~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the Los Angeles Times

U.S. authorities honor Tijuana's top cop for driving down border crime

U.S. border authorities paid a highly-publicized visit to Tijuana on Monday to shower accolades on the city's top cop, Julian Leyzaola. It was billed as a ceremony of recognition for Leyzaola's work with U.S. agencies. He's helped drive crime rates down 52% along the San Diego-Tijuana border, the U.S. Border Patrol said. And the FBI said Leyzaola's cops have captured record numbers of U.S. fugitives.

But the timing of the event was curious. Leyzaola's future remains in doubt, as reported last month in an article in the Los Angeles Times.  Tijuana's mayor-elect Carlos Bustamante, scheduled to take office in December, has yet to say whether he will extend Leyzaola's tenure.

To many observers, all the speeches and plaques of recognition awarded to Leyzaola by the representatives of U.S. agencies seemed designed to pressure Bustamante to keep him as secretary of public security.  Bustamante didn't' attend the event, but he most surely heard about it. Tijuana's cultural center was packed with hundreds of Leyzaola supporters, including  influential business and civic leaders, and a media swarm provided mostly fawning coverage of the popular lawman's emotional speech.

The Tijuana reporters, taking advantage of the rare opportunity to interview a U.S. federal agent, cornered the FBI's international liaison officer, Mike Eckel. He said the security situation improved dramatically when Leyzaola took over as chief nearly three years ago. “In the past, we didn't have as much trust as we do now…. The changes that have occurred here are impressive and enormous.”

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2010/09/leyzaola-tijuana-crime-border-police.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LaPlaza+%28La+Plaza%29

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The killings don't stop in Ciudad Juarez

Drug-related violence continues to consume Ciudad Juarez in northern Mexico, just across the border from El Paso. Last Thursday's toll of 25 killed over a three-hour period rattled a city that is already accustomed to numerous deaths a day.

It was the highest single-day toll recorded in the border city since the violence erupted there more than two years ago. Victims in Thursday's shootings range in age from 15 to 67. They were mostly ambushed inside their homes, reports the El Paso Times .

Ciudad Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said the killings were believed to be acts of retaliation by the Juarez cartel for an alleged kidnapping of a child by the rival Sinaloa cartel. What's not clear is what all those victims had to do with the alleged kidnapping.

The El Paso Times article gives details on some of the crime scenes and names the victims, the kind of information that becomes rarer each day in Mexican news reports on the country's violence. In Juarez, mounting death figures have become mostly anonymous numbers for the city of 1.3 million. According to librarian Molly Molloy, who keeps a running tally of drug-related violence in the city, five people were killed Friday, five more were killed Saturday, 14 were killed Sunday, and eight were killed Monday.

See this profile on Molloy's work in the Wall Street Journal . Molloy's tallies rely heavily on the reporting by the Juarez newspaper El Diario . Here's its local news section , which carries daily detailed reports on the killings. Slayings are so common in the city now that in August the paper felt compelled to report that a period of 26 hours had passed without a death (link in Spanish).

The Juarez and Sinaloa cartels have been fighting an all-out war over the lucrative Juarez-El Paso border-trafficking route that has claimed more than 6,500 lives since January 2008. By one tally, reported in the Journal, more people were killed in Juarez in 2009 -- 2,633 -- than in eight major U.S. cities combined.

This afternoon, El Diario reports, three Juarez women were ambushed in a home and shot to death (link in Spanish). A baby girl was found inside the home, unharmed.

When, and how, will it end?

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2010/09/violence-juarez-war-deaths.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LaPlaza+%28La+Plaza%29

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ninth infant confirmed dead from whooping cough in state epidemic

A ninth baby in California has died from whooping cough, state officials said Tuesday.

The death of the infant, who lived in San Bernardino County and was less than 2 months old, makes this year's epidemic more deadly than 2005's. Eight infants were killed by the bacterial infection that year, the most recent severe whooping cough season, said Ken August, a spokesman for the California Department of Public Health.

It's San Bernardino County's second death this year due to whooping cough, also known as pertussis; Los Angeles County has recorded four deaths.

Infants face the greatest risk of dying from whooping cough because they are too young to be fully inoculated. In addition, their initial symptoms are so mild that physicians may not suspect pertussis until it is too late to save the infant's life .  Physicians have urged increased vigilance because of the epidemic, warning that the best way to protect babies is ensuring everyone in contact with them has been vaccinated.

“This sad case reminds us that the best way to prevent pertussis is to get vaccinated,” said Dr. Maxwell Ohikhuare, San Bernardino County's health officer, in statement released late last week. "Immunity from pertussis vaccine or disease wears off, so most adults are susceptible to pertussis and should get immunized to protect themselves and their families.”

State officials often do not immediately receive death reports from counties.

At least seven of the nine infants killed by whooping cough were too young to be vaccinated.

One of the dead, a 2-month old, had gotten the first of four shots needed to produce full immunity, on schedule with immunization guidelines. The immunization status in the most recent case was not immediately available.

Last month, California Department of Public Health officials sent a letter to healthcare providers statewide saying that “a common theme among the infant deaths is that pertussis was not typically diagnosed until after multiple visits to outpatient clinics, emergency departments or other healthcare facilities.”

“Early diagnosis and treatment is key to preventing further deaths,” wrote Dr. John Talarico, an immunization branch chief with the state. He also urged physicians to check for pertussis in any infant with breathing trouble.

Pertussis is often spread to newborn babies by their parents and older siblings whose whooping cough is undiagnosed.

Because immunity to the disease begins to fade as early as five years after an inoculation, it's important to get a booster shot, health officials say.

In July, California health officials recommended that everyone 7 years and older, including the elderly, who is not fully immunized get the Tdap inoculation -- especially pregnant women and anyone who will have contact with them and their babies.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/09/ninth-infant-confirmed-dead-from-whooping-cough-in-state-epidemic.html#more

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the New York Times

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hungry Population Falls but Remains Large

UNITED NATIONS — The number of undernourished people in the world decreased this year for the first time in 15 years, but the level remains higher than before the 2008 food crisis, and the volatile state of prices gives cause for unease, senior United Nations officials said Tuesday.

The number of hungry people fell to 925 million from the record high of 1.02 billion in 2009, with much of the improvement tied to income growth in the Asia-Pacific region and to a 40 percent drop in food prices from their 2008 peak.

Still, the hunger number remains “shockingly high,” said Josette Sheeran, the executive director of the World Food Program , at a news conference in Rome, especially since success stories in African, Asian and Latin American countries that once suffered chronic malnourishment suggest that a permanent reversal should be possible.

The figures were compiled before the flooding crisis in Pakistan and the jolt in wheat prices in late August, the second in the month, after Russia announced that it would halt wheat exports because of drought and fires.

The numbers in the latest hunger report were released before a meeting next week at the United Nations in New York of more than 100 world leaders, who will consider the fate of eight development goals set in 2000 for 2015, with many of them well short of the targets.

The latest hunger data indicate that the very first goal, reducing the number of hungry people in the world to half of what it was in 1990, will be virtually impossible to meet, Jacques Diouf, the director general of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, said at the news conference, which was broadcast on the Web .

The report estimated that the number of undernourished people in the Asia-Pacific region would decline 12 percent from 2009, to 578 million, because of economic growth there. Seven countries account for two-thirds of the world's hungry people: China, India, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Ethiopia and Pakistan. India and China alone account for 40 percent of the world's hungry, the report said.

But sub-Saharan Africa has the highest proportion of undernourished people, 30 percent of its population, it said.

“The current dramatic situation is a result of the neglect of agriculture in development policies over the past three decades,” Mr. Diouf said. More than 70 percent of the extremely poor live in rural parts of developing countries, he said, and those areas need investment in seeds and fertilizer and better access to markets to reduce hunger.

The world's 20 most developed countries promised to invest $22 billion in aid to agriculture from 2009 to 2011, he noted, but so far only $425 million has been spent. While all the movement in terms of aid is in the right direction, he said, the pace needs to be accelerated.

Oxfam International , a group of antipoverty organizations, released a report on Tuesday saying that it estimated that an increase in investment of $75 billion a year was needed — half in overseas aid and half from developing countries' national budgets — to reach the target of halving the number of hungry people.

Oxfam's report said that the factors contributing to the 2008 food crisis, including biofuels investments, commodity speculation and stagnant productivity in sub-Saharan Africa, still exist and that another food crisis may happen.

The situation is very different in that the cereal harvest this year will be the third largest on record, Mr. Diouf said. There has also been a bumper crop of rice. Still, the turbulence in prices over the past two years, which contributed to riots partly over food in Mozambique last month, is likely a sign that volatility will increase in the future. “If it persists, it will create an additional obstacle to reduce hunger,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/world/15food.html?_r=1&ref=world&pagewanted=print

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Italy Seizes $1.9 Billion in Mafia-Linked Assets

ROME— The Italian police seized $1.9 billion in assets belonging to a Sicilian businessman linked to the Mafia in the country's biggest blow against organized crime, Italy 's interior minister said Tuesday.

The businessman, Vito Nicastri, mainly operates in the alternative-energy business and has already been involved in several investigations focused on Mafia infiltration in the construction of windmills in Sicily's Trapani Province and on links between the Mafia and 'Ndrangheta crime associations in Calabria, according to a statement by Rome Anti-Mafia Directorate. Italian authorities seized Mr. Nicastri's assets to investigate him, but he has not been arrested.

The seized assets included more than 100 properties around Sicily, 43 companies operating mainly in the wind- and solar-power industry — some with headquarters in Luxembourg — as well as luxury cars, a 46-foot catamaran, bank accounts and securities.

“This is the proof of the fact that the Mafia is dynamic and able to interpret the new needs of our society,” said Francesco Forgione, President of the parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission in the previous government and author of the book “Mafia Exports.” “They all used to work a lot in construction and now the Camorra operates in the waste business” — he added, referring to the Neapolitan crime syndicate — “whereas the Mafia's in the alternative-energy business.”

The interior minister, Roberto Maroni, said in a television interview on Tuesday that Mr. Nicastri, 54, was “close to the Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, currently at large.”

The Trapani investigation is part of a larger government strategy targeting people they consider to be linked to a new leader of Cosa Nostra, Matteo Messina Denaro. Originally from Trapani, he has been a fugitive since 1993. He is known as the “Boss of the Bosses” and the “Playboy Boss” because of his penchant for fast cars, women and luxury goods.

In 2008, the government began stepping up its investigations into organized crime and introduced laws that allow investigators to seize assets connected to Mafia business before the criminal trial starts. Several important raids against organized crime have been carried out by police all over the country and have involved different economic sectors, including health care, construction, retailing and finance.

In August, Mr. Maroni said Italian police had seized 15 billion euros in assets from organized-crime groups in the previous 14 months.

“On average, we arrested eight Mafia members a day and one of Italy's most wanted men a month,” Mr. Maroni said to Italian press.

However, critics say the government is working at cross purposes. Earlier this year, the government has tried to pass a bill that would restrict wiretaps used in criminal investigations, a tool that many consider vital to fight organized crime.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/world/europe/15rome.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

U.S. Meat Farmers Brace for Limits on Antibiotics

RALSTON, Iowa — Piglets hop, scurry and squeal their way to the far corner of the pen, eyeing an approaching human. “It shows that they're healthy animals,” Craig Rowles, the owner of a large pork farm here, said with pride.

Mr. Rowles says he keeps his pigs fit by feeding them antibiotics for weeks after weaning, to ward off possible illness in that vulnerable period. And for months after that, he administers an antibiotic that promotes faster growth with less feed.

Dispensing antibiotics to healthy animals is routine on the large, concentrated farms that now dominate American agriculture. But the practice is increasingly condemned by medical experts who say it contributes to a growing scourge of modern medicine: the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including dangerous E. coli strains that account for millions of bladder infections each year, as well as resistant types of salmonella and other microbes.

Now, after decades of debate, the Food and Drug Administration appears poised to issue its strongest guidelines on animal antibiotics yet, intended to reduce what it calls a clear risk to human health. They would end farm uses of the drugs simply to promote faster animal growth and call for tighter oversight by veterinarians.

The agency's final version is expected within months, and comes at a time when animal confinement methods, safety monitoring and other aspects of so-called factory farming are also under sharp attack. The federal proposal has struck a nerve among major livestock producers , who argue that a direct link between farms and human illness has not been proved. The producers are vigorously opposing it even as many medical and health experts call it too timid.

Scores of scientific groups, including the American Medical Association and the Infectious Diseases Society of America , are calling for even stronger action that would bar most uses of key antibiotics in healthy animals, including use for disease prevention, as with Mr. Rowles's piglets. Such a bill is gaining traction in Congress.

“Is producing the cheapest food in the world our only goal?” asked Dr. Gail R. Hansen, a veterinarian and senior officer of the Pew Charitable Trusts, which has campaigned for new limits on farm antibiotics. “Those who say there is no evidence of risk are discounting 40 years of science. To wait until there's nothing we can do about it doesn't seem like the wisest course.”

With the backing of some leading veterinary scientists , farmers assert that the risks are remote and are outweighed by improved animal health and lower food costs. “There is no conclusive scientific evidence that antibiotics used in food animals have a significant impact on the effectiveness of antibiotics in people,” the National Pork Producers Council said.

But leading medical experts say the threat is real and growing. Proponents of strong controls note that the European Union barred most nontreatment uses of antibiotics in 2006 and that farmers there have adapted without major costs. Following a similar path in the United States, they argue, would have barely perceptible effects on consumer prices.

Resistance can evolve whenever drugs are used against bacteria or other microbes because substrains that are less susceptible to the treatment will survive and multiply.

Drug use in humans, including overuse and misapplication, clearly accounts for a large share of the surge in antibiotic resistant infections, a huge problem in hospitals in particular. Yet biologists and infectious disease specialists say there is also enormous circumstantial and genetic evidence that antibiotics in farming are adding to the threat.

Livestock and poultry have been identified as the most likely sources of drug-resistant strains of microbes like salmonella and campylobacter that have caused outbreaks of severe intestinal illness in people and of E. coli strains that cause serious bladder, blood and other infections. (Resistant strains have not been implicated in the recent outbreak of salmonella contamination in eggs.)

In a letter to Congress in July, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden , director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , cited “compelling evidence” of a “clear link between antibiotic use in animals and antibiotic resistance in humans.”

As drug-resistant strains of microbes evolve on the farms, they are passed along in meat sold in grocery stores. They can infect people as they handle the uncooked product or when eating, if cooking is not thorough. The dangerous strains can also enter the environment via manure or the clothes of farm workers.

Genetic studies of drug-resistant E. coli strains found on poultry and beef in grocery stores and strains in sick patients have found them to be virtually identical, and further evidence also indicated that the resistant microbes evolved on farms and were transferred to consumers, said Dr. James R. Johnson , an infectious-disease expert at the University of Minnesota . Hospitals now find that up to 30 percent of urinary infections do not respond to the front-line treatments, ciprofloxacin and the drug known as Bactrim or Septra, and that resistance to key newer antibiotics is also emerging. E. coli is also implicated in serious blood, brain and other infections.

“For those of us in the public health community, the evidence is unambiguously clear,” Dr. Johnson said. “Most of the E. coli resistance in humans can be traced to food-animal sources.”

The proposed Food and Drug Administration guidelines focus on the use of antibiotics to speed growth. Just how antibiotics have this effect, which has been known for decades, is unclear, but scientists suspect that the drugs improve the absorption of nutrients as they prevent low-grade disease.

Mr. Rowles, the proprietor of Elite Pork and a trained veterinarian himself, estimates that by feeding his pigs an antibiotic in their final months he is saving $1 to $3 per animal in feed costs. For the consumer, this is negligible, but from his perspective it looms larger because, he said, in good years his net profit is only $7 to $10 per animal.

More contentious is the routine use of antibiotics to prevent disease, as Mr. Rowles and other pork producers do with newly weaned pigs.

Dr. James McKean , an extension veterinarian at Iowa State University , said experience in Denmark, Europe's leading pork producer, showed that ending the practice would result in more illness, suffering and death among pigs, and cause a jump in antibiotic treatments of actual disease.

Dr. McKean estimated that a ban on most nontreatment uses of antibiotics would raise the cost of pork by 5 cents a pound.

Others counter that farmers in Denmark have learned to hold down illness in young pigs by extending the weaning period, altering feeds and providing more space and veterinary scrutiny of the animals. Some of the drugs used in prevention by farmers like Mr. Rowles would also be permitted under the measure before Congress because they are not used in human medicine.

“In the end, the producers will do what is right,” Mr. Rowles said. “We will make sure we deliver a product that meets the needs of consumers.”

“My only concern is that we make decisions in a scientific fashion, not a political fashion,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/us/15farm.html?adxnnl=1&ref=us&adxnnlx=1284559251-R4pPxpbuTXwRXsopob6qpw&pagewanted=print

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Meaning of the Koran

Which sacred text says that Jesus is the “word” of God? a) the Gospel of John; b) the Book of Isaiah; c) the Koran.

The correct answer is the Koran. But if you guessed the Gospel of John you get partial credit because its opening passage — “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God” — is an implicit reference to Jesus. In fact, when Muhammad described Jesus as God's word, he was no doubt aware that he was affirming Christian teaching.

Extra-credit question: Which sacred text has this to say about the Hebrews: God, in his “prescience,” chose “the children of Israel … above all peoples”? I won't bother to list the choices, since you've probably caught onto my game by now; that line, too, is in the Koran.

I highlight these passages in part for the sake of any self-appointed guardians of Judeo-Christian civilization who might still harbor plans to burn the Koran. I want them to be aware of everything that would go up in smoke.

But I should concede that I haven't told the whole story. Even while calling Jesus the word of God — and “the Messiah” — the Koran denies that he was the son of God or was himself divine. And, though the Koran does call the Jews God's chosen people, and sings the praises of Moses, and says that Jews and Muslims worship the same God, it also has anti-Jewish, and for that matter anti-Christian, passages.

This darker side of the Koran, presumably, has already come to the attention of would-be Koran burners and, more broadly, to many of the anti-Muslim Americans whom cynical politicians like Newt Gingrich are trying to harness and multiply. The other side of the Koran — the part that stresses interfaith harmony — is better known in liberal circles.

As for people who are familiar with both sides of the Koran — people who know the whole story — well, there may not be many of them. It's characteristic of contemporary political discourse that the whole story doesn't come to the attention of many people.

Thus, there are liberals who say that “jihad” refers to a person's internal struggle to do what is right. And that's true. There are conservatives who say “jihad” refers to military struggle. That's true, too. But few people get the whole picture, which, actually, can be summarized pretty concisely:

The Koran's exhortations to jihad in the military sense are sometimes brutal in tone but are so hedged by qualifiers that Muhammad clearly doesn't espouse perpetual war against unbelievers, and is open to peace with them. (Here, for example, is my exegesis of the “sword verse,” the most famous jihadist passage in the Koran.) The formal doctrine of military jihad — which isn't found in the Koran, and evolved only after Muhammad's death — does seem to have initially been about endless conquest, but was then subject to so much amendment and re-interpretation as to render it compatible with world peace. Meanwhile, in the hadith — the non-Koranic sayings of the Prophet — the tradition arose that Muhammad had called holy war the “lesser jihad” and said that the “greater jihad” was the struggle against animal impulses within each Muslim's soul.

Why do people tend to hear only one side of the story? A common explanation is that the digital age makes it easy to wall yourself off from inconvenient data, to spend your time in ideological “cocoons,” to hang out at blogs where you are part of a choir that gets preached to.

Makes sense to me. But, however big a role the Internet plays, it's just amplifying something human: a tendency to latch onto evidence consistent with your worldview and ignore or downplay contrary evidence.

This side of human nature is generally labeled a bad thing, and it's true that it sponsors a lot of bigotry, strife and war. But it actually has its upside. It means that the regrettable parts of the Koran — the regrettable parts of any religious scripture — don't have to matter.

After all, the adherents of a given religion, like everyone else, focus on things that confirm their attitudes and ignore things that don't. And they carry that tunnel vision into their own scripture; if there is hatred in their hearts, they'll fasten onto the hateful parts of scripture, but if there's not, they won't. That's why American Muslims of good will can describe Islam simply as a religion of love . They see the good parts of scripture, and either don't see the bad or have ways of minimizing it.

So too with people who see in the Bible a loving and infinitely good God. They can maintain that view only by ignoring or downplaying parts of their scripture.

For example, there are those passages where God hands out the death sentence to infidels. In Deuteronomy, the Israelites are told to commit genocide — to destroy nearby peoples who worship the wrong Gods, and to make sure to kill all men, women and children. (“You must not let anything that breathes remain alive.”)

As for the New Testament, there's that moment when Jesus calls a woman and her daughter “dogs” because they aren't from Israel. In a way that's the opposite of anti-Semitism — but not in a good way. And speaking of anti-Semitism, the New Testament, like the Koran, has some unflattering things to say about Jews.

Devoted Bible readers who aren't hateful ignore or downplay all these passages rather than take them as guidance. They put to good use the tunnel vision that is part of human nature.

All the Abrahamic scriptures have all kinds of meanings — good and bad — and the question is which meanings will be activated and which will be inert. It all depends on what attitude believers bring to the text. So whenever we do things that influence the attitudes of believers, we shape the living meaning of their scriptures. In this sense, it's actually within the power of non-Muslim Americans to help determine the meaning of the Koran. If we want its meaning to be as benign as possible, I recommend that we not talk about burning it. And if we want imams to fill mosques with messages of brotherly love, I recommend that we not tell them where they can and can't build their mosques.

Of course, the street runs both ways. Muslims can influence the attitudes of Christians and Jews and hence the meanings of their texts. The less threatening that Muslims seem, the more welcoming Christians and Jews will be, and the more benign Christianity and Judaism will be. (A good first step would be to bring more Americans into contact with some of the overwhelming majority of Muslims who are in fact not threatening.)

You can even imagine a kind of virtuous circle: the less menacing each side seems, the less menacing the other side becomes — which in turn makes the first side less menacing still, and so on; the meaning of the Abrahamic scriptures would, in a real sense, get better and better and better.

Lately, it seems, things have been moving in the opposite direction; the circle has been getting vicious. And it's in the nature of vicious circles that they're hard to stop, much less reverse. On the other hand, if, through the concerted effort of people of good will, you do reverse a vicious circle, the very momentum that sustained it can build in the other direction — and at that point the force will be with you.

Postscript: The quotations of the Koran come from Sura 4:171 (where Jesus is called God's word), and Sura 44:32 (where the “children of Israel” are lauded). I've used the Rodwell translation, but the only place the choice of translator matters is the part that says God presciently placed the children of Israel above all others. Other translations say “purposefully,” or “knowingly.”  By the way, if you're curious as to the reason for the Koran's seeming ambivalence toward Christians and Jews:

By my reading, the Koran is to a large extent the record of Muhammad's attempt to bring all the area's Christians, Jews and Arab polytheists into his Abrahamic flock, and it reflects, in turns, both his bitter disappointment at failing to do so and the many theological and ritual overtures he had made along the way. (For a time Muslims celebrated Yom Kippur, and they initially prayed toward Jerusalem, not Mecca.) That the suras aren't ordered chronologically obscures this underlying logic.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/the-meaning-of-the-koran/?pagemode=print

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the White House

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The President on the Release of Sarah Shourd

Early this afternoon the President released the statement below on the release of Sarah Shourd, the American hiker who was held in an Iranian prison for 14 months, and the continued imprisonment of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal:

I am very pleased that Sarah Shourd has been released by the Iranian government, and will soon be united with her family. All Americans join with her courageous mother and family in celebrating her long-awaited return home. We are grateful to the Swiss, the Sultanate of Oman, and other friends and allies around the world who have worked tirelessly and admirably over the past several months to bring about this joyous reunion.

While Sarah has been released, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal remain prisoners in Iran who have committed no crime.  We remain hopeful that Iran will demonstrate renewed compassion by ensuring the return of Shane, Josh and all the other missing or detained Americans in Iran.  We salute the courage and strength of the Shourd, Bauer, and Fattal families, who have endured the unimaginable absence of their loved ones.  We have gained strength from their resolve, and will continue do everything we can to secure the release of their loved ones. 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/14/president-release-sarah-shourd

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the Department of Justice

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MS-13 Gang Leader Sentenced to Life in Prison for Racketeering Offenses Including the Murder of a Witness

WASHINGTON - Juan Carlos Moreira, aka “Stokey” and “Stocky,” was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Deborah K. Chasanow to life in prison for conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise known as MS-13, conspiring to and committing murder in aid of racketeering, witness tampering murder and assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering. Judge Chasanow also ordered that Moreira pay $4,886 in restitution for the funeral and burial costs of Randy Calderon, whom Moreira shot and killed.

The sentence was announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Theresa R. Stoop of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - Baltimore Field Division; Chief Roberto L. Hylton of the Prince George's County, Md., Police Department; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the FBI; Special Agent in Charge William Winter of Homeland Security Investigations; Chief J. Thomas Manger of the Montgomery County, Md., Police Department; Chief Darien L. Manley of the Maryland-National Capital Park Police, Montgomery County Division and Chief Larry M. Brownlee Sr. of the Maryland-National Capital Park Police, Prince George's County Division.

According to his plea agreement, Moreira, 30, a native of El Salvador who resided in Silver Spring, Md., was a leader of the Sailor Locos Salvatruchos Westside (SLSW) clique of La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13. A gang composed primarily of immigrants or descendants of immigrants from El Salvador, MS-13 has members operating throughout Prince George's County and Montgomery County, and elsewhere inside and outside of the United States.  Moreira was born in El Salvador where he was “jumped in” to the SLSW clique.  In 1998, Moreira entered the United States illegally and, along with four other people, founded the SLSW clique in Maryland in the summer of 2000.  From that time until the summer of 2003, Moreira held the leadership position of “First Word” of the Maryland SLSW clique, which required him to lead clique meetings, represent the clique at general and regional meetings, direct the activities of the clique and pay dues.

According to the statement of facts, Moreira and other members of SLSW stabbed an MS-13 member from a Virginia clique on Jan. 1, 2003, after Moreira and the other MS-13 member had a verbal confrontation at a party.        

Moreira also admitted that in the early months of 2003, he and the Sailors clique possessed a MAC-90 automatic assault rifle, as well as 7.62 mm ammunition for the rifle.  On April 9, 2003, Moreira sold the rifle for $1,500 to an undercover law enforcement agent.

According to the plea agreement, MS-13 members Nelson Bernal and Randy Calderon murdered a suspected rival gang member, Eliuth Madrigal, in Moreira's apartment in Silver Spring on Nov. 22, 2003.  Moreira was in an upstairs bedroom at the time of the murder.  When Moreira was informed of the murder, he ordered Calderon and Bernal to remove the body from the apartment and led the group in cleaning up the murder scene.  Moreira later attempted to cover up the murder by painting the walls and changing the carpet in the apartment, where Madrigal had been stabbed repeatedly. 

Shortly after the Madrigal murder, and still on Nov. 22, 2003, Moreira directed Bernal and Calderon to accompany him to the apartment of Israel Ramos-Cruz, aka “Taylor , ” 33, who held the “First Word” leadership position of the Sailors clique at the time.  After arriving at the residence, Moreira and Ramos-Cruz had a private discussion in the kitchen area while the others were in the living room, then returned to the living room and told Calderon that he and others were to paint MS-13 graffiti in celebration of Calderon's murder of Madrigal.  Ramos-Cruz gave Calderon a can of blue spray paint and instructed another member of the Sailors clique, Santos Maximino Garcia, aka “Curley,” 33, to drive Moreira and Calderon to their destination.  After Garcia and Calderon left the apartment, Ramos-Cruz gave Moreira a handgun.  Moreira directed Garcia to take them to an area behind a convenience store in Mount Rainier, Md., where Sailors members had previously spray painted graffiti.  Moreira and Calderon exited the vehicle and a short time later Moreira fired a single shot into Calderon's head, killing him.  According to the statement of facts, Moreira and Ramos-Cruz later made statements to the effect that Calderon had to be killed because he would not have been tough and would have told police about the Madrigal murder.

On Jan. 5, 2005, Moreira and Omar Vasquez, aka “Duke,” 32, a fellow Sailors member, were involved in a fight with members of a rival gang at a fast food restaurant in Alexandria, Va., Moreira and Vasquez lost the fight and Moreira admitted that in response, on Jan. 21, 2005, he and multiple other MS-13 members went in search of the rival gang involved in the fight.  They drove to an apartment building in Alexandria, where they saw a group of youths that they believed included a member of the rival gang that had fought with Moreira earlier in the month.  Moreira and another MS-13 member approached the group and each fired multiple shots at the group, wounding three juvenile males, one of whom died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds.           

Ramos-Cruz, Garcia and Vasquez were convicted at trial.  Ramos-Cruz and Vasquez were sentenced to life in prison and Garcia was sentenced to 32 years in prison.  Bernal, 29, of Hyattsville, pleaded guilty to charges related to his role in the gang. A sentencing date for Bernal has not been set.

ATF's RAGE Task Force, the Prince George's County State's Attorney Office and the Montgomery County State's Attorney Office provided assistance in this matter.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert K. Hur and William D. Moomau for the District of Maryland; Trial Attorney Michael Warbel of the Criminal Division's Capital Case Unit; and James M. Trusty, Acting Chief of the Criminal Division's Gang Unit.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/September/10-crm-1021.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From ICE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

U.S. and South Korea to enhance cooperation and collaboration

SEOUL - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the South Korea Supreme Prosecution Service (SPS) signed a memorandum of understanding Monday that strengthens the investigative cooperation between both countries.

ICE Director John Morton and South Korea Prosecutor General Joon Gyu Kim signed the accord during a formal signing ceremony in Seoul.

Under the agreement, South Korea's SPS and ICE's Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) have agreed to increase their cooperation and collaboration to investigate issues that include counter-proliferation, intellectual property rights, cyber crime, money laundering and human trafficking and smuggling.

"The agreement signed today will strengthen the joint investigative capabilities of the United States and the Republic of Korea," said ICE Director Morton. "I would like to thank Prosecutor General Joon Gyu Kim for his commitment to enhancing the close relationship that our two countries have."

The ICE Office of International Affairs is responsible for enhancing national security by conducting and coordinating international investigations. With agents in over 64 locations around the world, the ICE Office of International Affairs represents DHS' broadest footprint beyond our borders. ICE attaché offices work with foreign counterparts to identify and combat transnational criminal organizations before they threaten the United States.

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1009/100913seoul.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the FBI

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces Additional Charges Against Two U.S. Citizens Alleged to Have Provided Material Support to al Qaeda

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that additional terrorism charges were filed against U.S. citizens WESAM EL-HANAFI and SABIRHAN HASANOFF in a Superseding Indictment for allegedly providing material support, including money and computer assistance, to al Qaeda. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge KIMBA M. WOOD, and the defendants are scheduled to be arraigned on the Superseding Indictment on September 16, 2010, at 10:30 a.m.

The original Indictment, which was unsealed on April 30, 2010, charged EL-HANAFI and HASANOFF with conspiring to provide material support to al Qaeda. The Superseding Indictment contains three additional charges, including providing material support to al Qaeda, and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in connection with their alleged support of al Qaeda.

According to the Superseding Indictment filed in Manhattan federal court today:

In February 2008, EL-HANAFI traveled to Yemen, where he met with two members of al Qaeda. While in Yemen, EL-HANAFI swore an oath of allegiance to al Qaeda, received instructions from al Qaeda on operational security measures, and received assignments to perform for al Qaeda.

Three months later, in May 2008, EL-HANAFI met with another individual ("CC-1") in Brooklyn to discuss CC-1 also joining al Qaeda. HASANOFF—who had previously received $50,000 from CC-1—and EL HANAFI had additional discussions with CC-1 about joining al Qaeda. During about the same time period, EL-HANAFI purchased a subscription for a software program that enabled him to communicate securely with others over the Internet.

In June 2008, EL-HANAFI directed CC-1 to perform various tasks for al Qaeda. And at that time, HASANOFF instructed CC-1 not to use his U.S. passport when traveling because a U.S. passport with fewer immigration stamps would be more valuable to al Qaeda.

Additionally, in August 2008, HASANOFF traveled to New York City where he performed assignments for al Qaeda. The following year, in April 2009, EL-HANAFI purchased seven Casio digital watches over the Internet on behalf of al Qaeda and had them delivered to his residence in Brooklyn, New York.

EL-HANAFI, 33, is a U.S. citizen who was born and lived in Brooklyn, New York. HASANOFF, 34, is a dual citizen of the United States and Australia, who also resided in Brooklyn, New York.

If convicted on all counts, EL-HANAFI and HASANOFF each face a maximum sentence of 70 years in prison.

Mr. BHARARA praised the outstanding investigative work of the Joint Terrorism Task Force—which principally consists of agents and detectives of the FBI and the New York City Police Department. Mr. BHARARA thanked the Department of Justice's National Security Division and Office of International Affairs, and the Department of State for their assistance in this matter.

This case is being handled by the Office's Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys BRENDAN R. McGUIRE, JOHN P. CRONAN, and AIMEE HECTOR are in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

http://newyork.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/nyfo091410a.htm

.