Many Haitians still homeless more than six months after quake

By Ken Ellingwood

Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

August 1, 2010

Reporting from Corail-Cesselesse, Haiti

It was when lightning struck her tent the other day that Marie Vernita Lysius realized that the 6-month-long chain of calamities was not going to end.

Lysius' home was crushed by the Jan. 12 earthquake, sending her into a teeming encampment of flimsy stick-and-tarp shelters. She was later bused to a better-equipped tent city on this windblown plain 15 miles north of Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital.

Then the lightning bolt hit a support, spraying holes in her tent and injuring two family members, during a severe storm that blew down more than 300 shelters. The storm reminded the displaced that the hurricane season is upon them and that they have nowhere else to go.

"This is an example of what a hurricane can do," said Lysius, 46, surveying a landscape pocked by collapsed tents. "Are they going to leave us out here?"

More than six months after Haiti's catastrophic quake, a thickening sense of hopelessness hangs over the estimated 1.5 million displaced people who await more durable shelters.

"At first we thought that the way the international community was coming together that in six months we'd be off the street. But we're still here," said Stella Nicholas, one of 12 people crammed into a cluster of tarpaulin shelters near downtown Port-au-Prince that felt as hot and airless as the inside of a giant mitten.

"Our government is incapable of getting us out of this situation," Nicholas said. "I hope the international community can keep our hope alive, because it's fading."

The earthquake triggered a massive international relief effort and inspired avowals that this was the opportunity to fix the chronic poverty and desperation that had made Haiti the most miserable corner of the Western Hemisphere. Many Haitians, though mindful of previous promises unmet, took those words to heart.

Today, spray-painted graffiti calling for the ouster of President Rene Preval have multiplied as impatience grows. National elections are scheduled in November and the earthquake response stands to be a central issue, at least in the capital. (Preval won't be on the ballot.)

With forecasts for a potentially severe hurricane season, the most worrisome short-term problem is where to house the displaced scattered among scruffy, sunbaked tent villages, converted schoolyards and thousands of scrap-wood shacks that look like the sprouts of tomorrow's shantytowns.

Planned transfers to more weather-resistant transitional shelters are running up against a shortage of available land.

For starters, much of Port-au-Prince is off limits because it is covered with mountains of rubble. But in a country where only about 5% of land ownership is properly registered, it is difficult to find property not already claimed by one or more owners.

"Land rights are at the bottom of all the problems we are facing," said Timo Luege, spokesman for the 70-plus agencies working jointly on the shelter issue.

Relief workers plan to build 125,000 shelters by the summer of 2011. But they have erected only about 7,000, enough to house about 34,000. Some aid groups say the Haitian government, feeble before the quake and overwhelmed by the demands since, hasn't spelled out a clear resettlement strategy and shows little willingness to seize private land by eminent domain.

Luege said aid workers have asked the government to endorse a provisional solution under which the groups strike informal three-year leases with owners who are vouchsafed by neighbors. The government has not answered, he said.

The camp enrollments have been swelled by people still afraid to go into houses with only mild damage and now-jobless tenants too broke to pay their rent. Others have enrolled at camps in hope of eventually getting a free house.

In Port-au-Prince, where living conditions were appalling for most people before the quake, access to clean water and toilets even in squalid encampments represents a modest step up for many.

Aid officials say the global effort has staved off the worst potential complications from the temblor, which killed more than 200,000 people, left 188,000 homes destroyed or heavily damaged and knocked down most of the Haitian government's facilities.

Emergency assistance has prevented widespread starvation and outbreaks of disease, both of which had been feared. The violent upheaval some anticipated did not come to pass, though crime attributed to gangs is a growing concern.

More than 200,000 people have been hired temporarily to pick up rubble and clean drainage channels. And in a nation where less than half of the population had access to medical care before the quake, clinics originally set up to handle emergency cases have become essential sites for people with ordinary ailments, as well as illnesses related to conditions in the camps, such as diarrhea.

Edmond Mulet, the United Nations secretary-general's special representative in Haiti, said he considered the progress impressive given the scale of devastation.

"It's only six months since the largest destruction in human memory," Mulet said in an interview. "If we had a magic wand, we would use it."

The Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, established in April and co-chaired by Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and former President Clinton, will match recovery projects with international funding promised during a conference in New York in March. Donors pledged $9.9 billion, about half of it during the next three years.

But that will take time. For now, the displaced brace for what the winds may carry next.

On a dust-blown patch next to a busy thoroughfare, Eliones St. Fort huddled inside the shack he fashioned after the quake using pieces of plywood and dimpled scraps of sheet metal. On the bed, his father-in-law groaned with severe stomach pain he said had set in three days earlier.

St. Fort, 37, an unemployed iron worker, said no government officials or aid workers had come by, and that he wasn't about to wait for others to offer his family shelter sturdier than a tent.

"Who knows how long I'm going to be here?" he said. "This won't stand up to a hurricane. But I did the best I could so that it will stand up to something."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-haiti-uncertainty-20100801,0,3478148,print.story

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OPINION

Affirmative action's time is up

by Gregory Rodriguez

August 2, 2010

The biggest blow to affirmative action in its nearly 50 years of existence was the election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States. Not because Obama is against the policy (he is, as on so many issues, nuanced in his support, i.e. he believes it should exist but not extend to his children) but because his election was widely perceived as being reflective of a profound shift in the country's racial balance.

I believe that white racial anxiety, not immigration, will be the most significant and potentially dangerous socio-demographic trend of the coming decade. The combination of changing demographics and symbolic political victories on the part of nonwhites will inspire in whites a greater racial consciousness, a growing sense of beleagurement and louder calls to end affirmative action or to be included in it.

I am so convinced of this that I think to avoid a destructive white backlash in the face of a rapidly diversifying society, the president should call for an end to affirmative action. In a "Nixon goes to China" sort of way, Obama — by virtue of his racial background, party affiliation and political temperament — is better poised to pull off such a difficult task more gracefully than any other politician.

Ideally, policy, like politics, is the art of the possible. No matter how good its intentions or outcomes, the benefits of any policy should clearly outweigh the social costs. When affirmative action was established, it was intended to benefit a small percentage of the U.S. population, but as the rationale and scope of the program evolved, so did the number of people it included. Large-scale post-1965 immigration also complicated the equation and ultimately upset the political calculus that made affirmative action politically viable.

Not surprisingly, California became the first state to abolish state-sanctioned affirmative action in education and contracts, through a ballot initiative in 1996. That's not because white voters here, who overwhelmingly supported the measure, have more negative feelings toward minorities. Nor is it because they are more committed to fairness and absolute colorblindness than Anglos elsewhere. It happened here, quite simply, because minorities were fast approaching 50% of the population and whites felt that the playing field had tilted against them.

Is there hard evidence that whites are hurt by affirmative action? No. Over the course of four decades of the program, white educational attainment has increased. And whites still make up the vast majority of federal employees. Have blacks or Latinos reached parity with whites in employment and income? Not even close. In fact, during this recession, they lag behind whites for higher-paying jobs at the largest rates in a decade.

But such data are not likely to change the growing perception among whites that the deck has been stacked against them. The number of court cases in which whites claim reverse discrimination is going up, and we're routinely hearing the cries of white minority victimhood. And it's not just coming from white nationalists.

Conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat has argued that the culture of affirmative action in the Ivy Leagues is not only depriving poor whites of a shot at entering the nation's elite schools but fueling "racially tinged conspiracy theories" such as those claiming that the president is a foreign-born commie. Conservative Democratic Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia essentially argued in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that plenty of white folk have it rough too and that affirmative action only makes things rougher.

Calls to scrap affirmative action will only grow more fervent as the rest of the nation begins to look more like California. As whites in more states become the minority, they will seek to protect what they perceive to be their self-interest, or will be seduced by the siren song of minority victimology that has captivated other groups. Or both.

As I see it, we can either end such programs sooner with less pain or suffer the consequences of a much more brutally divisive battle later. It's hard enough to get along in a diverse society. We don't need the remedy for institutionalized racism to create more racial tensions. We need to find new, less divisive ways to fight inequality.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-rodriguez-whiteanxiety-20100802,0,880727,print.column

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OPINION

Bill to seal autopsy reports is misguided

August 3, 2010

California lawmakers should reject a bill that would give families of murdered children the power to keep autopsy reports sealed from public view. Although the desire to shield traumatized parents from further pain is understandable, SB 982 would undermine public oversight of the criminal justice system and in the end would do little to protect families.

The bill, by Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth (R-Murrieta), is one of several legislative responses to the recent high-profile killings of teenagers Chelsea King and Amber Dubois. Prosecutors argue that it's an important step to protect the privacy of the families of young murder victims. Parents and siblings, they say, should not have to suffer further by viewing and hearing media reports that delve into the gruesome details of the attacks using information obtained from autopsies.

Photographs of murdered minors, which could easily be exploited in newspapers, television and on the Internet, already are sealed. Autopsy reports, by contrast, detail the cause of death and help describe the crime, and provide the public with vital information not only about killings that occur in their neighborhoods but about the police work and prosecutions that they pay for and that they should retain power to oversee.

That kind of oversight is not merely theoretical. After a verdict was rendered in the 2008 killing of 4-year-old Amariana Crenshaw, the Sacramento Bee used autopsy reports to uncover evidence of lapses by Sacramento County's Child Protective Services, which eventually admitted its failure to examine multiple claims of abuse and mistreatment at the hands of Crenshaw's mother. The reporting was possible because the autopsy report remained in the control of the judge rather than Crenshaw's mother.

The bill has been amended to permit judges to revoke parents' power to seal autopsy reports if the parents were deemed to have had a role in the child's death. But even as amended, it would allow parents to block post-verdict investigations into their own behavior and would give them inappropriate power to prevent crucial investigations into the operations of public agencies.

In the name of privacy and victims' rights, family members of crime victims have taken over some of the role that California formerly reserved to judges and others charged with protecting the integrity of the criminal justice system. That transfer may offer family members some consolation, but it does nothing to prevent crime or to help law enforcement officials apprehend perpetrators, and it has endangered the public's ability to know how its agents are performing.

There may be instances in which the public's interest in sealing an autopsy report outweighs its interest in its dissemination, but those are determinations best left to the judicial system and not to family members.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-autopsy-20100803,0,1184489,print.story

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OPINION

Cruelty and the Constitution

August 3, 2010

In April, the Supreme Court struck down a law making it a crime to sell depictions of cruelty to animals. The 8-1 ruling, which reversed a Virginia man's conviction for selling dogfighting videos, was significant because the court was rejecting the federal government's request that it declare a whole category of expression outside the protection of the 1st Amendment.

Now the House has overwhelmingly passed a narrower ban on the sale and distribution of so-called crush videos that raises the same constitutional problem. If the bill is approved by the Senate and signed by President Obama, the court will confront the uncomfortable task of invalidating a law rewritten to comply with one of its decisions. But it shouldn't shrink from that responsibility.

Like the earlier law, the Prevention of Interstate Commerce in Animal Crush Videos Act of 2010, sponsored by Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), is motivated by disgust over videos showing women stomping on or torturing small animals, depictions that appeal to people with a particular sexual fetish. The difference is that the new bill focuses only on crush videos, and specifies that it isn't targeting depictions of hunting, trapping, fishing or "veterinary or agricultural husbandry practices."

Crush videos are appalling, and the conduct they depict is, and should be, illegal. But banning the sale of the videos blurs a distinction between conduct and speech that is at the heart of the 1st Amendment. Granted, the court has ruled that some forms of expression — notably obscenity and child pornography — aren't protected by the Constitution. Nevertheless, as Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. noted in the April decision, if there are any other categories of speech unworthy of protection, "there is no evidence that 'depictions of animal cruelty' is among them." The same logic applies to the subset of animal cruelty known as crush videos.

The new legislation attempts to get around Roberts' conclusion by defining crush videos as obscene because they "appeal to the prurient interest." But if crush videos can be classified as obscene simply because a minuscule number of people find them sexually arousing, so can depictions of all sorts of behavior — including fictional violence.

The court has itself to blame for this legislation, because Roberts' majority opinion emphasized that the law was "overbroad" and included the statement that "we … need not and do not decide whether a statute limited to crush videos or other depictions of extreme animal cruelty would be constitutional." Yet Roberts' own reasoning suggests that narrowing the prohibition doesn't solve the constitutional problem of prosecuting depictions of violence instead of the real thing.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-videos-20100803,0,6933227,print.story

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Boosting online privacy

August 2, 2010

Hardly a month goes by without a new alarm being sounded about privacy online, either because companies are surreptitiously collecting and using data about Web users or because they're releasing information that users thought would be kept private. Web surfers' sense that they have little or no control over these data makes them suspicious even of efforts to make advertising more palatable, such as the shift from one-size-fits-all ads to more personalized and relevant pitches.

Simply put, the current approach to online privacy isn't working. Most sites have voluntarily adopted privacy policies that disclose what information they collect and how they plan to use it. But in all too many cases the policies are so dense and legalistic that they're useless to consumers. Nor is there any penalty for weak or incomprehensible policies. Instead, the Federal Trade Commission's enforcement has focused on companies that don't abide by their published policies or fail to prevent unauthorized disclosures.

In response, Reps. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) and Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.) have put forward bills that would require sites to notify Web users before collecting and using their personal information and allow them to opt out. Sites would also have to obtain permission before disclosing certain data to third parties (such as online advertisers) or changing how they use them.

Lawmakers' concern about privacy is well founded, but regulating the flow of information online is a tricky business. The bills' simple-sounding notification requirements could force consumers to wade through messages from multiple ad networks on any given website. Obtaining permission to share users' data isn't as straightforward as the bills suggest either. Users who don't want personal data revealed in some contexts may welcome it in others — for example, they may not want Facebook telling advertisers about the interests they reveal to their friends, but they may be eager for Facebook to share that information with Amazon so their friends can buy them better gifts.

Before layering on more rules, lawmakers should wait for the recommendations that come out of the privacy roundtables the FTC conducted in the past year. The FTC's main principles — building privacy protections into website design, making privacy policies easier to understand and simplifying the choices facing consumers — are good ones. Also due shortly is a labeling effort by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, a trade group for online advertisers, which aims to notify Web users about the data being collected by advertisers and give them an easy way to opt out. It's not a complete solution, but it's worth seeing how much trust the industry can restore just by being more forthcoming.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-privacy-20100802,0,2574524,print.story

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From the New York Times

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Israelis Divided on Deporting Children

JERUSALEM — Deep divisions emerged here on Monday over the fate of about 400 children of foreign workers who have no legal status in the country and are slated for deportation. The issue has touched on sensitive nerves in Israel , which sees itself as a nation of Jewish refugees and defines itself as a Jewish and democratic state.

The public debate followed a decision by the cabinet on Sunday to approve a plan for granting status to the children of people who entered Israel with a valid visa or permit but have stayed on illegally.

Under the new guidelines, based on the length of time the children have been here and their integration in the education system, about 800 of the 1,200 in question are qualified to stay. Their parents and siblings will be entitled to temporary residence permits. The 400 who do not meet the criteria will have to leave, perhaps as soon as within 30 days.

The government decision was widely seen here as reasonable, though many said it would be more humanitarian to let the 400 remain. Others saw the decision as a bad precedent that could encourage more foreign workers to put down roots in Israel and threaten the Jewish character of the state.

“It is a no-win situation,” said Tom Segev, an Israeli author and historian. “Any way you do it is wrong.”

Nevertheless, while praising the government for taking a “humanistic decision,” he said, “We are a nation of refugees. Now we have to fight for the 400.”

The fate of children born in Israel to foreign workers has long stirred strong emotions here. It took two votes on Sunday for the cabinet to approve the new guidelines, which passed the second time by a vote of 13-10 with four abstentions.

Ministers who voted against the plan did so from contrary positions. Some, including the ministers of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, which controls the Interior Ministry and which critics brand as racist, opposed the plan because it was too liberal. Others, including some ministers from the conservative Likud Party, opposed it because it was not liberal enough.

The discussion around the cabinet table was “fiery,” according to an Israeli official who was in the room.

“We all feel and understand the hearts of children,” said the prime minister and leader of Likud, Benjamin Netanyahu , at the start of the cabinet meeting on Sunday. “But on the other hand, there are Zionist considerations and ensuring the Jewish character of the state of Israel. The problem is that these two components clash.”

There are 250,000 to 300,000 foreign laborers in Israel, about half them without valid documents. Israel has a population of 7.5 million, including more than 5.6 million Jews and 1.5 million Arab citizens. Out of security concerns, it began inviting foreign workers for limited periods to replace Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza to work in construction, agriculture and domestic work. Many have outstayed their visas, and their numbers have been swelled by African refugees and economic migrants who have come across the porous border with Egypt.

Mr. Netanyahu said there were reports of “close to 500,000 migrants, and perhaps close to one million, in the past decade.”

“This is a tangible threat to the Jewish and democratic character of the State of Israel,” he said. “Therefore we will make a decision that is balanced between the desire to take these children into our hearts and the desire not to create an incentive for continued illegal migration that could flood the foundation of the Zionist state.”

The mainstream news media in Israel have largely sided with the children and their advocates. The front page of the popular Yediot Aharonot newspaper on Monday featured a large picture of a boy, Eilon, age 6, and his 2-year-old sister, who are now eligible for deportation along with their mother, Rachel, 37, who came to Israel from the Philippines in 2002.

“Someone there has lost his bearings,” wrote Eitan Haber, a Yediot Aharonot columnist and a close aide to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in the 1990s, in a op-ed published on Monday. “The State of Israel bombed nuclear reactors, reached Entebbe, wasted billions on light and heavy rail systems that don't move and paid hundreds of millions of shekels for years to people who did not contribute a single drop of sweat to the state. And now, 400 children, that is what will kill the state? Have you gone mad?”

But there were other voices, too.

“According to the report submitted to the government, there are 148,000 illegal residents in Israel,” wrote Ben-Dror Yemini, a columnist at a rival newspaper, Maariv . “According to the logic that is taking over us,” he continued, “they should have children, and this will be their insurance policy.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/world/middleeast/03children.html?_r=1&ref=world&pagewanted=print

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N. Korea Threatens South Over Drills

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea warned South Korean fishermen on Tuesday to stay away from disputed border waters and threatened a “strong physical retaliation” against a planned South Korean naval drill there.

South Korea is scheduled to carry out a five-day antisubmarine exercise starting Thursday in response to the sinking in March of one of its warships near the disputed western sea border. South Korea blames North Korea for the sinking of a 1,200-ton corvette called the Cheonan , which killed 46 sailors.

North Korea's western military command "made a decisive resolution to counter the reckless naval firing projected by the group of traitors with strong physical retaliation," said a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

It warned civilian ships not to approach waters around five South Korean border islands, where South Korean marines were expected to fire weapons in exercise. It threatened to “return fire for fire.”

North Korea regularly warns of a major military clash in the disputed waters. In December, it threatened to fire shells into the waters as a way to enforce its claims. Later, both militaries fired shells, but they did not attack each other nor did their shells cross the so-called Northern Limit Line, or N.L.L., which is patrolled by South Korea and the United States.

North Korea has never accepted the N.L.L., which was drawn unilaterally by the United Nations forces at the end of the 1950-3 Korean War, as a legitimate border and claims waters many miles south of it. On Tuesday, it called the South Korean naval exercise a “direct military invasion.”

“North Korea should stop talking nonsense and instead should admit responsibility for the Cheonan sinking and apologize,” said a spokesman for the South Korean military, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing his department's policy.

South Korean officials said that marines in the islands routinely engage in live-fire exercises, warning fishermen to stay away from their firing zones.

The two Korean navies fought skirmishes around the disputed border in 1999, 2002 and in November. In March, South Korea says, a North Korean submarine slipped into the disputed waters and launched a torpedo at the South Korean ship patrolling there — a claim vehemently denied by the North.

South Korea and the United States conducted a major joint naval and air exercise last week in a show of force. North Korea threatened nuclear retaliation, but the exercise passed without incident.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/world/asia/04korea.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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2 Men Convicted in Kennedy Airport Plot

A federal jury found two Guyanese men guilty on Monday of conspiring to attack Kennedy International Airport , concluding a monthlong trial that focused on their plan to blow up fuel tanks and set off a series of explosions along a pipeline that cuts through New York City.

The plot never advanced beyond the conceptual stage, and the planning sessions, some of which were recorded by a confidential informant, were alternately grandiose and absurd in some of its details. Talk of destroying the American economy mixed with suggestions of a “ninja-style” attack.

As in some other recent terrorism cases, the threat as officials described it at the time of the arrests seemed to exceed the suspects' capacity. Like most of those cases, though, it resulted in conviction.

The defendants, Russell M. Defreitas and Abdul Kadir, had been monitored from an early stage in the plot by the informant, who posed as a member of the group, which included a number of other participants.

The informant, Steven Francis, had recorded the men at the airport during surveillance missions and on international trips to secure financial and logistical support for the attack.

The recordings were used by federal prosecutors to portray Mr. Defreitas, 67, an immigrant who became a United States citizen and is a former cargo handler at the airport, as the “homegrown extremist” who conceived and drove the plot.

Mr. Kadir, 58, a prominent Guyanese politician who served in Parliament and as mayor of a major city, initially emerged as a secondary figure, one of several conspirators portrayed as facilitating the plot by providing advice and contacts. But in testifying in his own defense, he opened himself to questions about whether he had spied for Iran.

The case, with its international reach, high-profile target and unusual cast of characters, drew headlines when the men were arrested more than three years ago.

The United States attorney in Brooklyn at the time, Roslynn R. Mauskopf, said the planned attack had the potential to cause “unfathomable damage, deaths and destruction.”

But as time went on, more was revealed about the plot and the unlikelihood of its success (the fuel pipeline, for example, had safety mechanisms to prevent cascading explosions), as well as the level of government involvement (the informant had played a somewhat enabling role in pushing forward the plot).

The verdict came after five days of deliberations in a trial before Judge Dora L. Irizarry in United States District Court in Brooklyn. Both men showed no emotion as the decision was read.

Mr. Defreitas and Mr. Kadir face possible sentences of life in prison after their convictions on five counts of conspiring to commit acts of terrorism. Mr. Defreitas was also convicted of surveillance of an airport; Mr. Kadir was acquitted of that charge. They are scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 15. Their lawyers said they planned to appeal.

Two other men, Abdel Nur and Donald Nero, have pleaded guilty to participating in the plot. Another man, Kareem Ibrahim, is awaiting trial.

A lawyer for Mr. Kadir said he was disappointed but not surprised by the verdict, because the case played on concerns about Muslims and terrorism that are particularly resonant in New York.

“There was more than just the evidence Mr. Kadir was up against,” the lawyer, Kafahni Nkrumah, said. “There was the atmosphere of fear in the country.”

Once the trial began on June 30, intrigue grew over which of the two defendants presented the greater threat. Mr. Defreitas had been the focus of the prosecutors' opening statements, but by closing arguments, Mr. Kadir's name was mentioned nearly as often.

The voluminous recordings played in court left little doubt that Mr. Defreitas had tried to push the plot forward: he videotaped the airport, traveled to Guyana and Trinidad searching for like-minded Muslim militants, and frequently boasted of the damage the attack would cause — promising that it would be “worse than the World Trade Center.”

A prosecutor said the tapes showed him “doing everything he can to make his nightmare a reality.”

Mr. Defreitas, a frail, gray-haired man who watched the trial in a listless slouch, was portrayed by his lawyers as what one of them said was “a man with a small mind, a big mouth and an ugly imagination.”

They said he lacked the resources or sophistication to pull off the attack without the constant encouragement and assistance of Mr. Francis, who purchased a camera for their surveillance missions and had to instruct him how to use it.

“Russell Defreitas can't mastermind his way out of the on-off switch on a video camera,” one of his lawyers said.

In contrast, Mr. Kadir's profile grew during the trial, particularly after his decision to testify in his own defense. Until that point, his contributions to the plot were less tangible, like suggesting that the men use Google Earth to view satellite photos of the airport; agreeing to store money for the plot in a bank account for his mosque; and helping to establish the code name for the attack: “the chicken farm.”

But once on the stand, he was confronted with circumstantial evidence of ties to Iran, to which he was traveling when he was arrested in Trinidad in June 2007. The evidence included letters he wrote to the Iranian ambassador to Venezuela and to an Iranian diplomat who has been accused of leading a major terrorist plot in South America. Mr. Kadir denied spying for the country.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, of the 591 individuals charged in terrorism-related cases that have been resolved, only 9 were acquitted , according to the Center on Law and Security at New York University.

Francesca Laguardia, director of research for the N.Y.U. center, who was present for most of the trial, said the Iranian connections provided legitimacy to a trial in which the seriousness of the allegations contrasted with the appearance of Mr. Defreitas, who inspired “no fear whatsoever.”

“One of the interesting things we learned is how much doesn't come out in these court cases,” Ms. Laguardia said. “We never would have found out all these connections with Iran, if he hadn't gotten on the stand.”

“Maybe it's an example of the reason,” she added, “why law enforcement takes cases seriously that the rest of us don't take seriously.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/nyregion/03kennedy.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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The Lunatic's Manual

The Army, to its credit, tells the story of a middle-aged lieutenant colonel who had served multiple combat tours and was suffering the agonizing effects of traumatic brain injury and dementia. He also had difficulty sleeping. Several medications were prescribed.

On a visit to an emergency room, he was given a 30-tablet refill of Ambien. He went to his car and killed himself by ingesting the entire prescription with a quantity of rum. He left a suicide note that said his headaches and other pain were unbearable.

As if there is not enough that has gone tragically wrong in this era of endless warfare, the military is facing an epidemic of suicides. In the year that ended Sept. 30, 2009, 160 active duty soldiers took their own lives — a record for the Army. The Marines set their own tragic record in 2009 with 52 suicides. And this past June, another record was set — 32 military suicides in just one month.

War is a meat grinder for service members and their families. It grinds people up without mercy, killing them and inflicting the worst kinds of wounds imaginable, physical and psychological. The Pentagon is trying to cope with the surge in suicides, but it is holding a bad hand: the desperate shortage of troops has forced military officials to lower the bar for enlistment, thus letting in people whose drug and alcohol abuse or other behavioral problems would previously have kept them out. And the multiple deployments (four, five and six tours in the war zones) have jacked up stress levels to the point where many just can't take it.

The G.I.'s have fought valiantly in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands have died and many, many more have suffered. But the wars have been conducted as if their leaders had been reading from a lunatic's manual. This is not Germany or Japan or the old Soviet Union that we're fighting. But after nearly a decade, neither war has been won and there is no prospect of winning.

Trillions of dollars are being squandered. George W. (“Mission Accomplished”) Bush took the unprecedented step of cutting taxes while waging the wars. And Barack Obama has set a deadline for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan without having any idea how that war might be going when the deadline arrives.

This is warfare as it might have been waged by Laurel & Hardy. Absent the bloodshed, it would be hilarious. I'd give a lot to hear Dwight Eisenhower comment on the way these wars have been conducted.

July was the deadliest month yet for American troops in Afghanistan. Sixty-six were killed, which was six more than the number who died in the previous most deadly month, June. The nation is paying little or no attention to those deaths, which is shameful. The president goes to fund-raisers and yuks it up on “The View.” For most ordinary Americans, the war is nothing more than an afterthought.

We're getting the worst of all worlds in Afghanistan: We're not winning, and we're not cutting our tragic losses. Most Americans don't care because they're not feeling any of the tragic losses. A tiny, tiny portion of the population is doing the fighting, and those troops are sent into the war zone for tour after tour, as if they're attached to a nightmarish yo-yo.

Some kind of shared sacrifice is in order, but neither Mr. Bush nor Mr. Obama called on Americans to make any real sacrifices in connection with either of these wars. The way to fight a war is to mobilize the country — not just the combat troops — behind an integrated wartime effort. To do that, leaders have to persuade the public that the war is worth fighting, and worth paying for.

What we have in Afghanistan is a war that most Americans believe is not worth fighting — and certainly not worth raising taxes to pay for. President Obama has not made a compelling case for the war and has set a deadline for the start of withdrawal that seems curiously close to the anticipated start of his 2012 campaign for a second term.

It's time to bring the curtain down for good on these tragic, farcical wars. The fantasy of democracy blossoming at the point of a gun in Iraq and spreading blithely throughout the Middle East has been obliterated. And it's hard to believe that anyone buys the notion that the U.S. can install a successful society in the medieval madness of Afghanistan.

For those who haven't noticed, we have a nation that needs rebuilding here at home. Maybe we could muster some shared sacrifice on that front.

It's time to bring the troops back, and nurse the wounded, and thank them all for their extraordinary service. It's time to come to our senses and put the lunatic's manual aside.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/opinion/03herbert.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

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From the White House

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Saving Money and Giving Seniors Better Benefits

A new report, Affordable Care Act Update: Implementing Medicare Costs Savings , released today by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), confirms that the Affordable Care Act is on track to save money and strengthen the Medicare program, all while protecting seniors guaranteed benefits. And the savings and improvements start right away. According to the new report, provisions for which implementation has already advanced—along with the Administration's ongoing efforts—will save nearly $8 billion within the next two years. Over time, the savings only increase – in the next 10 years, the new law will save $575 billion.

Reducing health care costs and maximizing savings is an important part of the Affordable Care Act.  In 2009, the U.S. spent more than 16% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on health care and, without reform, the nation's health care spending would have reached unsustainable levels. The new law will help reform this broken system, save money for Medicare and give seniors higher quality care. As the report notes, the new law will implements a number of provisions that will save money and improve care like programs to help reduce avoidable hospital readmissions and fight hospital acquired conditions.

For more information, read the full CMS report or visit see the timeline on HealthCare.gov to learn more about what's changing and when under the Affordable Care Act.

Stephanie Cutter is Assistant to the President for Special Projects

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/02/saving-money-and-giving-seniors-better-benefits

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Ensuring Women Get the Care They Need and Deserve

No matter who you are, the Affordable Care Act will help make your health care better. The reforms in the law will help bring costs down and will improve the quality of care for all Americans.

But we know that women in particular suffered under the old health care system and will especially benefit from the important changes in the new law.  This was confirmed last week, with the release of a new report from the Commonwealth Fund highlighting how important the new law is for women across the country.  The report notes:

Up to 15 million women who now are uninsured could gain subsidized coverage under the law. In addition, 14.5 million insured women will benefit from provisions that improve coverage or reduce premiums. Women who have coverage through the individual insurance market and are charged higher premiums than men, who have been unable to secure cover-age for the cost of pregnancy, or who have a preexisting health condition excluded from their benefits will ultimately find themselves on a level playing field with men, enjoying a full range of comprehensive benefits.

Under the old health care system, a healthy 22-year-old woman could be charged premiums 150 percent higher than a 22-year-old man and many insurance companies treated simply being a woman as a “pre-existing condition.”  Many individual market health insurance policies didn't include maternity care and some states even made it legal for insurers to reject applicants who are survivors of domestic violence.

The new law makes important changes that will help ensure all women get the care they need and deserve.  The Affordable Care Act prohibits insurance companies from denying any woman coverage because of a pre-existing condition, excluding coverage of that condition, or charging more because of health status or gender. Being a woman will no longer be a pre-existing condition.

The law will also help ensure women have access to a host of preventive benefits including mammograms and pap smears. If you purchase a new insurance policy after September 23, insurance companies will be prohibited from charging you a deductible, co-payment or co-insurance for these and other preventive services.  You can learn more about these new preventive services, and get information about your health care choices at HealthCare.gov.

And beginning in 2014, Americans will have access to a new competitive insurance marketplace. The new marketplace will include health insurance exchanges where millions of Americans and small businesses will be able to purchase affordable coverage, and have the same choices of insurance that Members of Congress will have.

To learn more, read about the benefits of the new law for women .

Tina Tchen is Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and Executive Director of the Council on Women and Girls

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/02/ensuring-women-get-care-they-need-and-deserve

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This morning the President discussed the great honor  he felt to be speaking at the national convention of Disabled American Veterans in Atlanta, Georgia -- one of the great organizations carrying on the values of America's proud military.  The occasion was all the more meaningful because yet another momentous turning point in that history is upon us:

Today, your legacy of service is carried on by a new generation of Americans.  Some stepped forward in a time of peace, not foreseeing years of combat.  Others stepped forward in this time of war, knowing they could be sent into harm's way.  For the past nine years, in Afghanistan and Iraq, they have borne the burdens of war.  They, and their families, have faced the greatest test in the history of our all-volunteer force, serving tour after tour, year after year.  Through their extraordinary service, they have written their own chapter in the American story.  And by any measure, they have earned their place among the greatest of generations. 

Now, one of those chapters is nearing an end.  As a candidate for President, I pledged to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end.  (Applause.)  Shortly after taking office, I announced our new strategy for Iraq and for a transition to full Iraqi responsibility.  And I made it clear that by August 31st, 2010, America's combat mission in Iraq would end.  (Applause.)  And that is exactly what we are doing -- as promised and on schedule.  (Applause.)

Already, we have closed or turned over to Iraq hundreds of bases.  We're moving out millions of pieces of equipment in one of the largest logistics operations that we've seen in decades.  By the end of this month, we'll have brought more than 90,000 of our troops home from Iraq since I took office -- more than 90,000 have come home.  (Applause.) 

The White House has released a fact sheet detailing just how extensive this drawdown has been, and what it will mean for our broader security.  It brings toward a close a war that was at the center of passionate debate in America for much of the last decade, including the last election.  But as the President pointed out, support for our troops was -- and will continue to be -- a great unifying force:

These men and women from across our country have done more than meet the challenges of this young century. Through their extraordinary courage and confidence and commitment, these troops and veterans have proven themselves as a new generation of American leaders.  And while our country has sometimes been divided, they have fought together as one.  While other individuals and institutions have shirked responsibility, they have welcomed responsibility.  While it was easy to be daunted by overwhelming challenges, the generation that has served in Iraq has overcome every test before them.

And just as Vice President Biden made clear last week, the President spoke to the fact that while we should all salute those who have served -- and who will continue to serve -- our government owes it to them to keep our country's commitment in deeds as well as words.  At the very beginning of his remarks, he recounted a visit from DAV's Commander Roberto Barrera:

Now, there's another visit I won't forget.  I was in the Oval Office expecting a visit from the DAV.  And in comes Bobby carrying a baseball bat.  (Laughter.)  Now, it's not every day that somebody gets past the Secret Service carrying a baseball bat.  (Laughter.)  You may have heard about this.  It turns out it was a genuine Louisville Slugger -- (applause) -- a thank you for going to bat for our veterans on advanced appropriations. 

He then spoke particularly to the concerns facing veterans coming out of the service today:

Finally, we're keeping faith with our newest veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.  We're offering more of the support and counseling they need to transition back to civilian life.  That includes funding the post-9/11 GI Bill, which is already helping more than 300,000 veterans and family members pursue their dream of a college education.  (Applause.)

And for veterans trying to find work in a very tough economy, we're helping with job training and placement.  And I've directed the federal government to make it a priority to hire more veterans, including disabled veterans.  (Applause.)  And every business in America needs to know our vets have the training, they've got the skills, they have the dedication -- they are ready to work.  And our country is stronger when we tap the incredible talents of our veterans.  (Applause.)

For those coming home injured, we're continuing to direct unprecedented support to our wounded warriors in uniform -- more treatment centers, more case managers -- delivering the absolute best care available.  For those who can, we want to help them get back to where they want to be -- with their units.  And that includes service members with a disability, who still have so much to offer our military. 

We're directing unprecedented resources to treating the signature wounds of today's wars -- traumatic brain injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  (Applause.)  And I recently signed into law the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act.  That's a long name, but let me tell you what it does.  It not only improves treatment for traumatic brain injury and PTSD, it gives new support to many of the caregivers who put their own lives on hold to care for their loved one.  (Applause.)

And as so many of you know, PTSD is a pain like no other -- the nightmares that keep coming back, the rage that strikes suddenly, the hopelessness that's led too many of our troops and veterans to take their own lives.  So today, I want to say in very personal terms to anyone who is struggling -- don't suffer in silence.  It's not a sign of weakness to reach out for support -- it's a sign of strength.  Your country needs you.  We are here for you.  We are here to help you stand tall.  Don't give up.  Reach out.  (Applause.)

We're making major investments in awareness, outreach, and suicide prevention -- hiring more mental health professionals, improving care and treatment.  For those of you suffering from PTSD, we're making it a whole lot easier to qualify for VA benefits.  From now on, if a VA doctor confirms a diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, that is enough -- no matter what war you served in.  (Applause.)

These are the commitments my administration has made.  These are the promises we've worked to keep.  This is the sacred trust we have pledged to uphold -- to you and all who serve. 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/02/president-obama-end-combat-operations-iraq-our-troops-while-our-country-has-sometime

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From the Department of Justice

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Thank you, Ernie [Allen], and thank you all for being here. I'm pleased to be joined by several key leaders and partners in the federal government 's fight to protect our children from exploitation and abuse: Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler, FBI Executive Assistant Director T.J. Harrington, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement Alonzo Pena, Chief Postal Inspector Guy Cottrell and U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz . We are also joined by Melissa, a courageous young woman who 's here to share her own story of surviving abuse and to help us shine a light on the threats that our kids face and the responsibilities that we must fulfill.

Today marks an imp ortant step forward in meeting these responsibilities and taking our fight against child exploitation and sexual abuse to the next level. This morning, the Justice Department submitted to Congress the first-ever National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction. In developing this Strategy, we solicited ideas and sought expertise from advocates, victims, law enforcement officers, policymakers, and partners at every level of government and across the international community. Many of these partners are here today, and I'm grateful for their contributions and ongoing engagement. With their help, we've created a Strategy that provides a comprehensive assessment of the threats at hand, as well as the effectiveness of current efforts to combat child exploitation and abuse. Most important, this new Strategy outlines our goals and priorities going forward and details new ways we plan to improve our work, broaden our impact, and build on the progress that's been made in recent years.

Since the Justice Department launched the Project Safe Childhood initiative in 2006, investigations and prosecutions of child exploitation crimes have increased dramatically. Unfortunately, we've also seen an historic rise in the distribution of child pornography, in the number of images being shared online and in the level of violence associated with child exploitation and sexual abuse crimes. Tragically, the only place we've seen a decrease is in the age of victims.

This is unacceptable. And although we've made meaningful progress in protecting children across the country – in rural areas, inner cities, tribal communities and online – and although we've brought a record number of offenders to justice in recent years, it is time to renew our commitment to this work. It is time to intensify our efforts.

This new Strategy provides the roadmap necessary to do just that – to streamline our education, prevention and prosecution activities; to improve information sharing and collaboration; and to make the most effective use of limited resources. It also details specific steps that are being – and will be – taken to reduce and overcome current threats. For example, the Justice Department will update the Project Safe Childhood website to improve reporting, information sharing, and public education efforts. And I'm pleased to announce that the U.S. Marshals Service is launching a new, nationwide operation targeting the top 500 most dangerous, non-compliant sex offenders.

As the Strategy makes clear, we intend to fuse cutting-edge technologies with traditional methods of law enforcement and recovery and to better leverage the capacity of our law enforcements partners, as well as the broad network of nonprofits actively engaged in the fight against child exploitation and abuse.

Congress has rightly called for such an approach – and for more aggressive enforcement of laws aimed at safeguarding our children and preventing, stopping, and punishing child exploitation crimes. The Justice Department is fully committed to answering this call. But we cannot do it alone. We will be relying on – and working closely with – the many agencies, organizations, and partners represented here today. Together, we are sending an important message – that the U.S. government, and our nation's Department of Justice, has never been more committed to protecting our children and to bringing offenders to justice.

Not only is this a Department priority, it is also a personal priority. I am committed to this work and to the success of this new Strategy. And, despite difficult circumstances and odds, I am confident that, with this new level of commitment – and with this new plan of action – we can, and we will, make the progress our children deserve.

And, now, I'd like to turn things over to Deputy Attorney General, Gary Grindler.

http://www.justice.gov/ag/speeches/2010/ag-speech-100802.html

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Thank you all for joining us. As the Justice Department brings its fight against child exploitation to a new level today, I am honored to stand with so many incredible colleagues and public servants who have made it their life's work to protect exploited children and seek justice for the most vulnerable members of our society.

As the Attorney General said the fight against child exploitation must be a top priority of the Department. That's why my office is eager to spearhead these efforts, which will be overseen by the National Coordinator for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction.

The Attorney General outlined what we plan to do next to address this issue; however, I'd like to spend a few minutes telling you about what we're doing now.

Today, we're joined by the leaders – the agents, the prosecutors, the advocates – who fight child exploitation day in and day out. This includes many representatives from the Department's components and agencies, including our Criminal Division, the FBI, Office of Justice Programs, the U.S. National Central Bureau, the U.S. Marshals Service, the NDIC, our ICAC Task Forces, and the U.S. Attorney community.

And we are also joined by our partners on Capitol Hill and at the Department of Homeland Security, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Secret Service, NCIS, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the National Children's Alliance, PROTECT, the Rebecca Project, HARPO, and even the UK's CEOP center.

By acknowledging some of the individuals and organizations here today, I think it helps capture the extent to which the Department is engaged across agencies, jurisdictions, state lines, and national borders. And it's not only investigations and prosecutions that these many public servants pursue. They also foster international cooperation, support victim services, and fund research

As we prepare to build on these ongoing efforts, I'm proud to report we continue to see success after success. There are, of course, many small victories, which add up and send strong messages to would-be exploiters. And there are major operations that reverberate for months and years to come. For example:

• Operation Nest Egg, which was launched two and a half years ago this month, and still ongoing today, has targeted more than 500 individuals worldwide for involvement in an online group for trading child pornography. Over 50 people have been arrested and a majority of them have already been convicted on child exploitation charges. The investigation's success was directly tied to the coordination of many law enforcement agencies, including ICE, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Northern Virginia/Washington, D.C. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Taskforce, the Indiana ICAC Taskforce, the Indiana State Police, and numerous local and international law enforcement agencies across the United States and Europe.
  
  
• In addition, in Operation Achilles, which was initiated by the FBI in June of 2006, the Bureau targeted a highly sophisticated group of Internet offenders who traded more than 400,000 images of child pornography over 15 years. The FBI, working closely with law enforcement as far away as Queensland, Australia, identified 14 members of this group in the U.S., at least five of whom were actively molesting children. Both American and foreign children were identified and rescued from their abusers. All of the U.S. members were convicted, and many received well-deserved life sentences.

Thanks to these and the numerous other law enforcement operations, the Department and our law enforcement partners have brought thousands of offenders to justice in the last year. But this progress is only a start. Tangible steps outlined in the National Strategy will bring our fight to the next level.

For one, the U.S. Marshals Service is launching a nationwide operation targeting the top 500 most dangerous, non-compliant offenders.

The Department also plans to develop a national database to empower federal, state, tribal, local and international law enforcement partners to deconflict their cases with each other, engage in undercover operations from a portal facilitated or hosted by the database, share information and intelligence, and conduct analysis on dangerous offenders and future threats and trends.

And the Department has already created 38 additional Assistant U.S. Attorney positions devoted exclusively to child exploitation cases. Over the coming months we will work to fill these vacancies – and build on the more than 2300 cases of child exploitation were filed by U.S. Attorneys across the country in Fiscal Year 2009.

Yet, every time I hear a statistic, I cannot help thinking of the individual cases I have read and the stories I have heard. They all remind me that these victims are individuals.

Today, we are joined by one such victim – Melissa – who has summoned the courage to speak up. As her story will remind us, someone can grow up and enjoy her life in spite of the trauma she has suffered. Her story is a reminder of the resiliency of the human spirit. It also reminds of the importance of continuing the Department's mission and the mission of many of the agencies and organizations here today that are dedicated to helping individuals like Melissa.

The National Strategy champions and expands this effort. Thank you to all of you who are partners in this effort. Your vigilance and dedication will ensure that our shared aspiration – of a safer America for our children – becomes a reality.

Our next several speakers will be from our law enforcement partners, including the FBI, ICE, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, who will describe some of their recent investigations and anticipated undertakings in the future.

I'd like to now turn the microphone over to FBI Executive Assistant Director T.J. Harrington.

Thank you.

http://www.justice.gov/dag/speeches/2010/dag-speech-100802.html

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WASHINGTON – Attorney General Eric Holder today announced that the Department of Justice released its first-ever National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction. The strategy also provides the first-ever comprehensive threat assessment of the dangers facing children from child pornography, online enticement, child sex tourism, commercial sexual exploitation and sexual exploitation in Indian Country, and outlines a blueprint to strengthen the fight against these crimes. The strategy builds upon the department's accomplishments in combating child exploitation by establishing specific, aggressive goals and priorities and increasing cooperation and collaboration at all levels of government and the private sector.

As part of the overall strategy, the U.S. Marshals Service is launching a nationwide operation targeting the top 500 most dangerous, non-compliant sex offenders in the nation. Additionally, the department will create a national database to allow federal, state, tribal, local and international law enforcement partners to deconflict their cases with each other, engage in undercover operations from a portal facilitated or hosted by the database, share information and intelligence and conduct analysis on dangerous offenders and future threats and trends. The department also created 38 additional Assistant U.S. Attorney positions to devote to child exploitation cases, and over the coming months will work to fill the vacancies and train the new assistants in this specialized area.

"Although we've made meaningful progress in protecting children across the country, and although we've brought a record number of offenders to justice in recent years, it is time to renew our commitment to this work. It is time to intensify our efforts," said Attorney General Holder. "This new strategy provides the roadmap necessary to do just that – to streamline our education, prevention and prosecution activities; to improve information sharing and collaboration; and to make the most effective use of limited resources. Together, we are sending an important message – that the U.S. government, and our nation's Department of Justice, has never been more committed to protecting our children and to bringing offenders to justice."

"Thanks to law enforcement operations like Operation Nest Egg and Operation Achilles, the department and our law enforcement partners have brought thousands of offenders to justice in the last year. But this progress is only a start," said Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary G. Grindler. "Tangible steps outlined in the National Strategy will bring our fight to the next level."

The strategy first analyzed the threat to our nation's children and described the current efforts at all levels of the government against this threat. Since FY 2006, the Department of Justice has filed 8,464 Project Safe Childhood (PSC) cases against 8,637 defendants. These cases include prosecutions of online enticement of children to engage in sexual activity, interstate transportation of children to engage in sexual activity, production, distribution and possession of child pornography and other offenses.

Despite vigorously fighting all aspects of child exploitation, the department recognized that more work remains to be done. To that end, the department's strategy lays out goals to increase coordination among the nation's investigators, better train investigators and prosecutors, advance law enforcement's technological capabilities and enhance research to inform decisions on deterrence, incarceration and monitoring. The strategy also includes a renewed commitment to public awareness and community outreach.

As part of its public outreach efforts, the department is re-launching ProjectSafeChildhood.gov , PSC's public website. PSC is a department initiative launched in 2006 that aims to combat the proliferation of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes against children. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC marshals federal, state, tribal and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

For more information regarding the National Strategy to Combat Child Exploitation, Prevention and Interdiction, please visit: www.projectsafechildhood.gov/docs/natstrategyreport.pdf .

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/August/10-opa-887.html

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From the FBI

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Watch Video: The FBI's role on the border

ON THE SOUTHWEST BORDER Corruption, Drugs, Gangs, and More 08/02/10 The U.S. border with Mexico extends nearly 2,000 miles, from San Diego, California to Brownsville, Texas. At too many points along the way, criminals ply their trade with surprising ease and devastating results. Drug cartels transporting kilos of cocaine and marijuana, gangs who think nothing of kidnapping and murder, traffickers smuggling human cargo, corrupt public officials lining their pockets by looking the other way—any one of these offenses represents a challenge to law enforcement. Taken together, they constitute a threat not only to the safety of our border communities, but to the security of the entire country.

During the next several weeks, FBI.gov will take you to the Southwest border for a firsthand look at our efforts there to fight crime. We will take you to San Diego—home of the world's busiest port of entry—and across the border into Tijuana. We will also visit El Paso, Texas, whose sister city in Mexico—Juarez—has become as deadly as any war zone thanks to the drug cartels.

In articles, pictures, and video, we will chronicle the Bureau's efforts to combat Southwest border crime through our participation in drug, violent crime, and public corruption task forces; our extensive intelligence-gathering efforts; and our vital partnerships with Mexican law enforcement.

Despite our continuing successes, however, much work is left to be done.

“With such a great expanse of territory to cover,” said Kevin Perkins, assistant director of our Criminal Investigative Division, “there are places where the border is permeable. In some areas of the desert, people can cross illegally at will, and they do. The U.S. government has built fences and other barriers that our adversaries are continually trying to defeat, and in some cases they are defeating them,” he added.  “Either they're tunneling under, flying over, or actually cutting through the various defenses we've put up.”

The disturbing level of violence sometimes overshadows the national security risks along the border, Perkins said. “Unfortunately, there are border guards who are corrupt—people who can wave vehicles through checkpoints. Those vehicles could contain narcotics or illegal aliens, but they could also be pieces to the next dirty bomb brought into the country by terrorists. We are working very hard to make sure that doesn't happen.”

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/august10/border_080210.html

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The FBI committed to fighting child exploitation

Thomas J. Harrington
Executive Assistant Director - Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch, Federal Bureau of Investigation

National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Alexandria, Virginia

August 2, 2010

The FBI remains committed to fighting child exploitation. We use a three-pronged approach to direct our efforts to have the greatest impact on the child exploitation threat. I'd like to briefly highlight for you the FBI's specialized teams that investigate child abductions, child pornography, and child prostitution.

First, in cases where children are abducted and murdered, research shows that 74 percent are killed within the first three hours of being abducted. The Child Abduction Rapid Deployment Team—or CARD Team, as it's known at the FBI—provides investigative, technical, and resource assistance to our network of FBI field offices and their local law enforcement community partners during the most critical time after a child is abducted or reported missing.

CARD teams have deployed 59 times since in the past four years; 62 children have been taken during the same period. Of those 62 children, 25 have been recovered alive, and six remain missing. In the balance of those cases, the CARD Team and our Evidence Response Team have provided forensic evidence and support for our local law enforcement partners and their prosecutors.

Second, the average age of a child targeted for prostitution is between 12 to 14 for girls and 11 to 13 for boys. These kids are dependent on their pimps for everything; everything they earn goes to the pimps' coffers. Should they try to escape, they are often subject to brutal beatings or even killed. The FBI launched the Innocence Lost National Initiative to address the growing problem of children recruited for prostitution.

We have 38 Innocence Lost task forces and working groups in cities throughout the United States. To date, the initiative has located and recovered more than 1,100 children. And prosecutors have earned nearly 600 convictions as a result.

Third, the Internet is the number one destination for pedophiles because they believe that technology grants these criminals anonymity. Children are sexually assaulted to produce photos and videos, and then repeatedly re-victimized as images are traded via the Internet by like-minded people. The Innocent Images National Initiative program targets enterprises and networks of the most egregious offenders who produce and distribute sexually explicit images.

Our Innocent Images National Initiative currently has over 6,000 open child pornography cases. And the past 20 months, we have made more than 1,800 arrests and achieved over 2,100 convictions. In the past 10 months, the FBI has identified and rescued 95 children featured in child pornography. 

Our Innocent Images International Task Force, with 90 officers from 42 countries, allows for information to be exchanged and cases to be jointly initiated and coordinated. This is the type of collaboration that Deputy Assistant Attorney General Grindler talked about with Operation Achilles, a three-year investigation which involved the Queensland Police Department in Australia and authorities in Canada, New Zealand, Belgium, Italy, and Britain. Suspects used technology, such as encryption, to hide their identities. As mentioned, they traded more than 400,000 images of children, from infants to adolescents, many depicting acts of violence and torture.

Fourteen were prosecuted using new statutes provided by our Congress. The courts provided strong sentences in this case and in others. And in fact, of all the criminal programs that the FBI investigates, on average, the longest sentences are granted in child pornography and exploitation cases. In the past few years, we've accumulated at least four life sentences, and others ranging from 30 to 40 years in prison.

It is important to recognize that we are not alone in our efforts to identify the victims and their abusers. Our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners stand shoulder to shoulder with us to help locate children and build cases against their offenders. Any success that we have achieved has been through those partnerships and relationships we continue to develop with our law enforcement partners and one of our greatest allies, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

FBI personnel work here at NCMEC and have access to the Cyber Tip Line, the “9-1-1 for the Internet.” The public and electronic service providers use that line to report Internet child sexual exploitation. In fiscal year 2010, the FBI personnel here at the center have reviewed more than 75,500 tips—a 100 percent increase from 2009's activity.

At the FBI, we also seek to educate young people through a program we refer to as the Safe Online Surfing Challenge, an interactive online quiz that teaches middle school students about Internet safety. Since 2006, nearly 60,000 students from almost 400 schools in 39 states have participated.

The FBI will remain vigilant and continue our active role in the national strategy to ensure that children are protected. We reaffirm our commitment to removing sexual predators from kids' lives and doing it through the justice system.

http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/speeches/harrington080210.htm

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