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From the Los Angeles Times

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Controversial Muslim cleric is arrested while sneaking into the U.S.

Deported from Canada to Tunisia three years ago, Muslim cleric Said Jaziri was found hiding in the trunk of a BMW near the Mexican border.

by Richard Marosi, Los Angeles Times

January 27, 2011

Reporting from San Diego

U.S. border authorities have arrested a controversial Muslim cleric who was deported from Canada to Tunisia three years ago and was caught earlier this month trying to sneak into California in the trunk of a BMW, according to court documents.

Said Jaziri, the former imam of a Muslim congregation in Montreal, was hidden in a car driven by a San Diego-area man who was pulled over by U.S. Border Patrol agents near an Indian casino east of San Diego on Jan. 11. Jaziri had allegedly paid a Tijuana-based smuggling group $5,000 to get him across the border near Tecate, saying he wanted to be taken to a "safe place anywhere in the U.S."

The arrest marks the unexpected resurfacing of the 43-year-old cleric, whose protracted legal battle to avoid deportation drew headlines in Canada. A Tunisian immigrant, Jaziri was deported for failing to disclose a criminal conviction in France while applying for refugee status in the mid-1990s.

But Jaziri's supporters said he was targeted for his fundamentalist views: He backed Sharia law for Canadian Muslims and led protests over the publication of the Prophet Mohammed cartoons in a Danish newspaper in 2006.

Jaziri is being held as a material witness in the criminal case against the BMW's driver, Kenneth Robert Lawler, who has been charged with alien smuggling. He is at the San Luis Detention Facility near Yuma, Ariz., according to his attorney, Wayne Charles Mayer. His bond has been set at $25,000.

In Quebec's large Muslim community, Jaziri stood out for his outspoken views, and though his mosque was small, he drew outsized media attention for his strict interpretation of the Koran. Jaziri labeled homosexuality a sin and pushed for government subsidies to build a large mosque for Montreal's growing Muslim population.

"His nickname in Quebec was the controversial imam," said Lise Garon, a professor of communications at Laval University in Quebec City, adding that his case tapped into the anti-immigrant mood in the community. "I think he was deported because people hated his ideas."

Jaziri opposed his deportation to Tunisia out of fear that he would be tortured by the government. His case drew support from Muslim organizations and Amnesty International. It's unclear what his treatment was like in Tunisia after his deportation, or whether his subsequent journey was related to the recent unrest there.

According to the court documents, a Mexican foot guide led Jaziri and a Mexican immigrant over the border fence near Tecate, and they trekked overnight through the rugged back country to a road where drivers frequently pick up immigrants for smuggling runs into San Diego.

Border Patrol agents, alerted by firefighters who saw the two immigrants get into the car's trunk, pulled the driver over near the Golden Acorn Casino about 50 miles east of San Diego. Jaziri told agents that his journey had been a long one: He had taken a flight from Africa to Europe, then to Central America and Chetumal, Mexico, on the Mexico-Belize border, where he took a bus to Tijuana.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-border-cleric-20110127,0,6718193,print.story

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U.S. missionary fatally wounded in Mexico

Associated Press

January 27, 2011

Reporting from Dallas

A U.S. missionary died at a southern Texas hospital Wednesday after her husband rushed her, mortally wounded, over the Rio Grande from Mexico.

Sam Davis told police that he and his wife were traveling about 70 miles south of the border when gunmen in a pickup truck tried to stop them. When the couple sped up, the gunmen fired, wounding his wife in the head, he said.

Nancy Davis, 59, died in a McAllen hospital about 90 minutes after her husband drove the couple's truck against traffic across the Pharr International Bridge, according to a statement issued by the Pharr Police Department.

Pharr Police Chief Ruben Villescas said Mexican authorities had confirmed that the shooting occurred near San Fernando, about 70 miles south of Reynosa. The area is controlled by the Zetas drug cartel and is one of Mexico's most dangerous. It is the same area of Tamaulipas state where 72 Central and South American migrants were found slain in August, a massacre blamed on the Zetas.

Pharr police and U.S. customs agents converged on the Davises' truck just before 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, after Sam Davis stopped in the middle of bridge traffic to seek help. Nancy Davis was bleeding from a head wound in the passenger seat.

A police statement said the Davises live in the lower Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas but did not specify where or provide details about Nancy Davis' missionary work.

The Mexican Interior Ministry released a statement expressing its condolences. It said Mexican authorities were investigating the shooting but gave no details.

In late September, an American tourist was killed on a border lake about 170 miles northwest of San Fernando, and concerns about the investigation prompted Texas Gov. Rick Perry to call for a stronger response from Mexican authorities. David Hartley's wife says he was gunned down by Mexican pirates while riding a jet ski on the Mexico side of Falcon Lake. His body was never found.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-border-shooting-20110127,0,7213694,print.story

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Former border agent says he was fired for drug-war comments

A former U.S. Border Patrol agent says he was fired for expressing his opinions on the drug war in Mexico while on the job.

Bryan Gonzalez, the former agent, alleges in a lawsuit filed last week that he was fired for telling a fellow agent that the drug-related violence in Mexico would end if the United States legalized drugs. He made the comments in April 2009 during a patrol along the U.S.-Mexico border in New Mexico.

According to the complaint, available here, Gonzalez's remarks prompted an internal affairs investigation at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office in El Paso, which found that he held "personal views that were contrary to the core characteristics of Border Patrol Agents, which are patriotism, dedication, and esprit de corps."

The suit names his former supervisor and was filed in U.S. District Court in West Texas.

Gonzalez's case, in which he is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union in New Mexico, has been publicized by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a group that supports drug legalization. A press officer at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office in El Paso declined to comment on the Gonzalez complaint, citing the pending litigation.

Gonzalez's case could prove "tricky" in court because he was fired one month before his two-year probationary period as an agent was to end, Micah McCoy, a spokesman for the ACLU in New Mexico, said in a telephone interview. Yet the ACLU is convinced Gonzalez's 1st Amendment rights were violated, he said.

"I think it was very clear that he was being fired simply because of the content of his political opinions. There was no misconduct or anything else cited in his termination. It was very explicitly chalked up to opinions that they considered contrary to the core beliefs of the Border Patrol," McCoy said. "Bryan Gonzalez, our plaintiff, would disagree with that strongly. His belief would be that having an opinion is very patriotic."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2011/01/border-patrol-agent-fired-sues-views-drug-war-mexico.html

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LAPD detectives reveal two new Grim Sleeper cases

Detectives said Wednesday night that they are investigating two additional killings that may have been committed by  Lonnie Franklin Jr., the Grim Sleeper serial slaying suspect.

The revelation came during a meeting with about 100 residents at the Bethel AME Church in South Los Angeles.

The detectives' comments were prompted by a question from a relative of a victim in one of the two new cases. The detectives acknowledged the new probes had been launched but declined to elaborate.

The church, in the 7900 block of Western Avenue, is just a few blocks from the home where Franklin was arrested in the summer. The meeting was organized by Councilman Bernard C. Parks, who represents the area.

"It's important for the Police Department to stay connected to the community," Det. Dennis Kilcoyne of the Los Angeles Police Department told The Times.

Franklin, 57, is charged with 10 counts of murder and one count of attempted murder — crimes that occurred in South L.A. and spanned three decades, prosecutors have said. Franklin has pleaded not guilty.

Detectives have released about 180 photos of women whose pictures were found on Franklin's property after investigators served a search warrant in July. As a result of those photos, 72 women were identified and ruled out as victims. Detectives still need to identify about 62 women, Kilcoyne said.

Scores of calls and tips from the photos resulted in the LAPD developing four missing-person cases.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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Pearl Harbor survivor found living in filth; caretaker arrested on suspicion of elder abuse

A 93-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor was found dirty, disoriented and living in filth at his home outside El Cajon, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.

The man's caretaker, Milagros Angeles, 63, was arrested on suspicion of elder abuse. Sheriff's deputies also discovered that thousands of dollars had been taken from the veteran, the Sheriff's Department said Wednesday.

When deputies went to the tiny home on Euclid Avenue on Tuesday, they found the resident clutching what apparently was his prized possession: a picture of the ship, the Vestal, that he was serving on the day of the Japanese attack.

The Vestal, a repair ship, was moored next to the battleship Arizona. After being repaired at Mare Island in Vallejo, Calif., it returned to the fleet and engaged in several major battles.

Suffering from dementia and dehydration, the victim was taken to the Veterans Affairs hospital in San Diego. His name was not released, in accordance with rules involving elder abuse cases.

His status as a Pearl Harbor survivor was confirmed by the Pearl Harbor Survivors Assn., according to the group's past president Arthur Herriford. "It's a damn shame that this happened," he said.

Sgt. Mark Varnau of the Sheriff's Department elder abuse unit said the the suspect initially did not want to allow deputies into the home. The veteran was found sitting in a chair, holding the picture, he said.

The man has relatives in Southern California, but they were unaware of his condition, Varnau said.

"We tell people they should check on their kids," Varnau said. "They should check on their parents too."

The suspect was booked into county jail. She is being held on $100,000 bail.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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'Skins' passes an ick test

'Skins' is more graphic in its depictions of drug use and sex, but it somehow doesn't have nearly the ick factor of 'Jersey Shore.'

Meghan Daum

January 27, 2011

Even if you haven't watched MTV since Duran Duran broke up, you've probably heard of "Skins." It premiered on Jan. 17 amid a fanfare of anticipation after the Parents Television Council pronounced it "the most dangerous program that has ever been foisted on your children."

The council has demanded a federal investigation as to whether the young actors on the show (ages 15 to 19) are participating in child pornography. "Skins" quickly lost sponsors, and the news came that MTV executives were considering editing out particularly racy scenes in future episodes.

No doubt the whiff of forbidden fruit only piqued curiosity, especially among the 12- to 17-year-olds for whom the show's TV-MA, or "mature audiences," rating was already code for "don't miss."

To watch "Skins" is to sit slack-jawed before a hormone-soaked bacchanal. The kids are sexy in a damaged, string-beany kind of way; they're like American Apparel models that walk and talk. There's a street kid named Chris, a lesbian cheerleader named Tea, a self-cutter named Cadie and a rebellious Muslim named Abbud. They have lots of sex, do lots of drugs, watch a lot of porn and speak blithely of plying each other with said drugs in order to facilitate said sex.

In the first episode, the de facto ringleader, Tony, encounters logistical problems when he arranges a drug deal and attempts to relieve his best pal Stanley of his virginity. In the second episode Tea beds Tony — never mind that she routinely masturbates to a photograph of Audrey Hepburn and just hooked up under her parents' roof with a bi-curious classmate.

But it's the third episode of "Skins," airing Monday, that's got everyone really worked up. The character of Chris, played by a 17-year-old, takes a male enhancement pill and ends up running naked down the street, the camera capturing his bare buttocks in all their nubile glory. I bet you can't wait.

Does "Skins" constitute child pornography and violate federal law? That depends, of course, on whether it constitutes pornography in general, and that determination, at least legally, pretty much boils down to Justice Potter Stewart's "I know it when I see it" decree. In any case, the question isn't likely to produce any instant answers.

A more immediate question, however, is why amid all the other entertainments awash in sex/drugs/self-destructive behavior, this show has set off so many alarm bells. Is the drug use and indiscriminate sex on "Skins" any worse than the nympho-narcissism endemic to "The Real World" franchise or, moreover, the perpetual stupor and "hate sex" on, say, MTV's breakout hit "Jersey Shore?"

"Jersey Shore" doesn't show sex actually occurring, but it relies so heavily on barely-there clothing, endless power struggles over mates and scene after scene of girls-gone-wild-style partying that watching it can make you feel like running out and getting tested for STDs.

"Skins," on the other hand, is more graphic in its depictions of drug use and sex, but it somehow doesn't have nearly the ick factor of "Jersey Shore." It has the benefit of higher production values and characters shaped in writers' meetings rather than editing rooms. Although no one would accuse "Skins" of being classy, its overall effect somehow comes across as less debased than the sum of its parts.

"Skins" isn't "unscripted drama," it's drama drama. It demands something of its viewers that reality television simply cannot: the suspension of disbelief. It enters a pact with its audiences. It asks them not to merely gawk at the action but to trust the storytelling process enough to let the characters develop. It demands that we buy in not because we're watching average Joes (or C-list celebrity Joes) with cameras pointed at them but because, in the right hands, its stories and characters can convey certain "truths" about life more effectively through an imagined world than a "real" one.

Because many people are desperate to believe that real-life teenagers aren't nearly as messed up as the kids on "Skins," there's an inclination to write the whole thing off as smut, to call it kiddie porn and then call it a day. But in trying to figure out what to do about "Skins" — demand its removal from the airwaves, watch it and shrug, hope your kids have better things to do — we would do well to consider a question even more complicated than "what is pornography?" Namely: What is a true story? And when, if ever, will we really be ready for the message?

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-daum-skins-20110127,0,4992453,print.column

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Demise of a death drug

States need sodium thiopental to perform lethal injections, but it's in short supply. Now what?

January 27, 2011

In response to violations of international human rights norms, Western governments are slapping sanctions on a rogue regime by halting exports of a deadly substance. That's nothing new; what is new is that the rogue nation is the United States.

The substance in question is sodium thiopental, a fast-acting anesthetic designed for surgery that has been put to a more sinister purpose in 34 states, which use it to numb condemned prison inmates before injecting another drug that stops their breathing and a third that stops their hearts. Sodium thiopental is very hard to come by because the only U.S. company that makes it has ceased production. Hospira Inc., unable to make the drug in the U.S., had hoped to manufacture it at a plant in Italy, but authorities there demanded assurances that it wouldn't be used for capital punishment. Unable to provide them, Hospira opted to get out of the business. Britain has banned exports of the drug to the U.S.

The United States is an extreme rarity among industrialized democracies for its embrace of the death penalty, which has been abolished in law or practice by 139 nations. That's why European countries are teaming up to stop exports of execution drugs to the U.S. — and that's throwing a wrench into the American machinery of death. Without a supply of sodium thiopental, many states will have to go through the lengthy process of revising their execution procedures. Executions have been delayed for five years in California amid lawsuits over whether the state's lethal injection method — which uses sodium thiopental — constitutes unconstitutionally cruel punishment. The state has an ample supply of the drug because it acquired 90 doses from Britain before London imposed its ban, but when that cache expires, the whole legal nightmare might start over.

If this were just a supply problem, it might be comparatively easy to solve. But lethal injection, considered the most "humane" way to execute criminals, comes with a host of other ethical, regulatory and legal challenges. Medical associations refuse to condone physician participation in executions, increasing the danger of botched procedures. The Food and Drug Administration wants nothing to do with lethal-injection drugs, refusing to verify the effectiveness of imports but allowing states to purchase them. Thus there is no way of knowing whether the drugs are producing the "painless" death they promise, or a torturous death forbidden by the Constitution.

Our biggest objection to the death penalty has nothing to do with death drugs. In an excellent but still imperfect legal system, it is impossible to determine guilt with 100% certainty, which is why dozens of death row inmates have been exonerated. Once a convict is dead, it's too late to set him or her free if new evidence materializes. Add to this the expense of the never-ending appeals process and the serious questions about execution methodology raised by the sodium thiopental fracas, and we have to ask: Is the visceral satisfaction Americans derive from killing convicted killers really worth its cost?

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-deathdrug-20110127,0,503817,print.story

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From the New York Times

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Army Trauma Unit's Woes Detailed

The Army units created to provide special care for wounded soldiers after the Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal continue to struggle with short staffing, inadequate training and an overabundance of prescription medications, a report by the Army inspector general's office said.

The easy access to medications in the so-called Warrior Transition Units has meant that about a quarter to a third of all the soldiers in the units are “over-medicated, abuse prescriptions and have access to illegal drugs,” the report said, based on estimates provided by the staff at the units.

The report, which was released this week, said that over all, the program was working. But it suggested that too many soldiers were staying longer in the units than was necessary, either because they were trying to “game” the system to improve their disability benefits or because a slow and understaffed medical bureaucracy had delayed treatment.

As a result of those delays, deserving soldiers are being prevented from rejoining their regular units or from getting out of the military altogether, while less deserving soldiers may be taking resources away from troops who need care more.

“The inspection team noted a ‘sense of entitlement' among some warriors in transition,” the report said.

The report was a result of growing complaints from the soldiers in those units about the quality of care they were receiving as well as from their commanders about the discipline problems posed by some soldiers.

The New York Times described complaints from soldiers about overmedication, a lack of therapists and long waits for medical discharges in an article last year about the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Carson, Colo.

The units were created in 2007 after articles in The Washington Post exposed serious shortcomings in care for wounded soldiers at Walter Reed, the Army's flagship hospital, in Washington. Soldiers assigned to the units are expected to get healthy and return to regular duty, or transition out of the Army. Specialized health care services are provided to them during their recovery periods and they are given more limited duties.

More than 26,000 soldiers have passed through the units. There are about 9,500 soldiers in several dozen transition units across the Army, including at all major Army posts and in community-based programs for reservists.

In a statement, the Army said it had accepted the findings of the inspector general and already tried to fix some of the problems, including by improving training for overseeing soldiers with mental health problems. The Army is also trying to expand therapies that do not require medications and tighten monitoring of pain prescriptions, the statement said.

The transition units have long been criticized by some commanders as dumping grounds for soldiers not fit to deploy. That concern is raised in the report, which notes that just 10 percent of the transition unit soldiers had been physically wounded in combat, while the rest had mental health problems or noncombat-related injuries or illnesses.

The report said the soldiers with physical combat wounds tended to move out of the units faster and more frequently returned to full duty, while the noncombat wounded tended to be the greater discipline problems.

It also noted that the units too often seemed to push soldiers toward seeking disability compensation over getting healthy, noting the influence of “barracks lawyers” — older soldiers who counseled younger ones in how to get benefits.

Some advocates for wounded soldiers say such concerns are overblown. Many soldiers in the units are taking medications for post-traumatic stress disorder that make them forgetful, irritable or disoriented — thereby causing tensions with their platoon sergeants.

The report said that many of the platoon sergeants and leaders themselves felt they were not qualified to handle soldiers on medications or with mental health problems, and they wanted better training.

It also recommended that the Army make serving in the units a more attractive career option. Some platoon sergeants told the investigators that overseeing the wounded soldiers was equivalent to “taking a knee” and not as prestigious as being a drill sergeant or in a combat unit.

“On several occasions, we were informed that ‘the best qualified person is often the first/most available,' ” the report said.

The volatility of some wounded soldiers, particularly those waiting for medical discharges, made certain staff members nervous, the report said. Some reported having tires slashed or receiving threats from soldiers, and several suggested installing “panic buttons” in their offices for protection.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/us/27warrior.html?_r=1&ref=world&pagewanted=print

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Man Charged in Tucson Shootings Had Researched Assassins, Official Says

TUCSON — Jared L. Loughner, the man accused of opening fire outside a Tucson supermarket on Jan. 8 in what the authorities consider an attempted assassination of Representative Gabrielle Giffords, researched famous assassins, the death penalty and solitary confinement on the Internet before the shootings, an official close to the investigation said Wednesday.

Mr. Loughner, 22, pleaded not guilty on Monday to three federal counts of attempted murder in connection with the shootings, which left six people dead and 13 injured. Among those shot were Ms. Giffords, who the authorities say was the target of the attack but who survived with a bullet wound to the brain, and a federal judge, John M. Roll, who was killed.

Additional federal charges, including murder, are expected within 45 days, and Pima County prosecutors are likely to pursue separate state charges as well.

Mr. Loughner, who lived with his parents, was signed on to a home computer until the wee hours of the morning of the shootings, investigators said. An analysis of Mr. Loughner's Web searches from computers seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation showed that Mr. Loughner was conducting Internet research days before the shooting and until just hours before he took a taxi to a “Congress on Your Corner” event shortly before 10 a.m., an official close to the investigation said.

“He was looking at Web sites related to lethal injection and Web sites about famous assassins,” the official said, adding, “These are things he was looking into in the days leading up to — including the evening and morning hours — up to the event.”

The information on his computer searches, which The Washington Post first reported on its Web site on Wednesday morning, could aid the prosecution's effort to show that Mr. Loughner carefully planned the shooting and knew the implications of it, legal analysts said.

“It sounds like it's very significant,” said A. Bates Butler III, a former United States attorney in Arizona who is now in private practice. “It demonstrates premeditation. If he was looking at what happened to other assassins, it shows that he intended to kill. I suspect the government will use that evidence to show this was a thinking person and not someone acting on impulse or as a result of a mental disorder.”

The evidence could also complicate the effort by Mr. Loughner's lawyer, Judy Clarke, to persuade the Justice Department not to pursue the death penalty, Mr. Butler said. Such a decision has not been made and, in fact, Mr. Loughner now faces only attempted murder charges, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Before the latest disclosure, law enforcement officials said they had found evidence in Mr. Loughner's house that he had attended a previous event held by the Democratic congresswoman in 2007. Also, cryptic handwritten comments were found in a safe at his home that referred to assassination, investigators said.

Mr. Loughner also posted a note on his MySpace page hours before the shooting saying “Goodbye friends,” and posed in photographs with a Glock semiautomatic pistol that is believed to be the same one used in the shooting, investigators said.

The official interviewed Wednesday did not say which assassins Mr. Loughner researched. The sites were found by searching the browser history of his computer, the official said. A more detailed forensic analysis of his computer is under way, officials said.

Mr. Loughner is being held at the Federal Correctional Institution outside Phoenix, a medium-security facility, where he is separated from the other 1,100 inmates. Prisoners in this form of confinement are generally closely monitored and have no contact with other prisoners, spending 23 hours a day in their small cell while getting one hour per day for exercise and showering, a law enforcement official said.

Another official who has been briefed on the confinement described Mr. Loughner as staring straight ahead most of the time and refusing to speak to prison personnel.

Federal authorities decided not to keep Mr. Loughner at the jail run by the Maricopa County sheriff, Joe Arpaio, even though prisoners awaiting federal trials in Phoenix are commonly held there.

Sheriff Arpaio said that as of last week he had 67 federal prisoners in the jail being held under agreements with federal officials. Sheriff Arpaio is known for courting publicity and describes himself as the nation's toughest sheriff.

Having such a high-profile federal defendant in the jail would have been awkward for the Justice Department, which filed a highly unusual lawsuit against Sheriff Arpaio last year for not cooperating with an investigation into whether his department was systematically violating the civil rights of Hispanics.

Also on Wednesday, the last funeral was held for those who died in the shooting, that of Dorothy Morris, a retiree. Ms. Morris's husband, George, was wounded in the attack.

Meanwhile, in Houston, Ms. Giffords was moved from an intensive care unit to a rehabilitation hospital and began an aggressive course of physical therapy. Her doctors said that the transfer from Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center to a nearby rehabilitation hospital went seamlessly and that the congresswoman had begun working with therapists. They said she was alert and appeared to understand what was being said to her.

“Since Gabby arrived last week, we have witnessed daily improvements in her neurological function,” said Dr. Dong Kim, the head of the Mischer Neuroscience Institute at Memorial Hermann. “This is really at lightning speed.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/us/27giffords.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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From Google News

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Color-coded threat system to be replaced in April

Not that anyone is really paying attention.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is expected to announce Thursday that the almost 9-year-old threat alert system will go away in April. It will be replaced by the new National Terror Advisory System that will focus on specific threats in geographical areas, a department source said Wednesday.

The source did not provide details of the new system, which Napolitano will unveil at what the department is calling "the first annual 'State of America's Homeland Security' address" at George Washington University.

The top Democrat and Republican on the House Homeland Security Commission reacted positively to the news, although committee chairman Rep. Peter King, R-New York, reserved judgment on the specifics.

"Though the system served a valuable purpose in the terrible days and months following the terrorist attacks of September 11, it was clearly time for the current color-coded system to be replaced with a more targeted system," King said. "I know they have been working on this for a long time. It sounds to me like the changes they are proposing make sense. We will have to wait and see how they implement this new, more targeted system. I expect the biggest challenge for DHS will be balancing the need to provide useful and timely information with the need to protect sensitive information."

"The old color coded system taught Americans to be scared, not prepared," said ranking member Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi. "Each and every time the threat level was raised, very rarely did the public know the reason, how to proceed, or for how long to be on alert. I have raised concerns for years about the effectiveness of the system and have cited the need for improvements and transparency. Many in Congress felt the system was being used as a political scare tactic -- raising and lowering the threat levels when it best suited the Bush administration."

President George W. Bush established the Homeland Security Advisory System by presidential directive on March 11, 2002, just a few months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. The five levels -- green for low, blue for guarded, yellow for elevated, orange for high and red for severe -- were intended to identify the risk of terrorist attack.

The initial level was yellow, which the system retained until September 11, 2002, when it was raised to orange to cover the first anniversary of the attacks. It was lowered back to yellow on September 24.

In its lifetime, the threat level has been raised to orange/high five times, although it went to that level three other times for specific industries. The threat level was raised to red/severe once -- on August 10, 2006, and only for commercial flights from the United Kingdom to the United States -- when British authorities announced they had disrupted a major plot to blow up aircraft. The level went down to orange on August 16, 2006, where it remains.

The general threat level is yellow/elevated. The two lower levels have never been used, and task force looking at the system recommended in 2009 eliminating them altogether and making yellow the lowest threat level but renaming it "guarded."

Almost from the start, the threat level system was the butt of jokes and multiple parodies.

The "Democracy Threat Advisory Level" went from green/low ("Wow, clean money systems really work") to red/severe ("Martial law, but it's for your own good").

A "Total Headcase Advisory System" began with "George Soros is arrested" and ended with "Hillary Clinton is elected president." Still another announced that Homeland Security and Crayola had jointly revised the system, changing green to aquamarine, blue to raw umber, yellow to burnt sienna, orange to neon carrot and red to cotton candy.

The public didn't care much for the system either, with polls conducted at the time indicating most Americans found it confusing and not very useful.

More seriously, however, some critics accused the Bush administration of using using the system to generate fear at politically sensitive times, such as just before the 2004 election. And just days after his 2005 resignation, then-Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told a Washington forum that he sometimes disagreed with the rationale for raising the alert but was overruled by others on the Homeland Security Advisory Council, which made the decisions.

The council included Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI chief Robert Mueller, CIA director George Tenet, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell.

"More often than not we (the department) were the least inclined to raise it," Ridge told reporters after the forum. "Sometimes we disagreed with the intelligence assessment. Sometimes we thought even if the intelligence was good, you don't necessarily put the country on (alert). ... There were times when some people were really aggressive about raising it, and we said, 'For that?' "

And in 2009, Ridge wrote in a tell-all book that sometimes officials such as Ashcroft and Rumsfeld pressured the department to change the level, describing a 2004 event in which his arguments against raising the alert worked.

"I believe our strong interventions had pulled the 'go-up' advocates back from the brink. But I consider the episode to be not only a dramatic moment in Washington's recent history, but another illustration of the intersection of politics, fear, credibility and security," he wrote.

"After that episode, I knew I had to follow through with my plans to leave the federal government," he wrote.

Ridge announced his resignation on November 30, 2004, and left office on February 1, 2005.

The Bush administration denied Ridge's assertions, however.

"Nobody's more surprised than I am," then-Homeland Security adviser Fran Townsend told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "Of course, Tom Ridge never expressed those concerns while he was in the administration, nor did he when I spoke to him after he left ... (He) wasn't the only one in that meeting who suggested the terror alert shouldn't be raised. At no time was there a discussion of politics in that meeting. And the president was made a consensus recommendation from the council that he accepted -- not to raise the terror alert."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/01/26/threat.level.system.change/?hpt=T1

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From ICE

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TOP STORY: ICE aids in capture of international fugitives

Perdomo Henriquez was a notorious, violent gang leader in El Salvador - wanted for crimes ranging from decapitation and dismemberment to murder and extortion. He made his way to New York where he wandered our streets, lived among us. This month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers removed him from the United States and placed him in the custody of law enforcement in El Salvador.

Henriquez's story is not unique. Across the world, fugitives evade law enforcement by fleeing countries where they've committed crimes. Since August 2010, ICE's Fugitive Alien Removal Program has removed 27 individuals from the United States who were wanted overseas.

The removals are due in large part to improved cooperation with INTERPOL, the International Crime Police Organization. One hundred eighty-eight countries are INTERPOL members. They work with one another to disseminate information about wanted fugitives.

"INTERPOL has played a significant role in how ICE responds to and disseminates information about international fugitives," said Deputy Assistant Director of the Fugitive Operations Division John K. Crowther. "We think of it as a warning system that not only helps the United States, but a number of other countries as well. INTERPOL notices alert law enforcement agencies around the world that an international gang member or child predator may be seeking refuge in their country. That country can then monitor, and if appropriate, arrest the deported criminal alien for crimes committed. Additionally, these notices are a great tool for limiting the ability of a criminal to travel from one country to another."

In September 2010, ICE and INTERPOL initiated the first joint international fugitive enforcement operation called "Operation Far Away." Sixteen countries in the Western hemisphere participated in the operation targeting at-large INTERPOL foreign fugitives. The operation netted 30 arrests of individuals wanted for crimes ranging from human trafficking to political assassination. ICE's Fugitive Operations Team had a hand in 23 of them.

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1101/110126washingtondc.htm

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Michigan man charged with transporting minor for sex

INDIANAPOLIS - A Michigan man was charged on Monday with traveling in inter-state commerce intending to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, announced U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Hogsett, Southern District of Indiana. The investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Indiana State Police, and Michigan State Police.

The complaint alleges that late in the evening on Jan. 10, 2010, Daniel Feneis, 24, from Sears, Mich., and a 14-year-old girl identified as Jane Doe in the complaint, left Michigan together and intending to start "a new life" in St. Louis, Mo. Feneis and Jane Doe had been involved in a sexual relationship in Michigan for about six months. The complaint further alleges that the two engaged in sex acts in Indiana.

Following an investigation by Michigan and Indiana authorities, Feneis and Jane Doe were found together in a hotel room at the Days Inn in Terre Haute, Ind., within the Southern District of Indiana, less than 24 hours after Feneis transported Jane Doe out of Michigan.

Feneis faces a maximum of 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Following a hearing on Jan. 25, 2011, Feneis was ordered detained pending disposition of this case before a U.S. District Court.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide ICE initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders, and child sex traffickers.

ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE . This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com .

A Complaint t is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Assistant U.S. Attorney A. Brant Cook, Southern District of Indiana, is prosecuting this case.

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1101/110125indianapolis.htm

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