Sunday, August 19, 2012

IRAQIS HELPING IRAN SKIRT SANCTIONS - BILLIONS SQUANDERED ON MUSLIM DICTATORSHIIPS WHILE U.S. BORDERS WITH NARCOMEX ARE OPEN AND UNDEFENDED

how many lives and how many billions have been squandered in the OBAMA - BUSH wars to protect SAUDIS INVADER'S interests over there while our own borders with NARCOMEX are left OPEN and UNDEFENDED?

 

new york times

 

U.S. Says Iraqis Are Helping Iran to Skirt Sanctions

WASHINGTON — When President Obama announced last month that he was barring a Baghdad bank from any dealings with the American banking system, it was a rare acknowledgment of a delicate problem facing the administration in a country that American troops just left: for months, Iraq has been helping Iran skirt economic sanctions imposed on Tehran because of its nuclear program.
The little-known bank singled out by the United States, the Elaf Islamic Bank, is only part of a network of financial institutions and oil-smuggling operations that, according to current and former American and Iraqi government officials and experts on the Iraqi banking sector, has provided Iran with a crucial flow of dollars at a time when sanctions are squeezing its economy.
The Obama administration is not eager for a public showdown with the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki over Iran just eight months after the last American troops withdrew from Baghdad.
Still, the administration has held private talks with Iraqi officials to complain about specific instances of financial and logistical ties between the countries, officials say, although they do not regard all trade between them as illegal or, as in the case of smuggling, as something completely new. In one recent instance, when American officials learned that the Iraqi government was aiding the Iranians by allowing them to use Iraqi airspace to ferry supplies to Syria, Mr. Obama called Mr. Maliki to complain. The Iranian planes flew another route.
In response to questions from The New York Times, David S. Cohen, the Treasury Department’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, provided a written statement saying that Iran “may seek to escape the force of our financial sanctions through Iraqi financial institutions.” But he added that “we will pursue, and are actively pursuing, efforts to prevent Iran from evading U.S. or international financial sanctions, in Iraq or anywhere else.”
Some current and former American and Iraqi officials, along with banking and oil experts, say that Iraqi government officials are turning a blind eye to the large financial flows, smuggling and other trade with Iran. In some cases, they say, government officials, including some close to Mr. Maliki, are directly profiting from the activities.
“Maliki’s government is right in the middle of this,” said one former senior American intelligence official who now does business in Iraq.
In announcing that he was “cutting off” Elaf Islamic Bank, Mr. Obama said it had “facilitated transactions worth millions of dollars on behalf of Iranian banks that are subject to sanctions for their links to Iran’s illicit proliferation activities.”
But the treatment the bank has received in Baghdad since it was named by Mr. Obama suggests that the Iraqi government is not only allowing companies and individuals to circumvent the sanctions but also not enforcing penalties for noncompliance.
Iraqi banking experts said last week that the bank was still allowed to participate in the Iraq Central Bank’s daily auction at which commercial banks can sell Iraqi dinars and buy United States dollars. These auctions are a crucial pathway for Iranian access to the international financial system. Western officials say that Iran seeks to bolster its reserves of dollars to stabilize its exchange rates and pay for imports.
Iraqi and American officials with knowledge of Iraqi banking practices say Iranian customers are able to move large amounts of cash through the auction, and from there into banks in regional financial centers like Dubai, United Arab Emirates, or Amman, Jordan, and then into the international banking system.
Mudher Salih, the central bank governor, said in an interview that Elaf Islamic Bank was being allowed back into the auction because Elaf officials had denied any wrongdoing. “Elaf Bank is attending the auctions, and they are telling us that they didn’t violate the law, and saying that they didn’t deal with any Iranian institutes,” Mr. Salih said.
While Iraq has tried to impose more stringent reporting requirements that might pick up illegal transfers, officials with knowledge of the Iraqi banking industry say that banks, hawala houses, an unofficial global network of money-traders, and their Iranian customers are finding ways around them, often by forging documents that make it look as if the money transfers are to finance legitimate trade between Iraq and other countries.
Thanks to Iraq’s growing oil revenue, the Iraqi central bank has about $60 billion in foreign exchange reserves, held in accounts at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, with which to meet the insatiable demand for dollars. But the new flight of dollars out of Iraq is prompting criticism of the central bank and of the Iraqi government.
The accusations of high-level Iraqi government involvement in sanctions-busting have roiled Iraqi politics and invariably reflect on Mr. Maliki, since many Iraqi officials now say that he has taken effective control of the Iraqi central bank, which is nominally independent.
“We want to question the central bank and the banks that are involved,” Ali al-Sachri, a member of Parliament, said in an interview. Mr. Salih acknowledged the huge dollar transfers and said that they threatened the economic stability of Iraq by depleting the country’s foreign reserves. He said that “in order to prevent the economy from collapsing, we should put an end to this illegal flow of dollars outside Iraq.”
He said the large-scale money laundering was probably being helped by “some corruption that requires the government to investigate,” but he defended the actions of the central bank, saying that it does “not have the capability to watch everything.”
Several American and Iraqi banking and government officials also say that Iranian organizations have gained effective control over at least four Iraqi commercial banks through Iraqi intermediaries. That gives Iran direct access to the international financial system, supposedly denied to Tehran by the economic sanctions. Even as the United States has moved to tighten the vise against Iran this summer, the Maliki government has openly sought to enhance its already deep economic and political ties with Iran. Trade between Iraq and Iran, which fought a costly war from 1980 to 1988, has been growing rapidly ever since the American-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, and it is now estimated to be as high as $11 billion a year. Among other openly acknowledged forms of trade, Iraq has contracts to buy large amounts of electrical power from Iran.
Just last week, an Iraqi delegation that includes the deputy prime minister and top officials from the ministries of finance and trade and the central bank met in Tehran with their Iranian counterparts for talks about further increasing economic ties.
An Iraqi government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, said in a telephone interview that Iraq “is not intending to break any rules,” but added that “we also have good relations with Iran that we do not want to break.”
This year, Iraqi officials publicly expressed concerns that their large volume of trade with Iran might place them in violation of the sanctions on Iran, and they said they would seek a sanctions waiver. After those public statements, American officials privately told the Maliki government that Iraq would not be found to be in violation of the new Iran sanctions because of its publicly acknowledged cross-border trade, according to a former senior United States official.
Whatever help Iraq has given Iran, the sanctions have put considerable pressure on Tehran. Iran’s oil exports have dropped by about 40 percent because of the latest round of sanctions, while Iraq’s own oil production has been surging. American officials say that if aiding Iran was a priority of the Iraqi government, Baghdad would not be so eagerly ramping up oil production to fill the void left by Iran.
Still, clandestine trade, including large-scale smuggling of oil and oil products, has been increasing, and the Iraqi government has done little to stop a highly organized effort that frequently provides financial benefits to Iraqi political parties and powerful political leaders, according to American and Iraqi oil traders and experts.
Iraqi fuel oil, acquired by smuggling operations with close connections to political leaders at extremely low prices with the help of government subsidies, is being smuggled from Iraq through Kurdistan and into Iran. From Iran it is smuggled once again, with some going to Afghanistan, where the cheap fuel is resold at a large profit. American and Iraqi oil experts say they believe that at least some Iranian oil is finding its way to Iraqi ports for export.
James Risen reported from Washington, and Duraid Adnan from Baghdad.

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Is the U.S. sending Seal Team Six to capture top drug cartel kingpin? American military 'plotting military operation similar to bin Laden mission'

  • Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman is one of Mexico's most wanted drug cartel kingpins
  • He escaped from prison in daring breakout in 2001
  • Mexican President Felipe Calderon reportedly reached out to U.S. for help in taking out Guzman in military raid
  • U.S. agencies have allegedly grown frustrated with Mexico's inability to catch Guzman
  • Bin Laden killed in Seal Team Six raid in Abbotabad, Pakistan, on May 2, 2011


14 August 2012

On the run: Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman has been the subject of a vast manhunt for the last 11 years after escaping from a Mexico prison

In an effort to catch one of the world’s most notorious drug kingpins, the U.S. may use the same daring methods that took down Osama bin Laden.

More than a year after the terror leader’s demise in Abottabad, Pakistan, Seal Team Six raid, the highly-trained commandos may be dispatched to Mexico to kill or capture Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman.

Like the 9/11 Mastermind, Guzman has been the subject of a vast manhunt for the last ten years after he escaped from a Mexican high security prison in a complex breakout that reportedly cost him nearly $4million.

Mexico’s Procesor magazine (English translation) reported that a new plan to get Guzman was hatched by Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who felt the only way to catch him was through a military raid.

But when Calderon was turned down by Mexico’s army and naval forces, he turned to the U.S. government, which has made catching or killing Guzman a priority.

Sources told Procesor that the U.S. has grown increasingly more frustrated with Mexico’s failure to bring Guzman to justice - especially after a joint effort by U.S. agencies provided the information needed to catch him.

Guzman presides over a $1billion drug empire and is accused of firing the first shot in a bloody cartel war that has so far killed nearly 50,000 people.

The death of Osama Bin Laden pushed the notorious drug baron to the top of a list of international criminals compiled by international law enforcement officials and Forbes.

Brutality: Guzman is wanted for allegedly firing the first shots in grisly drug cartel war which has gripped Mexico for years and has claimed about 50,000 lives

Since then the drug lord known as 'El Chapo' because of his 5ft 2in height has eluded capture, protected by his vast Sinaloa drugs cartel and no doubt a legion of corrupt officials paid from his vast wealth.

He has attained almost mythical status in Mexico vast drugs operation that runs shipments of tons at a time from Columbia into Mexico and on to the U.S.

But such a lucrative operation will always attract competition and Loera is arguably responsible for more deaths than Bin Laden as his henchmen fight other cartels for control of lucrative transportation corridors into the U.S.

He is accused of starting Mexico's cartel wars when his hitmen assassinated the leader of the Juarez cartel and his wife in 2004 in a bid to take control of the city of Cidudad Juarez, breaking the pact of non-aggression that had previously existed.

Target: A member of Seal Team Six shot and killed Osama bin Laden during the elite squad's daring raid of his compound in Abbotabad, Pakistan



In the Situation Room: President Obama watched the bin Laden raid with Vice President Biden and his closest advisers

As tit-for-tat fighting escalated, government troops were sent into drug strongholds in 2006 marking the start of a conflict that has ravaged Mexico.

Guzman has been the number one drugs kingpin since the arrest of Osiel Cárdenas, head of the Gulf cartel in 2010.

He first rose to prominence as the head of logistics for the Sinaloa cartel Salazar in the 1980s, coordinating flights boat shipments and truck journeys from Colombia into Mexico.

Once his mentor was captured he took control of the entire cartel, before he himself was captured in 1993.

Gripped by violence: Police tape surrounds the perimeter of the Matehuala Men's Club in Monterrey, Mexico, after a shooting inside

But he escaped from prison in 2001 when a guard opened his cell door and wheeled him out of the maximum security La Palma prison in a laundry basket.

More than 70 people were arrested over the bold escape plan that may have involved local police, who allegedly gave him 24 hours to get away before the military moved in.

He has evaded capture since, despite a series of narrow misses when the authorities were hours or minutes from catching him.

Law and order: Government troops have been fighting drug violence in Mexico, but Guzman has never been re-captured

One of the most chilling incidents was in 2009, when an Archbishop in the state of Durango said that the fugitive was 'living nearby and everyone knows it except the authorities, who just don't happen to see him for some reason.'

Days later two undercover military officers were shot dead in their car, their bodies left with a note that read: 'You'll never get 'El Chapo', not the priests, not the government.'

Now El Chapo is said to have infiltrated the highest level of Mexico's government as President Felipe Calderon fights to keep control of his country amid claims that it is drug lords such as El Chapo who are really in charge.


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ARIZONA IS A STATE UNDER OBAMA’S DEPT. of JUSTICE ASSAULT. ALONG WITH THREE OTHER AMERICAN STATES, OBAMA HAS SHOVED HIS LA RAZA SUPREMACY AGENDA OF OPEN BORDERS, SANCTUARY CITIES, DREAM ACTS, NO E-VERIFY, NO I.D. TO INCONVENIENCE ILLEGALS VOTING!

WHILE OBAMA HAS STATIONED 2,500 TROOPS IN AUSTRALIA, HE HAS REPEATEDLY SABOTAGED OUR BORDERS WITH NARCOMEX AND ASSURE THE MEX DRUG CARTELS THAT MEX TRUCK DRIVERS COULD ENTER OUR BORDERS WITH THEIR HUMAN CARGO AND DRUGS, SOMETHING WHICH BUSH PROHIBITED.

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MEXICANOCCUPATION.blogspot.com

FAIRUS.org

JUDICIALWATCH.org

ALIPAC.us

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THE LA RAZA CRIME TIDAL WAVE

NEARLY HALF OF ALL MURDERS IN CA ARE BY MEXICAN GANGS!






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Pinal County Sheriff: Mexican drug cartels now control parts of Arizona


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Posted: 06/11/2010


CASA GRANDE, AZ - Two men shot earlier this week could be the result of the ongoing battle between Mexican drug cartels now spilling over deep into Arizona, officials say.

Pinal County investigators say  an area  known as the smuggling corridor now stretches from Mexico's border to metro Phoenix.

The area , once an area for family hiking and off road vehicles has government signs warning residents of the drug and human smugglers.

Night vision cameras have photographed military armed cartel members delivering drugs to vehicles along Highway 8.

"We are three counties deep. How is it that you see pictures like these, not American with semi and fully automatic rifles. How is that okay?" asked Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu.

Babeu said he no longer has control over parts of his county.

"We are outgunned, we are out manned and we don't have the resources here locally to fight this," he said at a Friday news conference.

Five weeks ago Deputy Louie Puroll was ambushed and shot as he tracked six drug smugglers. 

Sheriff Babeu said the ambush mirrored military tactics.

Even more disturbing, Babeu said the man who called in to 911 operators for help seemed to know a lot about the sheriff deputy's case.

"He told operators they could find him where the deputy was shot and talked about our search helicopter. Things that were talked about on the news," Babeu said.

When operators asked the fatally wounded man how he knew the area, he claimed he sold cantelope near mile post 150.

Both men were found dead several hours later.

Detectives say next to them was a Bushmaster automatic rifle used by police officers for patrolling. It does not appear to be stolen.

Investigators also revealed that an autopsy showed strap marks on one of the men that likely came from hauling heavy loads, they suspect were drugs.

One of the men, deputies say, was voluntarily deported seven times.

Babeu said he doesn't believe the drug cartel problems will not be solved when SB 1070 becomes a law, or with President Obama's promise of 1,200 troops spread out among four border states.

"It will fall short. What is truly needed in 3,000 soldiers for Arizona alone," Babeu said.

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KEEP THIS IN MIND AS YOU WITNESS OBAMA AND HIS LA RAZA HISPANDERING ADMINISTRATION’S ENDLESS ASSAULT ON THE PEOPLE OF ARIZONA FOR MORE “CHEAP” LABOR ILLEGALS, KNOWN TO HIM AS “UNREGISTERED VOTERS”.

Gov. Brewer: Most border-crossers are drug 'mules' for Mexican cartels

Expanding on comments made at a candidates' debate, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said today she believes that most illegal immigrants crossing the border are "mules" carrying drugs for Mexican cartels.

"I believe today, under the circumstances that we're facing, that the majority of the illegal trespassers that are coming into the state of Arizona are under the direction and control of organized drug cartels and they are bringing drugs in," Brewer told the Associated Press.

"There's strong information to us that they come as illegal people wanting to come to work. Then they are accosted and they become subjects of the drug cartel," she said.

During the June 15 Republican debate she said she believed that most illegal immigrants did not enter the United States for work. She then associated illegal immigrants with drug smuggling, drop houses, extortion and other criminal activity, according to AP.

The state law she signed making it a crime to be in Arizona illegally will take effect next month.

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DRUG CARTELS MOVE OVER THE ARIZONA BORDER INTO HUNDREDS OF AMERICAN CITIES

By Dennis Wagner, The Arizona Republic

On May 9, a 15-year-old girl walked into Arizona through the San Luis port of entry, near Yuma, with 5 pounds of marijuana strapped around her belly, Customs and Border Protection records show.

She was busted by customs officers.

Later that day, a 16-year-old boy tried the same thing with 2 pounds of cannabis taped to his legs. He, too, was arrested.

The marijuana, with a combined street value of $72,000, was confiscated.

The juveniles — both U.S. citizens — were turned over to police, but others keep taking their place.

In the past two years, Homeland Security officials have witnessed a disturbing development along the Mexican border: kid smugglers.

"It's going up," said Michael Lowrie, a public-affairs agent for the U.S. Border Patrol. "Not a whole lot, but more than we've seen in, well, pretty much ever."

The Border Patrol does not keep data on juvenile drug runners caught trying to sneak into Arizona. Customs and Border Protection records show 130 minors were caught attempting to bring drugs through entry ports from Sonora into Arizona during fiscal 2009, an 83% increase over the previous year.

Teresa Small, a Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman in San Luis, said narcotics organizations are recruiting American teens with claims that they won't face major punishment if caught.

"Drug-trafficking organizations lead them to believe they will not have a substantial sentence," Small said. Prison terms are not uncommon for teen smugglers.

The problem escalated last year to a point where federal and local authorities created programs to warn Yuma County students about the dangers and consequences of drug smuggling. The federal campaign includes a presentation by border agents.

Judge Maria Elena Cruz said she has noticed a surge of young smugglers who are stunned when she orders them incarcerated.

Small said most of the youthful offenders are Americans with family members in Mexico. She said port officers generally refer suspects to local authorities for prosecution under Arizona law, rather than to the federal justice system.

"One thing for sure: They will get the hardest punishment possible," Small said.

Still, the cases pile up.

On June 24, Customs and Border Protection reported, a 16-year-old American boy was arrested at the San Luis port of entry with cocaine taped to his leg.

"They think they're going to get away with it or get a slap on the wrist," Lowrie



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SOMEONE SHOULD TELL THE HISPANDERING OBAMA and his LA RAZA DEPT of JUSTICE THAT MEXICANS ARE NOT A RACE, EXCEPT IN THEIR RACIST MINDS! LA RAZA “THE RACE” SUPREMACY MOVEMENT IS FUNDED BY OBAMA WITH OUR TAX DOLLARS AND OPERATES OUT OF THE OBAMA WHITE HOUSE.

BARACK OBAMA vs THE AMERICAN PEOPLE 9(legals) OF ARIZONA:

1. OBAMA HAS TAKEN BORDER GUARDS OFF THE AZ BORDER TO HELP EASE THE MEXICAN HORDES OVER, UNDER AND INTO OUR JOBS. HE HAS DONE THIS BY SABOTAGING E-VERIFY!

2. OBAMA HAS PERMITTED MEX TRUCK DRIVERS OVER OUR BORDERS SO THEY CAN MORE EASILY TRANSPORT DRUGS AND HUMAN CARGO. EVEN GEORGE BUSH, ALSO AN ADVOCATE FOR OPEN BORDERS WITH NARCOMEX, WOULD NOT DO THAT!

3. WELFARE FOR ILLEGALS IN MEX-OCCUPIED AZ IS SOARING. NOT ONE LEGAL VOTED TO BE LOOTED BY MEXICANS.

4. NEXT TO MEXICO CITY, THE LARGEST CENTER FOR MEXICAN KIDNAPPING IS PHOENIX. VIVA LA RAZA?



5. PHOENIX IS THE CAPITAL OF MEXICAN HOME-INVASION AND CAR THEFT. VIVA LA RAZA?



6. OBAMA HAS SUED AZ TO STOP THE STATE FROM REQUIRING IDS WHICH MAY PREVENT ILLEGALS FROM VOTING FOR OBAMA… AGAIN!



7. OBAMA’S HOLDER DEPT of LA RAZA JUSTICE HAS ARMED THE MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS AND SANDBAGS CONGRESS’ ATTEMPTS TO INVESTIGATE.



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WHERE’S THE REAL RACISM?

“In Mexico, a recent Zogby poll declared that the vast majority of Mexican citizens hate Americans. [22.2] Mexico is a country saturated with racism, yet in denial, having never endured the social development of a Civil Rights movement like in the US--Blacks are harshly treated while foreign Whites are often seen as the enemy. [22.3] In fact, racism as workplace discrimination can be seen across the US anywhere the illegal alien Latino works--the vast majority of the workforce is usually strictly Latino, excluding Blacks, Whites, Asians, and others.”

“PHOENIX – Federal authorities said Wednesday they plan to sue an Arizona county sheriff and his office over allegations of civil rights violations, including the racial profiling of Hispanics.”

Justice Department planning to sue Arizona sheriff Arpaio over alleged racial profiling

Published May 10, 2012

| Associated Press

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PHOENIX – Federal authorities said Wednesday they plan to sue an Arizona county sheriff and his office over allegations of civil rights violations, including the racial profiling of Hispanics.

The U.S. Justice Department has been seeking an agreement requiring sheriff Joe Arpaio office to train officers in how to make constitutional traffic stops, collect data on people arrested in traffic stops and reach out to Hispanics to assure them that the department is there to also protect them.

Arpaio has denied the racial profiling allegations and has claimed that allowing a court monitor would mean that every policy decision would have to be cleared through an observer and would nullify his authority.

DOJ officials told a lawyer for Arpaio on April 3 that the lawman's refusal of a court-appointed monitor was a deal-breaker that would end settlement negotiations and result in a federal lawsuit.

The "notice of intent to file civil action" came Wednesday from Assistant U.S. Attorney General Thomas Perez in a letter to an Arpaio lawyer.

Perez, who heads the DOJ's civil rights division, noted that it's been more than 100 days since the sheriff's office received the DOJ's findings report and federal authorities haven't met with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office counsel since Feb. 6 to discuss the terms of a consent agreement.

At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Arpaio defended himself in the face of the pending lawsuit.

"If they sue, we'll go to court. And then we'll find out the real story," he said. "There's lots of miscommunication emanating from Washington. They broke off communications.

"They're telling me how to run my organization. I'd like to get this resolved, but I'm not going to give up my authority to the federal government. It's as simple as that," Arpaio added.

Last December, the DOJ released a scathing report accusing Arpaio's office of racially profiling Latinos, basing immigration enforcement on racially charged citizen complaints and punishing Hispanic jail inmates for speaking Spanish in Arizona's most populous county.

The DOJ also accused Arpaio of having a culture of disregard for basic constitutional rights.

The civil rights allegations have led some Arpaio critics to call for his resignation, including the National Council of La Raza, a prominent advocacy group for Latinos.

The sheriff's office also is facing criticism over more than 400 sex-crimes investigations -- including dozens of alleged child molestations -- that hadn't been investigated adequately or weren't examined at all over a three-year period ending in 2007.

Arpaio has apologized for the botched cases, reopened 432 sex-crimes investigations and made 19 arrests.

Separate from the civil rights probe, a federal grand jury has been investigating Arpaio's office on criminal abuse-of-power allegations since at least December 2009. That grand jury is examining the investigative work of the sheriff's anti-public corruption squad.

The self-proclaimed toughest sheriff in America has been a national political fixture who has built his reputation on jailing inmates in tents and dressing them in pink underwear, selling himself to voters as unceasingly tough on crime and pushing the bounds of how far local police can go to confront illegal immigration.


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“PHOENIX – The state senator in Arizona who wrote the nation's toughest law against

illegal immigrants said Tuesday he's collecting support across the country from

legislators to challenge automatic U.S. citizenship to the children of illegal

immigrants.”



http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2012/02/anchor-babies-arizona-fights-la-raza.html

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ARIZONA IS A STATE UNDER OBAMA’S DEPT. of JUSTICE ASSAULT. ALONG WITH THREE OTHER AMERICAN STATES, OBAMA HAS SHOVED HIS LA RAZA SUPREMACY AGENDA OF OPEN BORDERS, SANCTUARY CITIES, DREAM ACTS, NO E-VERIFY, NO I.D. TO INCONVENIENCE ILLEGALS VOTING!

WHILE OBAMA HAS STATIONED 2,500 TROOPS IN AUSTRALIA, HE HAS REPEATEDLY SABOTAGED OUR BORDERS WITH NARCOMEX AND ASSURE THE MEX DRUG CARTELS THAT MEX TRUCK DRIVERS COULD ENTER OUR BORDERS WITH THEIR HUMAN CARGO AND DRUGS, SOMETHING WHICH BUSH PROHIBITED.

JUDICIAL WATCH.... get on their free emails

Obama Administration Hostile to Illegal Immigration Enforcement

The Obama administration is once again undermining the enforcement of our nation's immigration laws.

Last week I told you about the administration's attempts to undermine 287(g), a highly successful federal program that trains local law enforcement officers in illegal immigration enforcement techniques. Well, this week, two stories hit the press that show just how far the administration is willing to go to protect illegal alien criminals and punish law enforcement officers who are simply doing their jobs.

First, as reported by The Associated Press, the Obama administration is taking another swipe at one of its favorite bogeymen, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, known as "America's toughest Sheriff" for his no-nonsense approach to enforcing the law, including laws against illegal immigration. Here's the scoop:

An Arizona sheriff known for aggressively cracking down on illegal immigration has been stripped of some of his special power to enforce federal immigration law, and he claims the Obama administration is taking away his authority for political reasons.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose office faces racial profiling allegations over crime and immigration sweeps in some heavily Latino areas of metro Phoenix, said officials from Washington won't let him renew a deal that let his deputies make federal immigration arrests.

Make no mistake. This move by the Obama administration is a strong message to local police departments: "If you seek to enforce immigration laws, we will strip you of your power." When taken in context with the "reforms" to 287(g) that we discussed last week, it is clear the administration is intent on not only undermining, but completely dismantling the 287(g) program and any effort by local law enforcement officers to assist the relatively small cadre of federal agents responsible for enforcing immigration laws.

 (By the way, you may recall Judicial Watch Director of Research and Investigations Chris Farrell led a congressional delegation to Arizona in July to assess the situation at the nation's southern border. This included a tour of Sheriff Arpaio's "Tent City Jail." Click here for more information.)

The good news is Sheriff Arpaio won't back down and will continue to enforce the law.

But the attack on 287(g) and the good sheriff is not the only tactic by this administration to undermine the rule of law. The Wall Street Journal reported this nugget earlier in the week:

The Obama administration is expected on Tuesday to unveil an outline of sweeping changes for the nation's immigration-detention system, saying it will decide whom to lock up and for how long based on the danger and flight risk posed by detainees...

...Until now, the Obama administration has been reluctant to revise detention standards, which were updated late in the administration of former President George W. Bush. The immigration detention system expanded dramatically during the Bush years as the government took a much tougher line against illegal immigrants.

The Obama administration's reforms include the construction of new and improved detention facilities, increased medical care, improved "custodial conditions" and a new "classification system" for illegal alien detainees. (The Obama administration believes holding illegal aliens who are marked for deportation in jail cells is cruel and unusual punishment. One proposed reform suggests putting them up in hotels and nursing homes instead!)

Leftists and their media allies have systematically been attacking the current detention system for the last two years. They are seemingly opposed to any detention system (hence, the Obama administration's emphasis on getting alien criminals out of jail).

The fact is many of the illegal aliens being "detained" in jails are simply awaiting deportation after having served time for other crimes, including crimes of violence. The federal government reimburses localities for jailing these bad guys. Certainly makes sense from a public safety perspective.

Of course, the whole idea of the Obama plan is to bring the entire system under federal control, which apparently means more money and less enforcement. Signs point to expensive "Club Feds" for illegal alien criminals.

So the twofer from the Obama administration this week is this: don't arrest illegal aliens and coddle them if they are arrested.

And so the illegal alien crisis will continue.

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From the Los Angeles Times

Opinion

Mexico's bloody drug war

The drug violence in Mexico rivals death tolls in Iraq



By David Danelo

December 10, 2008

On Nov. 3, the day before Americans elected Barack Obama president, drug cartel henchmen murdered 58 people in Mexico. It was the highest number killed in one day since President Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006. By comparison, on average 26 people -- Americans and Iraqis combined -- died daily in Iraq in 2008. Mexico's casualty list on Nov. 3 included a man beheaded in Ciudad Juarez whose bloody corpse was suspended along an overpass for hours. No one had the courage to remove the body until dark.

The death toll from terrorist attacks in Mumbai two weeks ago, although horrible, approaches the average weekly body count in Mexico's war. Three weeks ago in Juarez, which is just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, telephone messages and banners threatened teachers that if they failed to pay protection money to cartels, their students would suffer brutal consequences. Local authorities responded by assigning 350 teenage police cadets to the city's 900 schools. If organized criminals wish to extract tribute from teachers, businessmen, tourists or anyone else, there is nothing the Mexican government can do to stop them. For its part, the United States has become numb to this norm.

As part of my ongoing research into border issues, I have visited Juarez six times over the last two years. Each time I return, I see a populace under greater siege. Residents possess a mentality that increasingly resembles the one I witnessed as a Marine officer in Baghdad, Fallouja and Ramadi.

"The police are nothing," a forlorn cab driver told me in September. "They cannot protect anyone. We can go nowhere else. We live in fear."

An official in El Paso estimated that up to 100,000 dual U.S.-Mexican citizens, mostly upper middle class, have fled north from Juarez to his city this year. Only those lacking means to escape remain.

At the same time, with the U.S. economy in free fall, many illegal immigrants are returning south. So illegal immigration -- the only border issue that seems to stir the masses -- made no splash in this year's elections. Mexico's chaos never surfaced as a topic in either the foreign or domestic policy presidential debates.

Despite the gravity of the crisis, our closest neighbor has fallen off our political radar. Heaven help you if you bring up the border violence at a Washington dinner party. Nobody -- Republican or Democrat -- wants to approach this thorny discussion.

Mexico, our second-largest trading partner, is a fragmenting state that may spiral toward failure as the recession and drug violence worsen. Remittances to Mexico from immigrant labor have fallen almost 20% in 2008. Following oil, tourism and remittances, drugs are the leading income stream in the Mexican economy.

While the bottom is dropping out of the oil and tourism markets, the American street price of every narcotic has skyrocketed, in part because of recent drug interdiction successes along the U.S. border.

Unfortunately, this toxic economic cocktail also stuffs the cartels' coffers. Substitute tribal clans for drug cartels, and Mexico starts to look disturbingly similar to Afghanistan, whose economy is fueled by the heroin-based poppy trade.

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, Obama's pick for Homeland Security director, has argued for permanently stationing National Guard troops along the border. That response alone will do little to assuage American border citizens. To them, talk of "violence bleeding over" is political pabulum while they watch their southern neighbors bleed.

If Napolitano wishes to stabilize the border, she will have to persuade the Pentagon and the State Department to take a greater interest in Mexico. Despite Calderon's commendable efforts to fight both the cartels and police corruption, this struggle shows no signs of slowing. When 45,000 federal troops are outgunned and outspent by opponents of uncertain but robust size, the state's legitimacy quickly deteriorates.

The Mexican state has not faced this grave a challenge to its authority since the Mexican revolution nearly a century ago.

If you want to see what Mexico will look like if this pattern continues, visit a border city like Tijuana, where nine beheaded bodies were discovered in plastic bags 10 days ago. Inhale the stench of decay. Inspect the fear on the faces. And then ask yourself how the United States is prepared to respond as Mexico's crisis increasingly becomes our own.

David J. Danelo is the author of "The Border: Exploring the U.S.-Mexican Divide" and "Blood Stripes: The Grunt's View of the War in Iraq."





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