention that international health controls are to be considered controlling over relevant U.S. statutes or authorities.
Under the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, Bush agreed the U.S. would work through the U.N. system influenza coordinator to develop a continental emergency response plan operating through authorities under the WTO, North American Free Trade Agreement and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
WND could find no evidence the Bush administration presented the Influenza Partnership plan to Congress for oversight or approval.
The SPP plan for avian and pandemic influenza announced at the Canadian summit last week embraces the international control principles Bush first announced to the U.N. in his 2005 International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza declaration.
The SPP plan gives primacy for avian and pandemic influenza management to plans developed by the WHO, WTO, U.N. and NAFTA directives – not decisions made by U.S. agencies.
The U.N.-WHO-WTO-NAFTA plan advanced by SPP features a prominent role for the U.N. system influenza coordinator as a central international director in the case of a North American avian flu or pandemic influenza outbreak.
In Sept. 2005, Dr. David Nabarro was appointed the first U.N. system influenza coordinator, a position which also places him as a senior policy adviser to the U.N. director-general.
Nabarro joined the WHO in 1999 and was appointed WHO executive director of sustainable development and health environments in July 2002.
In a Sept. 29, 2005, press conference at the U.N., Nabarro made clear that his job was to prepare for the H5N1 virus, known as the avian flu.
Nabarro fueled the global fear that an epidemic was virtually inevitable.
In response to a question about the 1918-1919 flu pandemic that killed approximately 40 million people worldwide, Nabarro commented, "I am certain there will be another pandemic sometime."
Nabarro stressed at the press conference that he saw as inevitable a worldwide pandemic influenza coming soon that would kill millions.
He quantified the deaths he expected as follows: "I'm not, at the moment at liberty to give you a prediction on numbers, but I just want to stress, that, let's say, the range of deaths could be anything from 5 to 150 million."
In a March 8, 2006, U.N. press conference that was reported on a State Department website, Nabarro predicted an outbreak of the H5N1 virus would "reach the Americas within the next six to 12 months."
On Feb. 1, 2006, NORTHCOM hosted representatives of more than 40 international, federal and state agencies for "an exercise designed to provoke discussion and determine what governmental actions, including military support, would be necessary in the event of an influenza pandemic in the United States."
NORTHCOM and other governmental websites document the growing role the Bush administration plans for the U.S. military to be involved in continental domestic emergencies involving health, including avian flu and pandemic influenza.
NORTHCOM participated in a nationwide Joint Chiefs of Staff-directed exercise – code-named Exercise Ardent Sentry 06 – to rehearse cooperation between Department of Defense and local, state and federal agencies, as well as the Canadian government.
A pandemic influenza crisis was one of the four scenarios gamed in Exercise Ardent Sentry 06, involving a scenario of a plague in Mexico reaching across the border into Arizona and New Mexico.
As has been customary in SPP documents and declarations, the Montebello, Canada, announcement of the North American Plan for Avian & Pandemic Influenza acknowledges in passing the sovereignty of the three nations.
The announcement says, "The Plan is not intended to replace existing arrangements or agreements. As such, each country's laws are to be respected and this Plan is to be subordinate and complementary to domestic response plans, existing arrangements and bilateral or multilateral agreements."
Still, the SPP plan argues the risk from avian and pandemic influenza was so great to North America that the leaders of the three nations were compelled "to work collectively and with all levels of government, the private sector and among-non-governmental organizations to combat avian and pandemic influenza."
Moreover, the SPP plan openly acknowledges, "The WHO's international guidance formed much of the basis for the three countries' planning for North American preparedness and response."
WND previously reported NORTHCOM has been established with a command center at Peterson Air Force Base, tasked with using the U.S. military in continental domestic emergency situations.
WND also has reported President Bush signed in May two documents, National Security Presidential Directive-51 and Homeland Security Presidential Directive-20, which give the office of the president extraordinary powers to declare national emergencies and to assume near-dictatorial powers.
Following the Montebello summit last week, the SPP North American Plan for Avian & Pandemic Influenza was published on a made-over SPP homepage redesigned to feature agreements newly reached by trilateral bureaucratic working groups.
ICE reassigns agents to customs
ICE reassigns agents to customs
By Sara A. Carter
August 29, 2007
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Immigration and Customs Enforcement criminal investigators will no longer be involved in immigration work site enforcement or conduct checks for illegal alien prisoners.
Almost 1,000 ICE Office of Investigations agents will be reassigned exclusively to customs investigations, reducing the manpower involved in detention and removal of illegal aliens to 4,000 nationwide, according to documents obtained by The Washington Times and interviews with ICE union representatives.
ICE officials refused to comment on the internal documents or clarify the number of investigators that are to be reassigned.
The Washington Times has obtained an internal August memorandum written by ICE Office of Investigations Director Marcy Forman and Director John P. Torres, with Detention and Removal Operations (DRO), listing the new protocols for the agency.
Prior to the memorandum, the Office of Investigations worked hand in hand with Detention and Removal agents to remove and deport illegal alien absconders.
"[Detention and Removal] is a rapidly expanding program with the responsibility for ensuring that all removable aliens are detained in a safe environment and expeditiously removed from the United States. DRO has the responsibility for detaining and removing illegal aliens apprehended by ICE, [Customs and Border Protection] and, as resources allow, other law enforcement entities," states the Aug. 20 memo. "It is the vision of ICE for DRO to assume primary responsibility for non-investigative administrative arrests, for example, state and local law enforcement response to interdiction of immigration violators or probation and parole referrals."
Resources and manpower, however, are scarce, ICE agents say.
"They're just not there," said Jim Brown, a spokesman for American Federation of Government Employees. "Again, the bottom line is our folks are going to work this to the best of their ability, but the agency is leaving us short by not providing staff and resources. I don't think our members will be able to carry out that mission. Eventually, something is going to give."
The agency's interior enforcement strategy has long been criticized for not addressing the millions of illegal aliens living and working in the United States.
Since September 11, critics argue that the government has committed far too few resources and agents to the task. Adding to the problem, critics say, is the absence of real sanctions on employers who hire illegal aliens but rarely face charges or fines.
"Despite the costs, the country's interior-enforcement program historically has been neglected and understaffed," Michael W. Cutler, a retired U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services senior agent and criminal investigator, told The Times in a 2004 article. "We have only been given the illusion of making a serious effort to enforce our immigration law."
Mr. Brown touted similar complaints.
Before the August memo, roughly 5,000 federal agents were assigned to the task of detecting, detaining and deporting millions of foreign nationals.
With the removal of the criminal investigative agents from internal enforcement, "ICE will be left with 4,000 agents nationwide to handle the estimated 12 million people here illegally, and that's just not enough," said Mr. Brown, who is also an agent with the Fugitive Operation unit.
Rep. Ted Poe, Texas Republican and outspoken critic of lax immigration enforcement, said resources need to be allocated to ensure the removal of criminal illegal aliens from the U.S.
"It lacks wisdom to take 20 percent of your work force who know how to deal with criminal detainees — experienced officers — and make grapefruit inspectors out of them," Mr. Poe said.
For example, Mr. Brown said, only 14 new officers were reassigned in June to assist with the jail program for all six of the New England states. The jail program allows ICE agents to root out illegal aliens from being released into the U.S.; instead the violators are extradited back to their home country.
Mr. Brown points to a former illegal alien parolee charged in the early August killing of three New Jersey college students as an example of why more agents are needed. The suspect had been granted bail on child rape charges unknown to immigration officials.
"We don't have the manpower to do all the checks," Mr. Brown said. "It's just not there, and we may see the same situation like Newark happening again."
By Sara A. Carter
August 29, 2007
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Immigration and Customs Enforcement criminal investigators will no longer be involved in immigration work site enforcement or conduct checks for illegal alien prisoners.
Almost 1,000 ICE Office of Investigations agents will be reassigned exclusively to customs investigations, reducing the manpower involved in detention and removal of illegal aliens to 4,000 nationwide, according to documents obtained by The Washington Times and interviews with ICE union representatives.
ICE officials refused to comment on the internal documents or clarify the number of investigators that are to be reassigned.
The Washington Times has obtained an internal August memorandum written by ICE Office of Investigations Director Marcy Forman and Director John P. Torres, with Detention and Removal Operations (DRO), listing the new protocols for the agency.
Prior to the memorandum, the Office of Investigations worked hand in hand with Detention and Removal agents to remove and deport illegal alien absconders.
"[Detention and Removal] is a rapidly expanding program with the responsibility for ensuring that all removable aliens are detained in a safe environment and expeditiously removed from the United States. DRO has the responsibility for detaining and removing illegal aliens apprehended by ICE, [Customs and Border Protection] and, as resources allow, other law enforcement entities," states the Aug. 20 memo. "It is the vision of ICE for DRO to assume primary responsibility for non-investigative administrative arrests, for example, state and local law enforcement response to interdiction of immigration violators or probation and parole referrals."
Resources and manpower, however, are scarce, ICE agents say.
"They're just not there," said Jim Brown, a spokesman for American Federation of Government Employees. "Again, the bottom line is our folks are going to work this to the best of their ability, but the agency is leaving us short by not providing staff and resources. I don't think our members will be able to carry out that mission. Eventually, something is going to give."
The agency's interior enforcement strategy has long been criticized for not addressing the millions of illegal aliens living and working in the United States.
Since September 11, critics argue that the government has committed far too few resources and agents to the task. Adding to the problem, critics say, is the absence of real sanctions on employers who hire illegal aliens but rarely face charges or fines.
"Despite the costs, the country's interior-enforcement program historically has been neglected and understaffed," Michael W. Cutler, a retired U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services senior agent and criminal investigator, told The Times in a 2004 article. "We have only been given the illusion of making a serious effort to enforce our immigration law."
Mr. Brown touted similar complaints.
Before the August memo, roughly 5,000 federal agents were assigned to the task of detecting, detaining and deporting millions of foreign nationals.
With the removal of the criminal investigative agents from internal enforcement, "ICE will be left with 4,000 agents nationwide to handle the estimated 12 million people here illegally, and that's just not enough," said Mr. Brown, who is also an agent with the Fugitive Operation unit.
Rep. Ted Poe, Texas Republican and outspoken critic of lax immigration enforcement, said resources need to be allocated to ensure the removal of criminal illegal aliens from the U.S.
"It lacks wisdom to take 20 percent of your work force who know how to deal with criminal detainees — experienced officers — and make grapefruit inspectors out of them," Mr. Poe said.
For example, Mr. Brown said, only 14 new officers were reassigned in June to assist with the jail program for all six of the New England states. The jail program allows ICE agents to root out illegal aliens from being released into the U.S.; instead the violators are extradited back to their home country.
Mr. Brown points to a former illegal alien parolee charged in the early August killing of three New Jersey college students as an example of why more agents are needed. The suspect had been granted bail on child rape charges unknown to immigration officials.
"We don't have the manpower to do all the checks," Mr. Brown said. "It's just not there, and we may see the same situation like Newark happening again."
Monday, August 27, 2007
FBI asks: Who are the men in this photo from ferry?
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003847538_ferries22m.html
FBI asks: Who are the men in this photo from ferry?
By Mike Carter and Jennifer Sullivan
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2007/08/21/2003847290.jpg
Seattle Times staff reporter
The Seattle FBI has released photos of two men who agents believe were "exhibiting unusual behavior" aboard Washington State Ferries. Bureau analysts have concluded several of the incidents this summer are related. Neither man is a suspect or has been charged with a crime; the FBI says it simply wants to identify them.
The FBI wants to identify two men who reportedly rode as many as six different ferry routes in recent weeks — snapping photos of doorways and going to areas of the boats where passengers don't normally go — and is asking the public to help.
In a rare move, the federal agency has released photographs of the men taken by a ferry employee.
The FBI hopes to determine whether the men are innocent passengers or possible terrorists.
"They seemed very interested in the operation of the boat," said David Gomez, the assistant special agent in charge of the agency's Seattle office.
"They were taking photographs of doors, not seabirds," said U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Richard Hartley in Seattle.
Gomez said employees and passengers reported the incidents over several weeks this summer. In at least one instance, they asked questions about ferry operations, Gomez said. It wasn't until analysts looked through the reports that a pattern was seen, he said. Since then, the FBI has concluded "four to six" of the incidents were related and involved the same two men.
Several other similar incidents were reported, but analysts could not conclude they involved the same men.
One ferry employee was so suspicious that he snapped photographs of the two standing at the rail of a ferry. The FBI would not say exactly when the photos were taken or which boat they were taken on.
Gomez said investigators conducted follow-up interviews with witnesses, including showing them photos.
"We have enough investigative confirmation to make us believe the incidents are related," Gomez said. The men have not been seen in several weeks.
FBI spokeswoman Robbie Burroughs said the FBI has received dozens of tips as a result of releasing the photos. So far, the men remain unidentified.
"We are able to resolve the great majority of reports of suspicious activities on the ferries," Gomez said. "We have not been able to do that here." The decision to release the photographs publicly was vetted with bureau officials in Washington, D.C., and demonstrates just how serious the potential threat is being taken, he said.
The sightings so concerned area law-enforcement officials that the Washington State Patrol, the Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration accelerated plans to work together more regularly, said Bob Calkins, a state patrol spokesman. The three agencies and the FBI have all been looking for the men.
The Seattle Times reported on Aug. 4 that security had been increased due to suspicious riders on ferries. When the photos were released late Monday afternoon, The Times refrained from publishing them in print or online. "We had little more information than we'd reported earlier in the month, and we wanted to better understand the circumstances surrounding the investigation and the photographs," said Suki Dardarian, managing editor of news coverage and enterprise.
"Further reporting helped us more effectively weigh the potential value — and harm — of publishing the photos. After some deliberation, we decided to publish the photographs, along with as much context as we could bring to the story."
On Tuesday, readers of the news alert posted on a variety of Internet sites weighed in on the decision to publish or not. Some suggested that distributing the photos was profiling on the part of law enforcement, while others thanked media outlets and the FBI for alerting them to possible threats to security.
The release of the photos enraged some in the Arab-American and Muslim communities, said Aziz Junejo, who hosts an Islamic talk show on television and writes a column about Islam for The Seattle Times.
He called the release "careless" and said he has been inundated with complaints that the FBI is profiling Arab-Americans. He said the photos appear to be of two Arab-American men.
"The people I'm hearing from are outraged and angry and paranoid," he said. "They're afraid to ride the ferries now."
Hisham Farajallah, the president of the Islamic Center of Washington and a board member at the Idriss Mosque in Northgate, said people are "scared."
"But we all want the same thing — that is the safety and security of our country," he said, noting that the Islamic community and law enforcement in Seattle have a good relationship.
Gomez said there is no specific threat to the ferry system and Hartley, the Coast Guard enforcement official, said maritime-security levels remain at their lowest.
Still, there has been a notable increase in visible security on some ferry runs in recent weeks, said WSF Executive Director Mike Anderson. "We have thrown some manpower at this," he said.
The Washington ferry system moves more than 26 million passengers and 11 million vehicles a year and is the largest ferry system in the country. Last year, it was singled out by the Department of Justice inspector general as one of the top two maritime terrorist targets in the country. The other is oil-tanker traffic along the Gulf Coast.
Ahmed Ressam, an al-Qaida-trained terrorist convicted of conspiring to set off a bomb at the Los Angeles International Airport during the Millennium celebration, was captured in December 1999 coming off a privately owned ferry in Port Angeles from Victoria, B.C. The trunk of his rental car was filled with bomb-making materials.
In June 2004, several Marine and Navy officers attending the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., conducted surveillance of the ferries as a class project and determined they were vulnerable to attack.
In the spring of 2004, the FBI conducted a threat assessment of the ferry system and concluded that terrorists were conducting "pre-operational planning" for an attack. The assessment was based on a review of 157 suspicious incidents over nearly three years. Analysts concluded that 19 of them were likely or extremely likely to have involved terrorist surveillance.
Gomez said the most recent incidents are similar to the 19, but that analysts have not been able to draw the same conclusions because of a lack of information.
Following the 2004 threat assessment, the Coast Guard required the State Patrol to increase the number of vehicles it screens, mostly through the use of explosive-sniffing dogs. Even so, the number of cars, trucks and vans screened going onto the boats remains a fraction of the total. Walk-on ferry passengers are not screened and do not undergo any security check.
Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com and Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
Homeland Security Responds to Helicopter Harassment at Brown's Private Picnic
http://www.mainemediaresources.com/ffj_edbrown0707dhs.htm
Homeland Security Responds to Helicopter Harassment at Brown's Private Picnic
By: David Deschesne,
Editor/Publisher, Fort Fairfield Journal
August 23, 2007
On Saturday, July 14, a Department of Homeland Security Helicopter hovered over the home of Ed and Elaine Brown for over four hours, skimming the tree tops and beeping its on-board siren at a crowd of over 200 people who had assembled there to enjoy a barbecue picnic and concert with the Browns.
The Fort Fairfield Journal has received a copy of a letter from the Department of Homeland Security to Senator Collins regarding the incident.
The letter states the helicopter was a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) aircraft, whose agents were operating in support of U.S. Marshall Service and Internal Revenue Service agents in an ongoing investigation of Ed and Elaine Brown.
“Ed and Elaine Brown are convicted felons under federal tax statutes,” wrote Luke P. Bellocchi, Assistant Commissioner, Office of Congressional Affairs with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “Since their conviction, the Browns have resisted federal arrest warrants by securing themselves in a compound and refusing to surrender themselves to federal law enforcement officials.”
There is currently no law in the United States requiring the filing of an income tax form, or payment of the taxes. Since there is no law, the Browns are guilty of nothing and the Federal Court ruling and arrest warrant are therefore bogus. Tax researcher, Tommy Cryer recently won a court case against the I.R.S. where I.R.S. agents and attorneys for the United States were unable to prove to a jury there is any law requiring the filing or payment of income tax in the United States.
Contrary to Bellocchi’s opinion that the Browns are secured in a “compound,” this writer has visited their home and found it to be a well-kept home in a secluded, upper class part of town. The use of the word “compound” to describe what is otherwise a couple’s home is likely a psychological warfare term designed to portray a negative image on otherwise peaceful, God-fearing Americans who simply want their government to be held accountable when enforcing laws that simply don’t exist.
While the Browns and their guests were enjoying each other’s company in the midst of a picnic and concert, the helicopter continuously skimmed the crowd and hovered over the treetops in an apparent harassment and intimidation exercise. Bellocchi defends those actions by writing, “The operation involving the aircraft was necessary to further apprehension of the Browns and to secure officer safety in that effort. No violations of agency policy or regulations occurred during the mission.”
Due to operational security and officer safety, Bellocchi was unable to release the names of the pilots or agents involved in that ongoing operation.
Bellocchi admits that intelligence data reveals that "the Brown compound contains significant passive and active traps and devices designed to thwart apprehension. Surveillance and video footage provided by the CBP aircraft was necessary to the law enforcement efforts of both the I.R.S. and U.S. Marshals in the performance of their duties."
The Browns continue to resist the illegal arrest warrant on the fraudulent Failure to File court ruling, issued in the Spring of this year. A third “Live Free or Die” concert is scheduled at their home on September 15. Go to www.makethestand.com or www.thepowerhour.com for more information.
_____________________________________________________________
I understand that they broke the law and haven't paid their taxes, but this seems a little extreme and childish doesn't it?
Homeland Security Responds to Helicopter Harassment at Brown's Private Picnic
By: David Deschesne,
Editor/Publisher, Fort Fairfield Journal
August 23, 2007
On Saturday, July 14, a Department of Homeland Security Helicopter hovered over the home of Ed and Elaine Brown for over four hours, skimming the tree tops and beeping its on-board siren at a crowd of over 200 people who had assembled there to enjoy a barbecue picnic and concert with the Browns.
The Fort Fairfield Journal has received a copy of a letter from the Department of Homeland Security to Senator Collins regarding the incident.
The letter states the helicopter was a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) aircraft, whose agents were operating in support of U.S. Marshall Service and Internal Revenue Service agents in an ongoing investigation of Ed and Elaine Brown.
“Ed and Elaine Brown are convicted felons under federal tax statutes,” wrote Luke P. Bellocchi, Assistant Commissioner, Office of Congressional Affairs with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “Since their conviction, the Browns have resisted federal arrest warrants by securing themselves in a compound and refusing to surrender themselves to federal law enforcement officials.”
There is currently no law in the United States requiring the filing of an income tax form, or payment of the taxes. Since there is no law, the Browns are guilty of nothing and the Federal Court ruling and arrest warrant are therefore bogus. Tax researcher, Tommy Cryer recently won a court case against the I.R.S. where I.R.S. agents and attorneys for the United States were unable to prove to a jury there is any law requiring the filing or payment of income tax in the United States.
Contrary to Bellocchi’s opinion that the Browns are secured in a “compound,” this writer has visited their home and found it to be a well-kept home in a secluded, upper class part of town. The use of the word “compound” to describe what is otherwise a couple’s home is likely a psychological warfare term designed to portray a negative image on otherwise peaceful, God-fearing Americans who simply want their government to be held accountable when enforcing laws that simply don’t exist.
While the Browns and their guests were enjoying each other’s company in the midst of a picnic and concert, the helicopter continuously skimmed the crowd and hovered over the treetops in an apparent harassment and intimidation exercise. Bellocchi defends those actions by writing, “The operation involving the aircraft was necessary to further apprehension of the Browns and to secure officer safety in that effort. No violations of agency policy or regulations occurred during the mission.”
Due to operational security and officer safety, Bellocchi was unable to release the names of the pilots or agents involved in that ongoing operation.
Bellocchi admits that intelligence data reveals that "the Brown compound contains significant passive and active traps and devices designed to thwart apprehension. Surveillance and video footage provided by the CBP aircraft was necessary to the law enforcement efforts of both the I.R.S. and U.S. Marshals in the performance of their duties."
The Browns continue to resist the illegal arrest warrant on the fraudulent Failure to File court ruling, issued in the Spring of this year. A third “Live Free or Die” concert is scheduled at their home on September 15. Go to www.makethestand.com or www.thepowerhour.com for more information.
_____________________________________________________________
I understand that they broke the law and haven't paid their taxes, but this seems a little extreme and childish doesn't it?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20439282/site/newsweek/
Dollars for Scholars
A bold experiment pays parents to do the right thing.
Kevork Djansezian / AP
Believer: Bloomberg is putting up his own money
By Raina Kelley
Newsweek
Sept. 3, 2007 issue - Paying kids for good grades is a popular (if questionable) parenting tactic. But when school starts next week, New York City will try to use the same enticement to get parents in low-income neighborhoods more involved in their children's education and overall health. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has raised more than $40 million (much of it from his own money and the Rockefeller Foundation) to pay families a modest amount for small tasks—$50 for getting a library card or $100 to take a child to the dentist—that could make a big difference.
The experimental program, called Opportunity NYC, is modeled on a 10-year-old Mexican program called Oportunidades, which has been so successful in reducing poverty in rural areas that it has been adopted by more than 20 countries, including Argentina and Turkey. International studies have found that these programs raise school enrollment and vaccination rates and lower the number of sick days students take. Bringing this idea to Harlem and the South Bronx may not make a radical difference, concedes Linda Gibbs, the deputy mayor for Health and Human Services. But, she adds, "It makes these activities matter in a new way." Gibbs thinks that the money could also make parents more active in asking for services that might not exist in their neighborhoods. "A mother might demand an early-intervention evaluation [to look for developmental or learning disabilities] for a child" to get the $150 payment, Gibbs says. "If she can't find a doctor to do it, the cash incentive might make Mom more likely to ask why those services aren't available in her community." Schools chancellor Joel Klein says he hopes that the money will "get our students more interested in performing well at school, and the positive reinforcement they receive as well will, in turn, get them excited about the learning."
The idea behind Opportunity NYC is called conditional cash transfer, and the program is the first of its kind in this country. It's also the exact opposite of traditional social services for the poor, which hand out money without demanding much in return. In order to find out whether this reversal works, the city is enlisting 5,000 families to take part in the social experiment. They are being chosen randomly from lists of people getting housing assistance from the city. Half will receive the incentive money and the other half won't but will function as a control group, similar to clinical trials where some patients get a drug and others get a placebo. Eligible families earn just above federal poverty guidelines, or about $22,321 for a family of three.
Since the initial announcement in March, conservatives have denounced the program as a waste of money that should be given to teachers willing to work in tough schools, while liberals have called the idea insulting and patronizing to the people it aims to help. But some skeptics are hopeful. "At first blush, this offends every sensibility I have," says James Oddo, the Republican minority leader of the New York City Council. "But then the fiscal conservative in me takes over and I think maybe it will cost me less as a taxpayer to pay a little on the front end."
At this point, taxpayers aren't being asked to pay anything. Bloomberg decided to roll out Opportunity NYC with private funds in order to evaluate the program for two years without having to endure what could have been a bruising political battle. One potential foe, Randi Weingarten, president of the United Federation of Teachers, says she generally opposes any pay for good behavior, even giving teachers more money if their students do well.
But if it can help families who live in the city's poorest neighborhoods, it may be a risk worth taking. Some of the Opportunity NYC participants will come from East New York, a predominantly black and Hispanic corner of Brooklyn where half of the residents live below the poverty level and only half of all adults are high-school graduates. The local high school was shut down in June after years of abysmal academic performance and a graduation rate hovering around 29 percent. Other poor Brooklyn neighborhoods have benefited from an influx of professionals looking to escape Manhattan rents, but East New York is still desperately seeking help—and hope. "The lack of education and of significant wage earners are the biggest challenges," says Bill Wilkens, coordinator of East New York's Local Development Corporation. "This is the last frontier." A bold experiment could be just what East New York needs.
With Jeneen Interlandi
________________________________________________________________
Personally, I think this is a huge waste of taxpayers money. You shouldn't pay people to be good students or parents (they should be expected to do so in the first place). Why does this sound to me like another social welfare scheme in the making. No parents will hold a child at bay and say he need $200-$500 for psycological testing just to rake in extra dough. What bupkis!!
Dollars for Scholars
A bold experiment pays parents to do the right thing.
Kevork Djansezian / AP
Believer: Bloomberg is putting up his own money
By Raina Kelley
Newsweek
Sept. 3, 2007 issue - Paying kids for good grades is a popular (if questionable) parenting tactic. But when school starts next week, New York City will try to use the same enticement to get parents in low-income neighborhoods more involved in their children's education and overall health. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has raised more than $40 million (much of it from his own money and the Rockefeller Foundation) to pay families a modest amount for small tasks—$50 for getting a library card or $100 to take a child to the dentist—that could make a big difference.
The experimental program, called Opportunity NYC, is modeled on a 10-year-old Mexican program called Oportunidades, which has been so successful in reducing poverty in rural areas that it has been adopted by more than 20 countries, including Argentina and Turkey. International studies have found that these programs raise school enrollment and vaccination rates and lower the number of sick days students take. Bringing this idea to Harlem and the South Bronx may not make a radical difference, concedes Linda Gibbs, the deputy mayor for Health and Human Services. But, she adds, "It makes these activities matter in a new way." Gibbs thinks that the money could also make parents more active in asking for services that might not exist in their neighborhoods. "A mother might demand an early-intervention evaluation [to look for developmental or learning disabilities] for a child" to get the $150 payment, Gibbs says. "If she can't find a doctor to do it, the cash incentive might make Mom more likely to ask why those services aren't available in her community." Schools chancellor Joel Klein says he hopes that the money will "get our students more interested in performing well at school, and the positive reinforcement they receive as well will, in turn, get them excited about the learning."
The idea behind Opportunity NYC is called conditional cash transfer, and the program is the first of its kind in this country. It's also the exact opposite of traditional social services for the poor, which hand out money without demanding much in return. In order to find out whether this reversal works, the city is enlisting 5,000 families to take part in the social experiment. They are being chosen randomly from lists of people getting housing assistance from the city. Half will receive the incentive money and the other half won't but will function as a control group, similar to clinical trials where some patients get a drug and others get a placebo. Eligible families earn just above federal poverty guidelines, or about $22,321 for a family of three.
Since the initial announcement in March, conservatives have denounced the program as a waste of money that should be given to teachers willing to work in tough schools, while liberals have called the idea insulting and patronizing to the people it aims to help. But some skeptics are hopeful. "At first blush, this offends every sensibility I have," says James Oddo, the Republican minority leader of the New York City Council. "But then the fiscal conservative in me takes over and I think maybe it will cost me less as a taxpayer to pay a little on the front end."
At this point, taxpayers aren't being asked to pay anything. Bloomberg decided to roll out Opportunity NYC with private funds in order to evaluate the program for two years without having to endure what could have been a bruising political battle. One potential foe, Randi Weingarten, president of the United Federation of Teachers, says she generally opposes any pay for good behavior, even giving teachers more money if their students do well.
But if it can help families who live in the city's poorest neighborhoods, it may be a risk worth taking. Some of the Opportunity NYC participants will come from East New York, a predominantly black and Hispanic corner of Brooklyn where half of the residents live below the poverty level and only half of all adults are high-school graduates. The local high school was shut down in June after years of abysmal academic performance and a graduation rate hovering around 29 percent. Other poor Brooklyn neighborhoods have benefited from an influx of professionals looking to escape Manhattan rents, but East New York is still desperately seeking help—and hope. "The lack of education and of significant wage earners are the biggest challenges," says Bill Wilkens, coordinator of East New York's Local Development Corporation. "This is the last frontier." A bold experiment could be just what East New York needs.
With Jeneen Interlandi
________________________________________________________________
Personally, I think this is a huge waste of taxpayers money. You shouldn't pay people to be good students or parents (they should be expected to do so in the first place). Why does this sound to me like another social welfare scheme in the making. No parents will hold a child at bay and say he need $200-$500 for psycological testing just to rake in extra dough. What bupkis!!
Mandatory deportation has illegals on the run
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57313
INVASION USA
Mandatory deportation has illegals on the run
State law limiting benefits looms, an estimated 25,000 take to road
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: August 25, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Thousands of Hispanics have fled the Tulsa, Okla., area in the shadow of a looming state law that limits benefits and mandates deportation for illegal aliens, according to a report from KTUL television in Tulsa.
The state of Oklahoma recently approved a new law that requires deportation for illegal aliens who are arrested, and limits benefits and jobs to those individuals. The report said in East Tulsa, where a community of Hispanics has grown over recent years, there's been a sudden drop in population.
Business owner Simon Navarro has been in business there 11 years, and said the tough law has chased away 30 percent of the state's Hispanic population.
"Two months ago I heard 25,000 Hispanics have left Oklahoma," he told the station. "They are leaving. A lot have already left.
"People are leaving," he said. "They're scared of the sheriff."
A spokesman for Tulsa's Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Francisco Trevino, said he believes the law – and its results – will hurt restaurants, construction companies and other service corporations such as lawn care.
"They do everything we don't want to do," he said.
Homebuilders also have expressed concerns.
"Sitting here today I understand it's about rounding up criminals, and illegals," said Paul Kane. "But, the Hispanics are fleeing Oklahoma because they think an anti-Hispanic environment is being created."
Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz, telling KTUL television about the departure of illegal aliens from his county (Screen shot of KTUL video)
However, authorities are making their preparations for a full enforcement of the law when it takes effect in November.
Deputies from the Tulsa County sheriff's office are going through training to handle the apprehension and deportation procedures that are being set up. Their training will prepare them to handle the multiple duties of deputy sheriff as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
When they are finished they will be prepared to identify illegal aliens who commit crimes, and make sure they are deported.
Officials say many of those departing apparently are heading either to Kansas or Arkansas. But that may not be for long, since Arkansas is about to adopt a law similar to Oklahoma's, and Kansas is considering a similar move.
Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz told KTUL that the impact of the illegal alien population is evident all over, especially in the jail.
"We see the effects of gangs, we see the effects of illegal immigrants, we see the effects of drugs, we see the effects of methamphetamines," he said.
"We want to go after the criminal element that we have in this community," added U.S. Rep. John Sullivan. "People that commit crimes, drug trafficking, murder, rape, DUI, carrying a concealed weapon."
The newly trained officers will be on the job as early as October, before the November effective date of the new law. They say the bottom line is that illegal aliens in Tulsa County who commit a crime will be deported.
The state law still may face a legal challenge. Miguel Rivera of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders said it could be in federal court as soon as Oct. 1.
He said the argument likely would be that Oklahoma's House Bill 1804 pre-empts federal immigration law, which is much more lenient than the Oklahoma statute.
The new effort to tighten and enforce immigration limits has prompted a severe reaction. Several billboards have gone up questioning the new law.
One, funded by the United Front Task Force, asks, "Is it OK for Oklahoma to have a law that promotes hate among people?"
The other, by the American Dream Coalition, shows a tearful girl clutching a teddy bear with the statement, "My mommy is not a criminal. She is a hardworking Hispanic woman."
But on the television station's forum page, a listener responded: "We need to put up more signs that say: OKIES don't hate illegal immigrants they just want them legal! Deport all illegal immigrants now."
The Republican who wrote HB 1804, Randy Terrill of Moore, said the plan doesn't discriminate, harass or single out anyone, unless they are breaking the law.
"This isn't about whether you are for or against immigration, or for or against immigrants. It doesn't matter what your skin color is or if you speak with an accent. What matters is if you are in the country legally or illegally. The only people threatened by House Bill 1804 are those who choose to break the law," he said.
It eliminates most taxpayer subsidies for illegal immigrants and allows state and local law enforcement officers to verify the residency status of those arrested. It also cracks down on business owners who employ illegal immigrants.
_______________________________________________________________________
Excellent...! Finally proof that if you stop giving the sponges water they dry up and find the next nearest watering hole. LET'S GO ONE STEP FURTHER AND STOP ALL BENEFITS FOR ILLEGALS!!!! Even better stop the anchor baby system as well. Too many poor people with no means of supporting a child (thus welfare) are having babies by the handful.
INVASION USA
Mandatory deportation has illegals on the run
State law limiting benefits looms, an estimated 25,000 take to road
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: August 25, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Thousands of Hispanics have fled the Tulsa, Okla., area in the shadow of a looming state law that limits benefits and mandates deportation for illegal aliens, according to a report from KTUL television in Tulsa.
The state of Oklahoma recently approved a new law that requires deportation for illegal aliens who are arrested, and limits benefits and jobs to those individuals. The report said in East Tulsa, where a community of Hispanics has grown over recent years, there's been a sudden drop in population.
Business owner Simon Navarro has been in business there 11 years, and said the tough law has chased away 30 percent of the state's Hispanic population.
"Two months ago I heard 25,000 Hispanics have left Oklahoma," he told the station. "They are leaving. A lot have already left.
"People are leaving," he said. "They're scared of the sheriff."
A spokesman for Tulsa's Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Francisco Trevino, said he believes the law – and its results – will hurt restaurants, construction companies and other service corporations such as lawn care.
"They do everything we don't want to do," he said.
Homebuilders also have expressed concerns.
"Sitting here today I understand it's about rounding up criminals, and illegals," said Paul Kane. "But, the Hispanics are fleeing Oklahoma because they think an anti-Hispanic environment is being created."
Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz, telling KTUL television about the departure of illegal aliens from his county (Screen shot of KTUL video)
However, authorities are making their preparations for a full enforcement of the law when it takes effect in November.
Deputies from the Tulsa County sheriff's office are going through training to handle the apprehension and deportation procedures that are being set up. Their training will prepare them to handle the multiple duties of deputy sheriff as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
When they are finished they will be prepared to identify illegal aliens who commit crimes, and make sure they are deported.
Officials say many of those departing apparently are heading either to Kansas or Arkansas. But that may not be for long, since Arkansas is about to adopt a law similar to Oklahoma's, and Kansas is considering a similar move.
Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz told KTUL that the impact of the illegal alien population is evident all over, especially in the jail.
"We see the effects of gangs, we see the effects of illegal immigrants, we see the effects of drugs, we see the effects of methamphetamines," he said.
"We want to go after the criminal element that we have in this community," added U.S. Rep. John Sullivan. "People that commit crimes, drug trafficking, murder, rape, DUI, carrying a concealed weapon."
The newly trained officers will be on the job as early as October, before the November effective date of the new law. They say the bottom line is that illegal aliens in Tulsa County who commit a crime will be deported.
The state law still may face a legal challenge. Miguel Rivera of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders said it could be in federal court as soon as Oct. 1.
He said the argument likely would be that Oklahoma's House Bill 1804 pre-empts federal immigration law, which is much more lenient than the Oklahoma statute.
The new effort to tighten and enforce immigration limits has prompted a severe reaction. Several billboards have gone up questioning the new law.
One, funded by the United Front Task Force, asks, "Is it OK for Oklahoma to have a law that promotes hate among people?"
The other, by the American Dream Coalition, shows a tearful girl clutching a teddy bear with the statement, "My mommy is not a criminal. She is a hardworking Hispanic woman."
But on the television station's forum page, a listener responded: "We need to put up more signs that say: OKIES don't hate illegal immigrants they just want them legal! Deport all illegal immigrants now."
The Republican who wrote HB 1804, Randy Terrill of Moore, said the plan doesn't discriminate, harass or single out anyone, unless they are breaking the law.
"This isn't about whether you are for or against immigration, or for or against immigrants. It doesn't matter what your skin color is or if you speak with an accent. What matters is if you are in the country legally or illegally. The only people threatened by House Bill 1804 are those who choose to break the law," he said.
It eliminates most taxpayer subsidies for illegal immigrants and allows state and local law enforcement officers to verify the residency status of those arrested. It also cracks down on business owners who employ illegal immigrants.
_______________________________________________________________________
Excellent...! Finally proof that if you stop giving the sponges water they dry up and find the next nearest watering hole. LET'S GO ONE STEP FURTHER AND STOP ALL BENEFITS FOR ILLEGALS!!!! Even better stop the anchor baby system as well. Too many poor people with no means of supporting a child (thus welfare) are having babies by the handful.
Jailed border agents case tied to Mexican trucks
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57330
PREMEDITATED MERGER
Jailed border agents case tied to Mexican trucks
Drug smuggler had commercial drivers license
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: August 27, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
WND has discovered a previously unreported connection between the case of Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean and the Department of Transportation's Mexican truck-demonstration project.
In the Ramos-Compean case, the two agents convicted for 11 and 12 year prison terms respectively for shooting a Mexican drug smuggler, an overlooked fact is that the fleeing smuggler held a valid Mexican commercial drivers license at the time of the incident.
In his testimony at the trial of Ramos and Compean, Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila first testified that he held a commercial drivers license that expired in November 2004.
Under cross-examination from Ramos' defense counsel Mary Stillinger, Aldrete-Davila reversed his testimony, admitting he had two commercial drivers licenses and that one of the licenses, which authorized him to transport hazardous material, was valid until 2013.
Under close questioning, Stillinger refuted Aldrete-Davila's contention that a certificate on his second license required to transport hazardous material had expired six months before the drug incident involving Ramos and Compean.
Stillinger established that Aldrete-Davila had a certificate valid through December 2005, giving him permission to go into Pemex, Mexico's state-owned oil company, to transport gasoline.
The incident involving Ramos and Compean occurred on Feb. 17, 2005.
Aldrete-Davila maintained at trial he committed the drug offense only because he had lost his commercial drivers license and needed money for his sick mother.
Critics believe evidence of the second drug load Davila brought into the United States while given immunity by prosecuting U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton establishes Aldrete-Davila was an experienced drug runner, not the picture of the innocent victim he was by prosecutors to present to the jurors at trial.
That a drug smuggler such as Aldrete-Davila could hold a Mexican commercial drivers license is proof that Mexico has no reliable method to screen the previous criminal records of commercial drivers who might get certified as "trusted traders" under the Security and Prosperity Partnership definition of FAST lanes designated for use in the Mexican truck DOT demonstration project.
No certified drug labs in Mexico
Last week, the inspector general of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration submitted to Congress an audit report documenting that "Mexico has no certified drug or alcohol testing laboratories and any samples in Mexico must be sent to certified laboratories in the United States."
The audit report further commented that, "it is not clear whether the controls in place ensure that valid specimens are being collected in Mexico before being sent to a certified laboratory."
The inspector general's audit left no doubt that, "It is not clear as to whether the controls in place ensure that valid specimens are being collected before being sent to a certified laboratory."
In other words, even when specimens reach certified drug and alcohol testing labs in the United States, the FMCSA cannot be sure the drug specimens came from the Mexican drivers submitting the specimens.
This is in direct contrast to the vigorous drug and alcohol testing requirements that the FMCSA places on U.S. commercial drivers.
No national criminal database in Mexico
As WND has previously reported, DHS and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration have no way of knowing for certain whether or not Mexican truck drivers applying for participation in the Department of Transportation's proposed test have criminal histories or troubled driving records with traffic convictions.
The problem is that Mexico maintains no reliable national criminal database or driving history database against which the FAST identification applications or OP-1(MX) commercial drivers' license applications can be checked.
DHS spokesman Eric Blum conceded to WND that no national criminal database exists in Mexico.
"We do get criminal information on Mexican citizens from Interpol and the FBI," Blum argued. "It's not as vibrant as the data we get from Canada. There are shortcomings to the Mexican criminal data, but we do get criminal information on Mexican national citizens."
"The Mexican criminal data may not be what we would like to see," Blum admitted. "It's not one, clean database for all Mexican criminal records. But we're confident that we can take other steps to assure that we are able to secure the borders and ports of entry from criminal activity."
As WND reported, in March 2007, Mexican President Felipe Calderon announced plans to submit to the Mexican Congress a federal criminal-justice reform package that would create for the first time a reliable nationwide database to track criminals and monitor criminal activity across jurisdictions.
The Mexican Congress has not yet taken action on this proposal. All criminal data in Mexico are maintained at the state level and there is no methodology in place to test the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the state-level criminal history data that are available.
Yet Mexican trucks continue to be the principle way Mexican drug cartels transport drugs into the U.S.
The National Drug Intelligence Center in the U.S. Department of Justice reports, "Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs) transport wholesale quantities of illicit drugs into Arizona using private and commercial vehicles, often equipped with hidden compartments."
Mexican trucks ready to roll
Despite these obvious deficiencies, WND has reported Mexican government statements published only in Spanish indicate 37 Mexican trucking companies have been certified by the U.S. Department of Transportation to participate in the Mexican demonstration project.
Mexican Transportation Secretary Luis Tellez has claimed the 37 Mexican trucking companies will be allowed to run their long-haul rigs on any U.S. road without limitation as early as next week, Sept. 1, before Congress has returned to Washington from the August recess.
Yet, as WND has previously reported, the FMCSA plans to utilize SPP-developed FAST lanes relying on electronic checks that will allow Mexican trucks to enter into the United States in as little as 15 seconds, without any physical inspection of their truck trailers or shipment containers.
PREMEDITATED MERGER
Jailed border agents case tied to Mexican trucks
Drug smuggler had commercial drivers license
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: August 27, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
WND has discovered a previously unreported connection between the case of Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean and the Department of Transportation's Mexican truck-demonstration project.
In the Ramos-Compean case, the two agents convicted for 11 and 12 year prison terms respectively for shooting a Mexican drug smuggler, an overlooked fact is that the fleeing smuggler held a valid Mexican commercial drivers license at the time of the incident.
In his testimony at the trial of Ramos and Compean, Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila first testified that he held a commercial drivers license that expired in November 2004.
Under cross-examination from Ramos' defense counsel Mary Stillinger, Aldrete-Davila reversed his testimony, admitting he had two commercial drivers licenses and that one of the licenses, which authorized him to transport hazardous material, was valid until 2013.
Under close questioning, Stillinger refuted Aldrete-Davila's contention that a certificate on his second license required to transport hazardous material had expired six months before the drug incident involving Ramos and Compean.
Stillinger established that Aldrete-Davila had a certificate valid through December 2005, giving him permission to go into Pemex, Mexico's state-owned oil company, to transport gasoline.
The incident involving Ramos and Compean occurred on Feb. 17, 2005.
Aldrete-Davila maintained at trial he committed the drug offense only because he had lost his commercial drivers license and needed money for his sick mother.
Critics believe evidence of the second drug load Davila brought into the United States while given immunity by prosecuting U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton establishes Aldrete-Davila was an experienced drug runner, not the picture of the innocent victim he was by prosecutors to present to the jurors at trial.
That a drug smuggler such as Aldrete-Davila could hold a Mexican commercial drivers license is proof that Mexico has no reliable method to screen the previous criminal records of commercial drivers who might get certified as "trusted traders" under the Security and Prosperity Partnership definition of FAST lanes designated for use in the Mexican truck DOT demonstration project.
No certified drug labs in Mexico
Last week, the inspector general of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration submitted to Congress an audit report documenting that "Mexico has no certified drug or alcohol testing laboratories and any samples in Mexico must be sent to certified laboratories in the United States."
The audit report further commented that, "it is not clear whether the controls in place ensure that valid specimens are being collected in Mexico before being sent to a certified laboratory."
The inspector general's audit left no doubt that, "It is not clear as to whether the controls in place ensure that valid specimens are being collected before being sent to a certified laboratory."
In other words, even when specimens reach certified drug and alcohol testing labs in the United States, the FMCSA cannot be sure the drug specimens came from the Mexican drivers submitting the specimens.
This is in direct contrast to the vigorous drug and alcohol testing requirements that the FMCSA places on U.S. commercial drivers.
No national criminal database in Mexico
As WND has previously reported, DHS and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration have no way of knowing for certain whether or not Mexican truck drivers applying for participation in the Department of Transportation's proposed test have criminal histories or troubled driving records with traffic convictions.
The problem is that Mexico maintains no reliable national criminal database or driving history database against which the FAST identification applications or OP-1(MX) commercial drivers' license applications can be checked.
DHS spokesman Eric Blum conceded to WND that no national criminal database exists in Mexico.
"We do get criminal information on Mexican citizens from Interpol and the FBI," Blum argued. "It's not as vibrant as the data we get from Canada. There are shortcomings to the Mexican criminal data, but we do get criminal information on Mexican national citizens."
"The Mexican criminal data may not be what we would like to see," Blum admitted. "It's not one, clean database for all Mexican criminal records. But we're confident that we can take other steps to assure that we are able to secure the borders and ports of entry from criminal activity."
As WND reported, in March 2007, Mexican President Felipe Calderon announced plans to submit to the Mexican Congress a federal criminal-justice reform package that would create for the first time a reliable nationwide database to track criminals and monitor criminal activity across jurisdictions.
The Mexican Congress has not yet taken action on this proposal. All criminal data in Mexico are maintained at the state level and there is no methodology in place to test the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the state-level criminal history data that are available.
Yet Mexican trucks continue to be the principle way Mexican drug cartels transport drugs into the U.S.
The National Drug Intelligence Center in the U.S. Department of Justice reports, "Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs) transport wholesale quantities of illicit drugs into Arizona using private and commercial vehicles, often equipped with hidden compartments."
Mexican trucks ready to roll
Despite these obvious deficiencies, WND has reported Mexican government statements published only in Spanish indicate 37 Mexican trucking companies have been certified by the U.S. Department of Transportation to participate in the Mexican demonstration project.
Mexican Transportation Secretary Luis Tellez has claimed the 37 Mexican trucking companies will be allowed to run their long-haul rigs on any U.S. road without limitation as early as next week, Sept. 1, before Congress has returned to Washington from the August recess.
Yet, as WND has previously reported, the FMCSA plans to utilize SPP-developed FAST lanes relying on electronic checks that will allow Mexican trucks to enter into the United States in as little as 15 seconds, without any physical inspection of their truck trailers or shipment containers.
Iraqi terrorists caught along Mexico border
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57289
Iraqi terrorists caught
along Mexico border
American intelligence chief confirms
'people are alive' as a result of capture
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: August 23, 2007
4:04 p.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
President Bush with National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell
President Bush's top intelligence aide has confirmed that Iraqi terrorists have been captured coming into the United States from Mexico.
The confirmation comes from National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell, who talked about the situation in an interview with the El Paso Times recently.
"Coming up through the Mexican border is a path," McConnell said. "Now, are they doing it in great numbers? No, because we're finding them and we're identifying them and we've got watch lists and we're keeping them at bay."
But, he said, "There are numerous situations where people are alive today because we caught them (terrorists)."
Intelligence officials say the numbers and details of such situations are classified, but McConnell pointed as an example to Mahmoud Youssef Kourani, who entered the United States through Tijuana, Mexico, in 2001, and later pleaded guilty to helping raise money for Hezbollah, which has been designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization.
The goal, McConnell said, is for terrorists to gain admittance to the United States, and then produce "mass casualties."
"You've got committed leadership. You've got a place to train. They've got trainers, and they've got recruits," McConnell told the newspaper. "The key now is getting recruits in. So if your key is getting recruits in, how would you do that?"
McConnell's office did reveal some numbers, during fiscal 2006, there were 14 Iraqi nationals caught trying to enter the U.S. illegally, while so far in 2007, that number is 16.
"Now some we caught, some we didn't," McConnell told the newspaper. "The ones that get in – what are they going to do? They're going to write home. So it's not rocket science; word will move around."
Also revealed was that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepted 60 Iraqis crossing the nation's southwestern border in 2006 who were seeking asylum in the U.S., while that number so far in 2007 is 178.
The Times report said a U.S. intelligence analyst said there's been evidence that human smugglers, or coyotes, are telling Iraqis to ask for amnesty if they are caught.
The typical scenario is this: Forged documents are used to get an Iraqi into a country in South or Central America. Since travel from country to country is allowed without vises in many locations there, they work their way north to the U.S. border.
McConnell told the newspaper the numbers are classified, but there have been a relatively small number of people with known links to terrorist groups who have been caught at that point.
Kourani, for example, apparently paid a Mexican Consulate official in Lebanon $3,000 for a Mexican visa and then was smuggled into the United States in the trunk of a car.
He was sentenced to more than four years in prison after admitting he helped raise funds for Hezbollah.
When the newspaper asked U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, about the situation, he said, "It's not something we would talk about."
"We have had intelligence about al-Qaida identifying Latin America as a potential or prospective area where they could come through, but frankly, I'm surprised that the director would make definitive statements like that because, even if it were true, you wouldn't want to publicize that," Reyes told the Times.
McConnell was senior vice president with Booz Allen Hamilton, focusing on intelligence and national security, before being appointed to his current post by Bush in February.
He previously was the director of the National Security Agency and served as a member of the Director of Central Intelligence senior leadership team before then.
Iraqi terrorists caught
along Mexico border
American intelligence chief confirms
'people are alive' as a result of capture
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: August 23, 2007
4:04 p.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
President Bush with National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell
President Bush's top intelligence aide has confirmed that Iraqi terrorists have been captured coming into the United States from Mexico.
The confirmation comes from National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell, who talked about the situation in an interview with the El Paso Times recently.
"Coming up through the Mexican border is a path," McConnell said. "Now, are they doing it in great numbers? No, because we're finding them and we're identifying them and we've got watch lists and we're keeping them at bay."
But, he said, "There are numerous situations where people are alive today because we caught them (terrorists)."
Intelligence officials say the numbers and details of such situations are classified, but McConnell pointed as an example to Mahmoud Youssef Kourani, who entered the United States through Tijuana, Mexico, in 2001, and later pleaded guilty to helping raise money for Hezbollah, which has been designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization.
The goal, McConnell said, is for terrorists to gain admittance to the United States, and then produce "mass casualties."
"You've got committed leadership. You've got a place to train. They've got trainers, and they've got recruits," McConnell told the newspaper. "The key now is getting recruits in. So if your key is getting recruits in, how would you do that?"
McConnell's office did reveal some numbers, during fiscal 2006, there were 14 Iraqi nationals caught trying to enter the U.S. illegally, while so far in 2007, that number is 16.
"Now some we caught, some we didn't," McConnell told the newspaper. "The ones that get in – what are they going to do? They're going to write home. So it's not rocket science; word will move around."
Also revealed was that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepted 60 Iraqis crossing the nation's southwestern border in 2006 who were seeking asylum in the U.S., while that number so far in 2007 is 178.
The Times report said a U.S. intelligence analyst said there's been evidence that human smugglers, or coyotes, are telling Iraqis to ask for amnesty if they are caught.
The typical scenario is this: Forged documents are used to get an Iraqi into a country in South or Central America. Since travel from country to country is allowed without vises in many locations there, they work their way north to the U.S. border.
McConnell told the newspaper the numbers are classified, but there have been a relatively small number of people with known links to terrorist groups who have been caught at that point.
Kourani, for example, apparently paid a Mexican Consulate official in Lebanon $3,000 for a Mexican visa and then was smuggled into the United States in the trunk of a car.
He was sentenced to more than four years in prison after admitting he helped raise funds for Hezbollah.
When the newspaper asked U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, about the situation, he said, "It's not something we would talk about."
"We have had intelligence about al-Qaida identifying Latin America as a potential or prospective area where they could come through, but frankly, I'm surprised that the director would make definitive statements like that because, even if it were true, you wouldn't want to publicize that," Reyes told the Times.
McConnell was senior vice president with Booz Allen Hamilton, focusing on intelligence and national security, before being appointed to his current post by Bush in February.
He previously was the director of the National Security Agency and served as a member of the Director of Central Intelligence senior leadership team before then.
Intelligence chief sees border as terrorist entryway
http://www.elpasotimes.com/rds_archivesearch/ci_6683672
Intelligence chief sees border as terrorist entryway
By Chris Roberts / ©El Paso Times
Article Launched: 08/22/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT
National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell.
Story: More Iraqis cross Southwest border seeking asylum
View a transcript of the Q&A session with National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell
The nation's top intelligence official is concerned that terrorist groups such as al-Qaida, in the midst of regrouping and marshaling new recruits, are paying more attention to the Southwest border as they look for ways to enter the United States -- where their goal is to cause "mass casualties."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has intercepted 178 Iraqis seeking asylum by crossing the Southwestern border so far this year, nearly triple the 60 captured in 2006, according to figures from the office of National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell. None of those Iraqis have been linked to terrorist organizations.
McConnell, the member of the president's Cabinet who oversees all 16 of the nation's intelligence agencies, points to the recent declassified intelligence summary stating that al-Qaida is regrouping in the mountainous border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"You've got committed leadership. You've got a place to train. They've got trainers, and they've got recruits," McConnell said last week in an exclusive interview with the El Paso Times after his talk at the Border Security Conference.
"The key now is getting recruits in. So if your key is getting recruits in, how would you do that?"
McConnell said terrorists have been crossing the Southwest border, but the numbers and other details are classified, according to intelligence officials. He points to Mahmoud Youssef Kourani, whose case became public when he was tried in a U.S. court. Kourani, who entered the country through Tijuana, Mexico, in 2001, pleaded guilty to helping Hezbollah raise money in the Detroit suburb where he lived. Hezbollah has been designated by the United States as a terrorist organization.
Chris Roberts may be reached at chrisr@elpasotimes.com; 546-6136.
Intelligence chief sees border as terrorist entryway
By Chris Roberts / ©El Paso Times
Article Launched: 08/22/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT
National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell.
Story: More Iraqis cross Southwest border seeking asylum
View a transcript of the Q&A session with National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell
The nation's top intelligence official is concerned that terrorist groups such as al-Qaida, in the midst of regrouping and marshaling new recruits, are paying more attention to the Southwest border as they look for ways to enter the United States -- where their goal is to cause "mass casualties."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has intercepted 178 Iraqis seeking asylum by crossing the Southwestern border so far this year, nearly triple the 60 captured in 2006, according to figures from the office of National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell. None of those Iraqis have been linked to terrorist organizations.
McConnell, the member of the president's Cabinet who oversees all 16 of the nation's intelligence agencies, points to the recent declassified intelligence summary stating that al-Qaida is regrouping in the mountainous border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"You've got committed leadership. You've got a place to train. They've got trainers, and they've got recruits," McConnell said last week in an exclusive interview with the El Paso Times after his talk at the Border Security Conference.
"The key now is getting recruits in. So if your key is getting recruits in, how would you do that?"
McConnell said terrorists have been crossing the Southwest border, but the numbers and other details are classified, according to intelligence officials. He points to Mahmoud Youssef Kourani, whose case became public when he was tried in a U.S. court. Kourani, who entered the country through Tijuana, Mexico, in 2001, pleaded guilty to helping Hezbollah raise money in the Detroit suburb where he lived. Hezbollah has been designated by the United States as a terrorist organization.
Chris Roberts may be reached at chrisr@elpasotimes.com; 546-6136.
More Iraqis cross Southwest border seeking asylum
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_6684100
More Iraqis cross Southwest border seeking asylum
By Chris Roberts / ©El Paso Times
Article Launched: 08/22/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT
Intelligence chief sees border as terrorist entryway
View a transcript of the Q&A session with National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell
The number of Iraqis seeking asylum as they enter the United States over the nation's Southwest border has nearly tripled this year compared with last, and the year isn't even over, said Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, a member of the president's Cabinet who oversees the nation's 16 intelligence agencies.
In the 2006 calendar year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepted 60 asylum seekers, whereas so far in 2007, there have been 178, according to information provided by McConnell's office. Many more Iraqis want to immigrate to the United States than have been allowed in recent years, according to media reports, a situation that probably explains some of the activity.
None of the Iraqis have been linked to terrorist activities, but McConnell said the crossings show that more attention is being paid to the Southwest border, including by terrorist groups searching to find entry routes -- legal and illegal -- with the goal of causing "mass casualties" after they arrive.
They're coming in because they figured out how to get over the border illegally, McConnell said in an exclusive interview with the El Paso Times last week after speaking at the University of Texas at El Paso's Border Security Conference.
Illegal entries
In fiscal year 2006, which ended in September of that year, 14 Iraqi nationals were caught trying to enter illegally, according to McConnell's office. So far in fiscal 2007, 16 have been caught.
"Now some we caught, some we didn't," he said. "The ones that get in -- what are they going to do? They're going to write home. So it's not rocket science; word will move around."
A U.S. intelligence analyst interviewed for this story, who would speak only on the condition of anonymity, said evidence exists that the human smugglers, or coyotes, are telling Iraqis to ask for amnesty if they are caught -- a status that puts their cases into a politically sensitive category -- regardless of their situations or intentions.
The Iraqi immigrants entered a country in South or Central America using forged documents, McConnell said. By taking advantage of a program that allows people to travel from country to country in Latin America without visas, they worked their way north, where they tried to cross into the United States, he said.
And although the numbers are classified, McConnell said, a relatively small number of people with known links to terrorist organizations have been caught crossing the Southwest border.
'Keeping them at bay'
"Coming up through the Mexican border is a path," McConnell said. "Now, are they doing it in great numbers? No, because we're finding them and we're identifying them and we've got watch lists and we're keeping them at bay. There are numerous situations where people are alive today because we caught them (terrorists)."
A recent Associated Press investigation found that "thousands" of people from countries "identified by the U.S. government as sponsors or supporters of terrorism" have been smuggled into the United States over the northern and southern borders. Many of those, it stated, were not associated with extremist groups and came for work or to escape oppressive conditions.
The report also stated that U.S. homeland security officials said they "knew of no cases of al-Qaida operatives using (human) smuggling operations to enter."
A few cases have become public after they entered the legal system.
Agent of Hezbollah
As an example, McConnell points to Mahmoud Youssef Kourani, who was indicted in 2003 as a trained counterintelligence agent of Hezbollah, which has claimed responsibility for attacks that killed Israelis and Americans and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States. Kourani entered the country in 2001, reportedly through Tijuana, Mexico. Kourani's brother, who allegedly directed his actions from abroad while Kourani was in the United States, was the organization's chief of military security for southern Lebanon, according to court documents.
Kourani paid a Mexican Consulate official in Lebanon $3,000 for a Mexican visa and was smuggled into the United States in the trunk of a car, officials said. In 2005, he was sentenced to 4å years in prison after admitting that he helped raise money for Hezbollah while living in Dearborn, Mich.
When asked about terrorists crossing the Southwest border, U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, chairman of House Intelligence Committee, said, "It's not something we would talk about."
"We have had intelligence about al-Qaida identifying Latin America as a potential or prospective area where they could come through, but frankly, I'm surprised that the director would make definitive statements like that because, even if it were true, you wouldn't want to publicize that," Reyes said.
McConnell himself warned about the open congressional hearings on the government's foreign surveillance program and the media coverage of those hearings. Debate has centered on the appropriate balance between collecting intelligence and protecting privacy and civil rights.
Foreign surveillance is crucial in catching terrorists planning attacks inside the United States, McConnell said.
"The fact we're doing it this way (discussing it in open hearings) means that some Americans are going to die, because we do this mission unknown to the bad guys. They're using a process that we can exploit, and the more we talk about it, the more they will go with an alternative means," McConnell said.
Revealing sources and methods gives the enemy valuable information, he said.
"All of my briefs, initially, were very classified," McConnell said. "But it became apparent that we were not going to be able to carry the day if we didn't talk to more people É it's a democratic process and sunshine's a good thing. We need to have the debate."
Congressional debate
The debate over the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, was politically bruising for McConnell, who walked into the controversy after he was confirmed by the Senate in February. He has been hailed by Democrats and Republicans alike as the consummate intelligence professional.
Although McConnell said he had no marching orders from the Bush administration and made judgments on the proposed legislation based solely on what is necessary to protect the country, some ultimately accused him of making a deal with congressional leaders and then backing out when the administration disapproved.
"The president's guidance to me early in the process was, 'You've got the experience. I trust your judgment. You make the right call. There's no pressure from anybody here to tell you how to do it,' " said McConnell, describing himself as an "apolitical figure" who has voted for both Republicans and Demo crats.
"I think he negotiated in good faith. I think he got caught up in the politics," Reyes said, adding that he respects McConnell's 40 years of experience in the field. "I think he's doing the only thing that he could do in that situation and that is, accept responsibility. He'd be the last one I'd expect to say, 'Well yeah, I negotiated, we had a deal and then it got overruled by my boss, or bosses.'"
McConnell said some of the versions presented to him after the discussions with lawmakers had "offending language" he had already rejected. Congress ultimately passed a version of the bill essentially written by the White House, according to Reyes, who soon thereafter received a letter from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., urging him to revisit the law before it comes up for renewal in about six months.
Communication routes
McConnell said the problems were related to technological changes in the way people communicate that were not accounted for in the previous version of the law, which has been revised numerous times since its 1978 introduction. In the past, warrants were needed only for communications involving someone -- who does not have to be a U.S. citizen -- inside the country. But because new communication networks sometimes route foreign-to-foreign calls through the United States, a judge on the secretive FISA court that rules on such matters determined a warrant was required for any call that used a U.S. circuit.
Provisions in the law allow agents to conduct surveillance first and get warrants later, but McConnell said the process of preparing court documents was tying up analysts with language skills who should have been collecting intelligence.
Reyes said he generally agreed with McConnell's criticisms of the old law, but he added that internal administration policies created some of the problems. And the current law, he said, "gives them (the administration) too much latitude to do things in a overly broad manner. The key to the FISA law has been that there's a responsible judge that looks at the government applications and makes a determination. This (current law) basically takes it out of the hands of the judge."
Reyes said the House expected to produce a new bill by the end of September.
McConnell bristles at the suggestions that U.S. intelligence agencies have been "data mining," collecting large amounts of data to search for information they can use against targeted individuals, or wantonly encroaching on U.S. citizens' civil rights.
"We've got a lot of territory to make up with people believing that we're doing things we're not doing," he said.
Chris Roberts may be reached at chrisr@elpasotimes.com; 546-6136.
More Iraqis cross Southwest border seeking asylum
By Chris Roberts / ©El Paso Times
Article Launched: 08/22/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT
Intelligence chief sees border as terrorist entryway
View a transcript of the Q&A session with National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell
The number of Iraqis seeking asylum as they enter the United States over the nation's Southwest border has nearly tripled this year compared with last, and the year isn't even over, said Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, a member of the president's Cabinet who oversees the nation's 16 intelligence agencies.
In the 2006 calendar year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepted 60 asylum seekers, whereas so far in 2007, there have been 178, according to information provided by McConnell's office. Many more Iraqis want to immigrate to the United States than have been allowed in recent years, according to media reports, a situation that probably explains some of the activity.
None of the Iraqis have been linked to terrorist activities, but McConnell said the crossings show that more attention is being paid to the Southwest border, including by terrorist groups searching to find entry routes -- legal and illegal -- with the goal of causing "mass casualties" after they arrive.
They're coming in because they figured out how to get over the border illegally, McConnell said in an exclusive interview with the El Paso Times last week after speaking at the University of Texas at El Paso's Border Security Conference.
Illegal entries
In fiscal year 2006, which ended in September of that year, 14 Iraqi nationals were caught trying to enter illegally, according to McConnell's office. So far in fiscal 2007, 16 have been caught.
"Now some we caught, some we didn't," he said. "The ones that get in -- what are they going to do? They're going to write home. So it's not rocket science; word will move around."
A U.S. intelligence analyst interviewed for this story, who would speak only on the condition of anonymity, said evidence exists that the human smugglers, or coyotes, are telling Iraqis to ask for amnesty if they are caught -- a status that puts their cases into a politically sensitive category -- regardless of their situations or intentions.
The Iraqi immigrants entered a country in South or Central America using forged documents, McConnell said. By taking advantage of a program that allows people to travel from country to country in Latin America without visas, they worked their way north, where they tried to cross into the United States, he said.
And although the numbers are classified, McConnell said, a relatively small number of people with known links to terrorist organizations have been caught crossing the Southwest border.
'Keeping them at bay'
"Coming up through the Mexican border is a path," McConnell said. "Now, are they doing it in great numbers? No, because we're finding them and we're identifying them and we've got watch lists and we're keeping them at bay. There are numerous situations where people are alive today because we caught them (terrorists)."
A recent Associated Press investigation found that "thousands" of people from countries "identified by the U.S. government as sponsors or supporters of terrorism" have been smuggled into the United States over the northern and southern borders. Many of those, it stated, were not associated with extremist groups and came for work or to escape oppressive conditions.
The report also stated that U.S. homeland security officials said they "knew of no cases of al-Qaida operatives using (human) smuggling operations to enter."
A few cases have become public after they entered the legal system.
Agent of Hezbollah
As an example, McConnell points to Mahmoud Youssef Kourani, who was indicted in 2003 as a trained counterintelligence agent of Hezbollah, which has claimed responsibility for attacks that killed Israelis and Americans and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States. Kourani entered the country in 2001, reportedly through Tijuana, Mexico. Kourani's brother, who allegedly directed his actions from abroad while Kourani was in the United States, was the organization's chief of military security for southern Lebanon, according to court documents.
Kourani paid a Mexican Consulate official in Lebanon $3,000 for a Mexican visa and was smuggled into the United States in the trunk of a car, officials said. In 2005, he was sentenced to 4å years in prison after admitting that he helped raise money for Hezbollah while living in Dearborn, Mich.
When asked about terrorists crossing the Southwest border, U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, chairman of House Intelligence Committee, said, "It's not something we would talk about."
"We have had intelligence about al-Qaida identifying Latin America as a potential or prospective area where they could come through, but frankly, I'm surprised that the director would make definitive statements like that because, even if it were true, you wouldn't want to publicize that," Reyes said.
McConnell himself warned about the open congressional hearings on the government's foreign surveillance program and the media coverage of those hearings. Debate has centered on the appropriate balance between collecting intelligence and protecting privacy and civil rights.
Foreign surveillance is crucial in catching terrorists planning attacks inside the United States, McConnell said.
"The fact we're doing it this way (discussing it in open hearings) means that some Americans are going to die, because we do this mission unknown to the bad guys. They're using a process that we can exploit, and the more we talk about it, the more they will go with an alternative means," McConnell said.
Revealing sources and methods gives the enemy valuable information, he said.
"All of my briefs, initially, were very classified," McConnell said. "But it became apparent that we were not going to be able to carry the day if we didn't talk to more people É it's a democratic process and sunshine's a good thing. We need to have the debate."
Congressional debate
The debate over the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, was politically bruising for McConnell, who walked into the controversy after he was confirmed by the Senate in February. He has been hailed by Democrats and Republicans alike as the consummate intelligence professional.
Although McConnell said he had no marching orders from the Bush administration and made judgments on the proposed legislation based solely on what is necessary to protect the country, some ultimately accused him of making a deal with congressional leaders and then backing out when the administration disapproved.
"The president's guidance to me early in the process was, 'You've got the experience. I trust your judgment. You make the right call. There's no pressure from anybody here to tell you how to do it,' " said McConnell, describing himself as an "apolitical figure" who has voted for both Republicans and Demo crats.
"I think he negotiated in good faith. I think he got caught up in the politics," Reyes said, adding that he respects McConnell's 40 years of experience in the field. "I think he's doing the only thing that he could do in that situation and that is, accept responsibility. He'd be the last one I'd expect to say, 'Well yeah, I negotiated, we had a deal and then it got overruled by my boss, or bosses.'"
McConnell said some of the versions presented to him after the discussions with lawmakers had "offending language" he had already rejected. Congress ultimately passed a version of the bill essentially written by the White House, according to Reyes, who soon thereafter received a letter from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., urging him to revisit the law before it comes up for renewal in about six months.
Communication routes
McConnell said the problems were related to technological changes in the way people communicate that were not accounted for in the previous version of the law, which has been revised numerous times since its 1978 introduction. In the past, warrants were needed only for communications involving someone -- who does not have to be a U.S. citizen -- inside the country. But because new communication networks sometimes route foreign-to-foreign calls through the United States, a judge on the secretive FISA court that rules on such matters determined a warrant was required for any call that used a U.S. circuit.
Provisions in the law allow agents to conduct surveillance first and get warrants later, but McConnell said the process of preparing court documents was tying up analysts with language skills who should have been collecting intelligence.
Reyes said he generally agreed with McConnell's criticisms of the old law, but he added that internal administration policies created some of the problems. And the current law, he said, "gives them (the administration) too much latitude to do things in a overly broad manner. The key to the FISA law has been that there's a responsible judge that looks at the government applications and makes a determination. This (current law) basically takes it out of the hands of the judge."
Reyes said the House expected to produce a new bill by the end of September.
McConnell bristles at the suggestions that U.S. intelligence agencies have been "data mining," collecting large amounts of data to search for information they can use against targeted individuals, or wantonly encroaching on U.S. citizens' civil rights.
"We've got a lot of territory to make up with people believing that we're doing things we're not doing," he said.
Chris Roberts may be reached at chrisr@elpasotimes.com; 546-6136.
War secret: Iraqis actually like the U.S. military
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57237
War secret: Iraqis actually like the U.S. military
'We know you won't take sides, and that you're fair'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: August 23, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
Matt Sanchez
Editor's note: With Democrat leaders openly proclaiming the U.S. has lost the Iraq war and calling for immediate troop withdrawal, and with Gen. David Petraeus' eagerly awaited report coming next month, it's a pivotal time for America in Iraq. At the same time, there's a growing perception the news media are not reporting the reality of the war – always focusing on the latest car-bomb or IED story, but almost never on the big picture of what is actually taking place in post-Saddam Iraq, and what it means for the Mideast and the U.S.
Beginning today, reporter Matt Shachez, currently embedded with the U.S. military in Iraq, will provide WND readers with a glimpse into the Iraq war most Americans have never heard from a press increasingly hostile to the war effort.
In this, his first dispatch, Sanchez takes readers into one of the most dangerous areas of Baghdad.
by Matt Sanchez
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Lt. Col. James Crider is a soft-spoken, direct man who has just become the "property owner" of muhalla 840 – "muhalla" meaning a section of land and the number 840 having been assigned to this particular square plot of Baghdad on a high-resolution satellite-image map.
I asked how numbers got assigned and imagined some military official coming up with an intelligent formula: 8 for the neighborhood and maybe 26 to represent the level of threat. Next to the square marked 840 was another marked 838. Was one area of operation worse than the other area of operation? The satellite image was black and white, but someone with a red-colored marker had traced a thick line down the borders. You knew exactly where muhalla 840 began and where it ended, but you couldn't see the streets underneath, so much about the square marked 840 just couldn't be seen from the map.
In the old-fashion wars and battles gone by, the enemies wore different uniforms and had a base or capital that was readily identifiable on the type of map Crider was holding. But in Baghdad, and specifically in the Dora neighborhood, if the lieutenant colonel could clearly define enemy territory as easily as his AO, there would be several bursts of grey on that map, blinking on and off like a defective light-bulb.
The 1st Squadron 4th Cavalry out of Fort Riley, Kan., was a long way from home. I personally knew about Dora, in the Rasheed district of Baghdad, just from reputation. Days before I arrived, five soldiers had been killed in a Bradley, a heavily armored vehicle that was far safer than the average Humvee, which is precisely what the soldiers of the 1-4 Cav used to commute between home, Forward Operating Base Falcon, and work, muhalla 840.
The Baghdad freeways, as I learned to call such roads growing up in California, looked like those typically seen in many parts of the United States, and I was even struck by the advertisements along the center divide and shoulder. There were billboards for Hitachi television sets, mobile phones and local products. A colonel at Baghdad airport told me the Iraqi capital was like any other city. On any given day you have markets open, children going to school, and traffic. That morning, there were few cars on Route Tampa.
All the routes in Baghdad had funny-sounding names you'd probably never hear in the United States: Budweiser, Van Halen, Yuengling. And then others had familiar names, but looked nothing like the "Main Streets" or "Broadways" back home. Names were assigned so soldiers could easily remember what road was planned for the day's route. Routes were typically chosen the day before and not revealed until the pre-mission briefing. Some may think they have a brutal commute to work – but that's only because they've never had to travel from FOB Falcon, down Tampa to Route Senator and then past the concrete barriers and into muhalla 840.
When the 1-4 Cav "rolled," it owned the road, which meant all traffic had to get out of the way. A gunner standing on a platform in the middle of the Humvee shouted at cars that got too close and had strict rules of engagement, or ROE, for how to deal with those who did not obey. The modern military version of the mythological centaur, the gunner's job was to be the eyes and voice of the Humvee, or "trucks" as the Army sometimes called them. The gunner was also an informal diplomat, as he was the only one visible from the street. Gunners could wave to Iraqis and make them feel acknowledged, even comfortable. The gunner could also be aggressive, even menacing, which changed the mood of traffic around the convoy.
We were on our way to the neighborhood that lieutenant colonel called "upscale, with beautiful homes." To vary the route, the tactical commander directed the convoy to cross over the center divide, and onto the opposite lane – into oncoming traffic! That's when the gunner waved his hands to slow the oncoming cars.
Dora was a majority Sunni neighborhood with a substantial Christian population. Crider called the occupants "eclectic," and he was right. In Dora, I met more English-speaking Iraqis than in any other place in Baghdad. The eclectic part, however, derived from their professions: an entrepreneurial photographer, a retired colonel of the Iraqi army, a painter who had his work shown in Paris, and an international basketball referee – those were just on one street.
Typical home in Dora. Usually two to three stories with a front courtyard and a fence. Many homes have been left abandonded as Dora residents who are on the wrong side of the sectarian fence flee to neighborhoods where they will feel more safe.
An upscale neighborhood, in Baghdad, meant two- and three-story homes, high ceilings and a patio on the roof. A gate above eye-level kept the front courtyard out of view to any casual pedestrian. All the homes had some type of greenery peeking over the fence, a nut-laden palm tree, some bushes or plants. Muhalla 840 had cracked sidewalks and dying grass that was once a lawn and had potential, if only someone cared enough to pull out the weeds. Most of the homes had gas-fueled generators constantly buzzing like mowers, so without realizing it I was usually shouting to someone standing right next to me. The entire area was no bigger than a decent sized Wal-Mart, if you included the parking lot.
"We've got trash collection people out here working to keep the neighborhood clean, pick up some of the garbage and give these guys a chance to earn some money." One of the enormous differences between Western and Middle Eastern culture was the Western man's desire to control his surroundings, to project his will onto the environment around him. For Americans, trash has a specific place and there is a plan for its disposal. Along Iraqi streets, I've seen piles of garbage as high as an SUV, even in the more well-to-do neighborhoods. In Dora, garbage has no immediate use, so its removal is an afterthought, something done only when absolutely necessary.
I mentioned Lt. Col. Crider and the 1-4 Cav "owned" the neighborhood, which meant he was responsible for it, all of it – the on-again, off-again electricity, supporting the local medical clinic, the painting of an elementary/junior high school, and, yes, the trash.
Supervising all the activities that normally would fall under the jurisdiction of the city government is part of the war in Iraq that just isn't told.
"We get out and talk to as many people as we can. That's important. I want to know who is living in the neighborhood," Crider told me. It's called "Close Encounters" and Crider attributed the name to a smart lieutenant from an Ivy League school who decided to work on a Baghdad street instead of Wall Street. Part politician, part salesman, the lieutenant colonel introduced himself to his constituency.
"You notice any change in the neighborhood?" he asked a burly shop-owner, concerned taxi driver or even a college professor. Inevitably, they will say "yes," and that's when the politician in Crider had them.
"You see, we're working to make things better here, more security." The residents of Dora shook their heads and agreed. It's easy to discuss highbrow civil rights – free speech, freedom of assembly and so on – but for the residents of Dora the only right they wanted protected was their right to personal security.
Everyone wanted the violence to stop, at least they did when Lt. Col. Crider spoke to them, and that's when Crider, the salesman, made his pitch: "We're working to make this area more secure, safer for your kids, but we need your help."
The next few moments are very revealing. Dora's occupants are afraid, hopeful, skeptical, engaged or even hostile. How a resident responds to the 1-4 Cav will set the stage for future relations and possibly the safety of the people in Dora – both the Iraqis and the Americans.
In the past few months, since the surge has allowed the 1st squadron 4th Battalion to concentrate its effort into a very small area and actually meet the people living in the homes, instead of just driving by on their streets, getting people to help has yielded the biggest benefits.
No. 1 inalienable right, personal security. The people of Dora want to feel safe. Things have improved, but residents acknowledge how dangerous their neighborhood is.
Iraqis call Crider and 1-4 cavalry to report potential IEDs, strange people in the neighborhood or suspicious activity. They also call to ask if they can get gasoline in their cars. Bombs can be detonated and bad guys captured when the 1-4 Cav know the specifics – who, what, where and when.
"I can't tell who the bad guys are," said Maj. Callahan, Crider's second in command. But these guys, he said, motioning to the Iraqis – these guys can.
It's difficult for Americans to understand the divisions between religious sects and I won't insult your intelligence pretending to understand them myself, but in the little neighborhoods like Dora there's a push to homogenize. Baghdad's sectarian violence has the dynamic of a gated community, but in reverse: Those who don't belong are forced to leave.
The 1-4 Cav walked the streets and met with all the people they could, which sometimes meant knocking on strangers' doors. It's a peculiar feeling entering someone's home accompanied by armed men, but I soon realized the Iraqis were not at all afraid of the soldiers who came into their living rooms. Within minutes of introductions and the handshake that ends with the palm patting the middle of the chest near the heart, the Iraqis had a long list of things they needed or could use.
Most Iraqis not only wanted Americans to take an active role in their lives, they expected it. After years of a regime that dictated controlled speech, movement and welfare, Iraqis were accustomed to strong mentorship. One of the hurdles leaders like Crider have is getting Iraqis to develop a greater sense of personal responsibility.
Years after the successful invasion of Baghdad and ouster of Saddam Hussein, the battle for hearts and minds was over and the United States had won. But the dirty little secret was, and is, that the average Iraqi trusts the American military more than he trusts his fellow Iraqis. At neighborhood council meetings, I've seen audiences nod off during the flowery, long-winded speeches of local politicians and then quickly perk up when a member of the U.S. military speaks. It's because, as many Iraqis told me, "We know you won't take sides, and that you're fair."
"Close Encounters" has paid off. The residents of muhalla 840 have reported several veebeds (car bombs). Most of them were false alarms, but three of them contained explosives, set off by a deadly watcher. The enemy could be observing, calling in the 1-4 Cav and maybe even leading them to an ambush. Such tactics are not unheard of, which is why human intelligence is crucial. Human intelligence meant getting out and meeting the people.
"You see this area here, I know most of the people here," Crider said, a slight hint of Southern accent making his words sound disarming, but still very important. "But I don’t know who lives here," he ran a finger along a couple of homes on the map. "That's where we're going."
War secret: Iraqis actually like the U.S. military
'We know you won't take sides, and that you're fair'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: August 23, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
Matt Sanchez
Editor's note: With Democrat leaders openly proclaiming the U.S. has lost the Iraq war and calling for immediate troop withdrawal, and with Gen. David Petraeus' eagerly awaited report coming next month, it's a pivotal time for America in Iraq. At the same time, there's a growing perception the news media are not reporting the reality of the war – always focusing on the latest car-bomb or IED story, but almost never on the big picture of what is actually taking place in post-Saddam Iraq, and what it means for the Mideast and the U.S.
Beginning today, reporter Matt Shachez, currently embedded with the U.S. military in Iraq, will provide WND readers with a glimpse into the Iraq war most Americans have never heard from a press increasingly hostile to the war effort.
In this, his first dispatch, Sanchez takes readers into one of the most dangerous areas of Baghdad.
by Matt Sanchez
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Lt. Col. James Crider is a soft-spoken, direct man who has just become the "property owner" of muhalla 840 – "muhalla" meaning a section of land and the number 840 having been assigned to this particular square plot of Baghdad on a high-resolution satellite-image map.
I asked how numbers got assigned and imagined some military official coming up with an intelligent formula: 8 for the neighborhood and maybe 26 to represent the level of threat. Next to the square marked 840 was another marked 838. Was one area of operation worse than the other area of operation? The satellite image was black and white, but someone with a red-colored marker had traced a thick line down the borders. You knew exactly where muhalla 840 began and where it ended, but you couldn't see the streets underneath, so much about the square marked 840 just couldn't be seen from the map.
In the old-fashion wars and battles gone by, the enemies wore different uniforms and had a base or capital that was readily identifiable on the type of map Crider was holding. But in Baghdad, and specifically in the Dora neighborhood, if the lieutenant colonel could clearly define enemy territory as easily as his AO, there would be several bursts of grey on that map, blinking on and off like a defective light-bulb.
The 1st Squadron 4th Cavalry out of Fort Riley, Kan., was a long way from home. I personally knew about Dora, in the Rasheed district of Baghdad, just from reputation. Days before I arrived, five soldiers had been killed in a Bradley, a heavily armored vehicle that was far safer than the average Humvee, which is precisely what the soldiers of the 1-4 Cav used to commute between home, Forward Operating Base Falcon, and work, muhalla 840.
The Baghdad freeways, as I learned to call such roads growing up in California, looked like those typically seen in many parts of the United States, and I was even struck by the advertisements along the center divide and shoulder. There were billboards for Hitachi television sets, mobile phones and local products. A colonel at Baghdad airport told me the Iraqi capital was like any other city. On any given day you have markets open, children going to school, and traffic. That morning, there were few cars on Route Tampa.
All the routes in Baghdad had funny-sounding names you'd probably never hear in the United States: Budweiser, Van Halen, Yuengling. And then others had familiar names, but looked nothing like the "Main Streets" or "Broadways" back home. Names were assigned so soldiers could easily remember what road was planned for the day's route. Routes were typically chosen the day before and not revealed until the pre-mission briefing. Some may think they have a brutal commute to work – but that's only because they've never had to travel from FOB Falcon, down Tampa to Route Senator and then past the concrete barriers and into muhalla 840.
When the 1-4 Cav "rolled," it owned the road, which meant all traffic had to get out of the way. A gunner standing on a platform in the middle of the Humvee shouted at cars that got too close and had strict rules of engagement, or ROE, for how to deal with those who did not obey. The modern military version of the mythological centaur, the gunner's job was to be the eyes and voice of the Humvee, or "trucks" as the Army sometimes called them. The gunner was also an informal diplomat, as he was the only one visible from the street. Gunners could wave to Iraqis and make them feel acknowledged, even comfortable. The gunner could also be aggressive, even menacing, which changed the mood of traffic around the convoy.
We were on our way to the neighborhood that lieutenant colonel called "upscale, with beautiful homes." To vary the route, the tactical commander directed the convoy to cross over the center divide, and onto the opposite lane – into oncoming traffic! That's when the gunner waved his hands to slow the oncoming cars.
Dora was a majority Sunni neighborhood with a substantial Christian population. Crider called the occupants "eclectic," and he was right. In Dora, I met more English-speaking Iraqis than in any other place in Baghdad. The eclectic part, however, derived from their professions: an entrepreneurial photographer, a retired colonel of the Iraqi army, a painter who had his work shown in Paris, and an international basketball referee – those were just on one street.
Typical home in Dora. Usually two to three stories with a front courtyard and a fence. Many homes have been left abandonded as Dora residents who are on the wrong side of the sectarian fence flee to neighborhoods where they will feel more safe.
An upscale neighborhood, in Baghdad, meant two- and three-story homes, high ceilings and a patio on the roof. A gate above eye-level kept the front courtyard out of view to any casual pedestrian. All the homes had some type of greenery peeking over the fence, a nut-laden palm tree, some bushes or plants. Muhalla 840 had cracked sidewalks and dying grass that was once a lawn and had potential, if only someone cared enough to pull out the weeds. Most of the homes had gas-fueled generators constantly buzzing like mowers, so without realizing it I was usually shouting to someone standing right next to me. The entire area was no bigger than a decent sized Wal-Mart, if you included the parking lot.
"We've got trash collection people out here working to keep the neighborhood clean, pick up some of the garbage and give these guys a chance to earn some money." One of the enormous differences between Western and Middle Eastern culture was the Western man's desire to control his surroundings, to project his will onto the environment around him. For Americans, trash has a specific place and there is a plan for its disposal. Along Iraqi streets, I've seen piles of garbage as high as an SUV, even in the more well-to-do neighborhoods. In Dora, garbage has no immediate use, so its removal is an afterthought, something done only when absolutely necessary.
I mentioned Lt. Col. Crider and the 1-4 Cav "owned" the neighborhood, which meant he was responsible for it, all of it – the on-again, off-again electricity, supporting the local medical clinic, the painting of an elementary/junior high school, and, yes, the trash.
Supervising all the activities that normally would fall under the jurisdiction of the city government is part of the war in Iraq that just isn't told.
"We get out and talk to as many people as we can. That's important. I want to know who is living in the neighborhood," Crider told me. It's called "Close Encounters" and Crider attributed the name to a smart lieutenant from an Ivy League school who decided to work on a Baghdad street instead of Wall Street. Part politician, part salesman, the lieutenant colonel introduced himself to his constituency.
"You notice any change in the neighborhood?" he asked a burly shop-owner, concerned taxi driver or even a college professor. Inevitably, they will say "yes," and that's when the politician in Crider had them.
"You see, we're working to make things better here, more security." The residents of Dora shook their heads and agreed. It's easy to discuss highbrow civil rights – free speech, freedom of assembly and so on – but for the residents of Dora the only right they wanted protected was their right to personal security.
Everyone wanted the violence to stop, at least they did when Lt. Col. Crider spoke to them, and that's when Crider, the salesman, made his pitch: "We're working to make this area more secure, safer for your kids, but we need your help."
The next few moments are very revealing. Dora's occupants are afraid, hopeful, skeptical, engaged or even hostile. How a resident responds to the 1-4 Cav will set the stage for future relations and possibly the safety of the people in Dora – both the Iraqis and the Americans.
In the past few months, since the surge has allowed the 1st squadron 4th Battalion to concentrate its effort into a very small area and actually meet the people living in the homes, instead of just driving by on their streets, getting people to help has yielded the biggest benefits.
No. 1 inalienable right, personal security. The people of Dora want to feel safe. Things have improved, but residents acknowledge how dangerous their neighborhood is.
Iraqis call Crider and 1-4 cavalry to report potential IEDs, strange people in the neighborhood or suspicious activity. They also call to ask if they can get gasoline in their cars. Bombs can be detonated and bad guys captured when the 1-4 Cav know the specifics – who, what, where and when.
"I can't tell who the bad guys are," said Maj. Callahan, Crider's second in command. But these guys, he said, motioning to the Iraqis – these guys can.
It's difficult for Americans to understand the divisions between religious sects and I won't insult your intelligence pretending to understand them myself, but in the little neighborhoods like Dora there's a push to homogenize. Baghdad's sectarian violence has the dynamic of a gated community, but in reverse: Those who don't belong are forced to leave.
The 1-4 Cav walked the streets and met with all the people they could, which sometimes meant knocking on strangers' doors. It's a peculiar feeling entering someone's home accompanied by armed men, but I soon realized the Iraqis were not at all afraid of the soldiers who came into their living rooms. Within minutes of introductions and the handshake that ends with the palm patting the middle of the chest near the heart, the Iraqis had a long list of things they needed or could use.
Most Iraqis not only wanted Americans to take an active role in their lives, they expected it. After years of a regime that dictated controlled speech, movement and welfare, Iraqis were accustomed to strong mentorship. One of the hurdles leaders like Crider have is getting Iraqis to develop a greater sense of personal responsibility.
Years after the successful invasion of Baghdad and ouster of Saddam Hussein, the battle for hearts and minds was over and the United States had won. But the dirty little secret was, and is, that the average Iraqi trusts the American military more than he trusts his fellow Iraqis. At neighborhood council meetings, I've seen audiences nod off during the flowery, long-winded speeches of local politicians and then quickly perk up when a member of the U.S. military speaks. It's because, as many Iraqis told me, "We know you won't take sides, and that you're fair."
"Close Encounters" has paid off. The residents of muhalla 840 have reported several veebeds (car bombs). Most of them were false alarms, but three of them contained explosives, set off by a deadly watcher. The enemy could be observing, calling in the 1-4 Cav and maybe even leading them to an ambush. Such tactics are not unheard of, which is why human intelligence is crucial. Human intelligence meant getting out and meeting the people.
"You see this area here, I know most of the people here," Crider said, a slight hint of Southern accent making his words sound disarming, but still very important. "But I don’t know who lives here," he ran a finger along a couple of homes on the map. "That's where we're going."
Friday, August 3, 2007
Ahh.. Yet Another Attempt by the Democrats to Appease Illegals
August 03, 2007
Read More: Bad behavior
House erupts in chaos
In a massive flare-up of partisan tensions (video link courtesy Breitbart.tv), Republicans walked out on a House vote late Thursday night to protest what they believed to be Democratic maneuvers to reverse an unfavorable outcome for them.
The flap represents a complete breakdown in parliamentary procedure and an unprecedented low for the sometimes bitterly divided chamber.
The rancor erupted shortly before 11 p.m. as Rep. Michael R. McNulty (D-N.Y.) gaveled close the vote on a standard procedural measure with the outcome still in doubt.
Details remain fuzzy, but numerous Republicans argued afterward that they had secured a 215-213 win on their motion to bar undocumented immigrants from receiving any federal funds apportioned in the agricultural spending bill for employment or rental assistance. Democrats, however, argued the measure was deadlocked at 214-214 and failed, members and aides on both sides of the aisle said afterward.
One GOP aide saw McNulty gavel the vote to a close after receiving a signal from his leaders – but before reading the official tally. And votes continued to shift even after he closed the roll call - a strange development in itself.
Whatever the final tally, acrimony quickly exploded between lawmakers on either side of the aisle as Democratic leaders tried to plot a solution, while parliamentarians on either side argued over protocol.
Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) eventually offered a motion to reconsider, according to floor staff on either side, ostensibly giving members a chance to recast their votes. But the maneuver sparked a chorus of angry protests from the Republicans, yelling “shame” on Democrats, while they returned fire with angry volleys of their own.
When Democrats finally moved to consider the spending bill as the last vote of the night, furious Republicans left the chamber en masse to protest the maneuver. The House eventually recessed at 11:18 p.m. But Republicans quickly discovered that there was no longer any record of the controversial vote and immediately charged Democrats with erasing the bad result.
“Obviously, the Democrats don’t want to stand up against illegal immigration – so much so that they’re willing to cheat in order to win a vote,” Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) said in an e-mail. “They’re desperate – and it shows.”
The official House website did not show a record of the vote as of 1 a.m. Friday.
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SOCIALIST HILLARY STRIKES AGAIN!
