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From the Los Angeles Times

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Magnitude 8.9 earthquake rocks Japan

The quake triggers a tsunami that threatens much of the Pacific. In Tokyo, all trains are halted and black plumes of smoke rise over the skyline. Initial reports say dozens have died; scores are reported missing.

by Barbara Demick, David Pierson and Kenji Hall, Los Angeles Times

March 11, 2011

Reporting from Beijing and Tokyo

The worst earthquake in generations struck off the northeast coast of Japan on Friday, setting off a devastating tsunami that swallowed swaths of coastal territory and fanned out across the Pacific Ocean, threatening everything in its path.

The 8.9-magnitude earthquake -- the world's fifth-largest since 1900 and the biggest in Japan in 140 years -- struck at 2:46 p.m. local time, shaking buildings violently in Tokyo for several minutes and sending millions fleeing for higher ground.

Initial reports say dozens have died, though that number is expected to rise dramatically as more aftershocks and waves batter the region. Japanese media is reporting scores of people missing, likely buried under rubble or swept away by waves as high as 33 feet.

Nearby islands are bracing for the tsunami and warnings have been issued for 53 countries including ones as far away as Colombia and Peru.

Japanese television showed aerial footage of an ominous 13-foot muddy wave washing across land along the northeastern coast near the epicenter, which appears to have sustained the worst damage.

Sendai, a city of 1 million in Miyagi prefecture 180 miles northeast of Tokyo, was struck by a wave 20 feet high, then another 33 feet high. A hotel collapsed and large ships in port were seen lying on their sides. The city's airport was flooded, and people could be seen on the roof of the terminal.

In other locations, live TV coverage showed massive damage from the waves with dozens of boats and even buildings being carried along by waters. Cars could be seen futilely trying to speed away from the rolling wall of debris.

A large ship swept away by the tsunami rammed into a breakwater in Kesennuma city in Miyagi prefecture. Waves could be seen splashing into city streets and over bridges.

Further south in Chiba prefecture, firefighters battled an out-of-control oil refinery blaze that spewed fireballs into the sky.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan in a press conference called for people to remain calm and reported that the nation's nuclear power plants showed no signs of damage.

"The government will make its utmost efforts to secure people's safety and limit any damages to the minimum," Kan said.

All trains in Tokyo were stopped, and black plumes of smoke rose over the skyline. Tokyo Disneyland's parking lot was reportedly flooded and the tip of the Tokyo Tower was bent. Office workers rushed out of their buildings. Subways were halted, trapping commuters underground. In the nation with the world's third-largest economy, all airports were closed.

"The train was rocking sharply back and forth," said Anthony Weiss, a 29-year-old from Florida studying Japanese in Tokyo who was on a train when the quake hit. "People covered their heads with their bags as dust and small debris fell. Something sprung a leak, as there was a lot of water on the platform."

Many riders evacuated the train and headed for the archways, but not Weiss. "I stayed on because I was concerned about the roof and hanging lights and ventilation systems," he said. "Lights went on and off in the train. It felt a lot like the earthquake attraction at Universal, to be honest, but it wasn't stopping.

"It was pretty scary," Weiss said in an e-mail to a friend. "It felt pretty strong. People were scrambling for the doorways. The aftershocks are continuing even now."

People at Tokyo's Narita International Airport were told to evacuate buildings and head for the tarmac.

"It felt like a jet had come too close to the window and everything started shaking and rocking, and there was a huge rumbling noise," said David Pierson, a 32-year-old U.S. Army helicopter pilot who was waiting for a flight to Newark. "All the signs started swaying and fixtures started popping out. When I saw the panic on people's faces, I made a move for the exit."

The epicenter of the quake was 81 miles off the coast of Sendai, and it struck at a depth of 15 miles. The combination of its shallow depth and proximity to the coast made the temblor a "perfect storm for the tsunami generation" said Susan Hough of the U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena.

Japan has a lengthy history of large earthquakes, and its buildings are well-girded to withstand damage. Observers said this could help minimize casualties.

Photos: Scenes from the earthquake

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-japan-quake-20110311,0,7159714,print.story

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Tsunami warning issued for northern and central California and Oregon; Southern California on watch

A tsunami warning has been issued for the central and northern California coast and Oregon, the National Weather Service announced early Friday.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, an emergency warning system announcement for a tsunami warning was braodcast just after 1 a.m. Waves could begin arriving in Crescent City, Calif., at 7:23 a.m. and the Bay Area shortly after 8 a.m.

A lower-level tsunami advisory was issued for the Southern California coast south of Point Concepcion, which includes southern San Luis Obispo County and the counties of Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego.

GET UPDATES: West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center

According to the weather service, those living in tsunami warning areas near the beach or in low-lying regions “should move immediately inland to higher ground and away from all harbors and inlets, including those sheltered directly from the sea."

"Those feeling the earth shake, seeing unusual wave action, or the water level rising or receding may have only a few minutes before the tsunami arrival and should move immediately. Homes and small buildings are not designed to withstand tsunami impacts.”

Still, currents may be hazardous to swimmers and boats, the weather service said.

The waves were expected to hit Santa Barbara at 8:17 a.m. and Santa Monica and San Pedro harbors at 8:32 a.m.

FULL LIST: When waves are expected to hit California coast

Authorities said they will update current conditions hourly in areas under an advisory until the warning is either upgraded or they determine the event poses no further threat.

According to the weather service “the potential exists for a tsunami 3 feet or less in Southern and Central California."

Tsunamis less than 3 feet would cause damage only at the local harbors, caused by strong currents entering and exiting for several hours.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/03/tsunami-watch-in-effect-for-california-oregon-washington-and-alaska.html

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Mexico lawmakers demand answers about guns smuggled under ATF's watch

A legislator says at least 150 Mexicans have been killed or wounded by guns trafficked by smugglers being tracked by U.S. agents from the ATF. The charges may exacerbate already rocky U.S.-Mexico relations.

by Kim Murphy and Ken Ellingwood, Los Angeles Times

March 10, 2011

Reporting from Seattle and Mexico City

Lawmakers in Mexico are demanding an investigation into a U.S. law enforcement operation that allowed hundreds of weapons to flow into the hands of Mexican drug cartels amid claims from a ranking legislator that at least 150 Mexicans have been killed or wounded by guns trafficked by smugglers under the watch of U.S. agents.

U.S. authorities say manpower shortages and the high number of weapons sold resulted in their losing track of hundreds of guns, from pistols to .50-caliber sniper rifles, though a federal agent deeply involved in the Phoenix-based operation said it was "impossible" that U.S. authorities did not know the weapons were headed for Mexico.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has acknowledged that at least 195 weapons sold in Arizona under Operation Fast and Furious have been recovered in Mexico, traced as a matter of routine via serial numbers after their recovery from crime scenes, arrests and searches.

The Mexican lawmaker did not say how the new casualty statistics were calculated. But the estimates, which could not be independently confirmed, provide troubling new fallout from an investigation in which guns sold to suspected smugglers in the U.S. already have been linked to the deaths of two U.S. law enforcement agents.

Humberto Benitez Trevino, a federal deputy who chairs the justice committee in the lower chamber of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies, said in comments released by Congress this week that "we have 150 cases of injuries and homicides with arms that were smuggled and passed illegally into our country."

Benitez said the figure came from "sources," but he did not specify who the victims were or where shootings took place.

"This was an undercover program that wasn't properly controlled," Benitez said.

A U.S. law enforcement official on the border, who is a defender of the ATF program, said he didn't know how Mexican officials came up with the casualty figure. "It's probably just a good political thing to say, and how are you going to refute it?"

Nevertheless, the new information is bound to complicate U.S.-Mexico relations at a rocky time. Mexican President Felipe Calderon is already upset at U.S. Ambassador Carlos Pascual over a series of leaked diplomatic cables citing shortcomings in Mexico's 4-year-old war against drug cartels.

Mexican politicians have criticized the ATF program as a violation of Mexico's sovereignty and evidence of U.S. arrogance toward its southern neighbor.

Lawmakers from all of Mexico's main political parties have demanded to know whether Mexican authorities were aware of the program.

"This is a serious violation of international law," said lawmaker Carlos Ramirez Marin, a member of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party and president of the Chamber of Deputies. "What happens if next time they need to introduce trained assassins or nuclear weapons?"

The Mexican Senate wants the nation's ambassador to the U.S., Arturo Sarukhan, to return from Washington to discuss the matter.

The new claims came amid growing demands for an independent investigation in the U.S.

In Washington, Senate investigators are trying to determine whether the gun used in the attack that killed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata in February — purchased at a Texas gun store in October — was smuggled into Mexico by buyers who were under investigation by ATF agents.

U.S. Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has asked the ATF why the purchasers of the gun used in the attack on Zapata were not arrested in November, a month after they bought the weapon.

"After the delivery of the illegal weapons, the three men were stopped by local police. Why were these traffickers not thereafter arrested in November?" Grassley said in a letter to the agency, which asked whether the gun made its way into Mexico after this initial contact with law enforcement agents.

"Naturally, this raises questions about whether the ATF strategy of allowing [smugglers] to continue to operate in hopes of making bigger cases may have contributed to the shooting of ICE Agent Jaime Zapata."

Thomas Crowley, ATF spokesman in Dallas, said it was not known when the gun was transferred to Mexico.

But John Dodson, an ATF agent in Phoenix who worked on the Fast and Furious effort and became alarmed enough to alert Senate investigators, said in an interview that the number of guns sold to known traffickers under the eyes of the ATF was so large that it was "impossible" the agency didn't know the weapons were going to Mexico.

"The day I started, there were 240 guns they had let … out of Fast and Furious," he said. "Guns they were purchasing were showing up on both sides of the border already."

"I mean, … a guy comes in and purchases 10 AK-47s, and four of them he purchased last time have already shown up on the other side of the border? And you keep going?" Dodson said.

Dodson said the operation was based on a strategy change ordered by Washington in September that directed agents to go after not just low-level purchasers but high-level buyers in the cartels.

A copy of the strategy, obtained by The Times, specifies that the operation was to mainly involve sharing of intelligence across a wide variety of U.S. law enforcement agencies along with specially vetted units of Mexican law enforcement. But it envisioned the movement of weapons across the border.

"The controlled movement of firearms, ammunition, explosives, explosives devices, and/or components or non-functional 'props' of such items across the U.S.-Mexico border from the United States shall be coordinated with and approved in advance by Bureau headquarters and the MCO."

Dodson said the number of guns sold under the investigation grew dramatically — exceeding 1,500 by October — and none of the traffickers were being arrested.

"You keep hearing, 'It was a sting operation gone bad.' Or, 'We lost some guns.' That's not it. It was intentional and deliberate," Dodson said.

"We watched these people," he said. "We knew before they were going, we watched them get the money, go buy the guns, we watched them take them out of one vehicle and put them in another one in a parking lot, and we watched one guy go home and the other guy go south. And we couldn't do anything about it."

Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. said Thursday he was taking "very seriously" the concerns expressed by some ATF agents over the investigation and has asked the inspector general to "get to the bottom of it."

"I've also made clear to people in the department that letting guns walk … is not something that is acceptable," Holder said in response to questions from Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) at an appropriations subcommittee hearing. "Guns are different than drug cases, or cases where we're trying to follow where money goes."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-naw-mexico-guns-20110311,0,4003582,print.story

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Let police pursue criminals, not immigrants

A federal immigration enforcement program aimed at dangerous criminals needs to be retooled or abandoned.

March 11, 2011

California reached a milestone late last month when federal immigration officials quietly announced that all 58 counties in the state are now participating in Secure Communities, a controversial program created to track and deport dangerous criminals.

Unveiled in late 2008, Secure Communities is billed as a showpiece of immigration enforcement. Under the Immigration and Customs Enforcement program, state and local police must check the immigration status of people who have been arrested and booked into local jails by matching fingerprints against federal databases for criminal convictions and deportation orders.

But today, Secure Communities is mired in problems. About 60% of the 87,534 immigrants deported under the program had minor or no criminal convictions, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's statistics, even though the program was aimed at dangerous criminals.

Moreover, state and local law enforcement agencies are growing increasingly uneasy about participating in a program that they say thwarts their ability to work with communities with large immigrant populations. Police are concerned that taking on the role of enforcer makes it more difficult to build trust in immigrant communities that are already fearful of reporting crimes or providing crucial information. A report released last week by the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington-based research group, found that police chiefs across the nation worry that checking suspects' backgrounds against databases that include immigration warrants is blurring the lines between public safety and immigration enforcement.

Former Chief William J. Bratton raised those concerns in 2009 when he argued against the LAPD taking on a greater role in reporting immigrants to federal authorities. Criminals are the "biggest benefactors when immigrants fear police," he wrote.

The Obama administration is right to enforce immigration laws, and smart to focus on those who pose the greatest danger to communities. With an estimated 11 million people illegally living and working in the United States, immigration officials can't deport everyone, and would waste precious resources in the effort to do so.

But Secure Communities isn't succeeding at targeting violent criminals. Instead, it is increasingly diverting police from public safety for other purposes. The White House should heed the recommendations of police chiefs who are calling on federal immigration officials to stop trying to turn police into immigration agents.

The program isn't working. It should be shelved, or retooled to ensure that police can opt out and that dangerous criminals are the target.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-secure-20110311,0,1755875,print.story

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From the New York Times

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Domestic Terrorism Hearing Opens With Contrasting Views on Dangers

WASHINGTON — A Congressional hearing on Thursday addressing homegrown Islamic terrorism offered divergent portraits of Muslims in America: one as law-abiding people who are unfairly made targets, the other as a community ignoring radicalization among its own and failing to confront what one witness called “this cancer that's within.”

Attacked by critics as a revival of McCarthyism, and lauded by supporters as a courageous stand against political correctness, the hearing — four hours of sometimes emotional testimony — revealed a deep partisan split in lawmakers' approach to terror investigations and their views on the role of mosques in America.

Republicans drilled down with questions about whether Muslims cooperate with law enforcement, and singled out a Washington-based advocacy group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, casting it as an ally of terrorists. Representative Peter T. King , a Long Island Republican and the Homeland Security Committee chairman who convened the session, declared it a “discredited group,” an assertion the organization's executive director, Nihad Awad, dismissed as “political theater.”

Democrats sought to put the spotlight on the lone law enforcement witness, Sheriff Leroy D. Baca of Los Angeles, who testified that Muslims do cooperate, and they cited a Duke University study that found that 40 percent of foiled domestic terror plots had been thwarted with the help of Muslims.

“A Muslim is on the panel! A Muslim has testified!” thundered Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, the Texas Democrat, referring to two of the witnesses — a line that brought a chorus of supportive guffaws from those watching on television in an overflow hearing room. She went on, “And so I question, where are the uncooperative Muslims?”

The hearing room was tiny and crowded, and the drama restrained: at the slightest hint of audience reaction, Mr. King warned that outbursts would not be tolerated. But the hallways bustled with a sideshow of roaming television cameramen and onlookers, from women dressed in hijabs to a couple of retirees holding a sign that said “Respect all Religion — Live With Love.”

Representative Keith Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat who is Muslim, wept as he recounted the story of Mohammed Salman Hamdani, a 23-year-old volunteer medical technician who rushed to help when the World Trade Center was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001 — and died in the building's collapse. Mr. Ellison barely finished his testimony, breaking down as he described how, when Mr. Hamdani disappeared, his religion fueled suspicions that he was part of the plot — rumors put to rest by the discovery of his remains.

But two other witnesses — Melvin Bledsoe, a Memphis businessman, and Abdirizak Bihi of the Somali Education and Social Advocacy Center in Minneapolis — offered their own compelling narratives of how their relatives embraced Islamic extremism.

“Our children are in danger,” Mr. Bledsoe warned, as he told lawmakers of how his son Carlos had converted to Islam in college and traveled to Yemen, where he was “trained and programmed” to kill. After returning to the United States, he opened fire on a military recruiting center in Little Rock, Ark., killing one soldier and wounding another. Mr. Bihi's nephew was recruited to Somalia, where he died.

“It seems to me that Americans are sitting around doing nothing about radical extremists,” Mr. Bledsoe said, adding, “This is a big elephant in the room.”

For Mr. King, who convened the hearings after months of planning -- and amid intense criticism -- the session offered a public forum, as well as a chance to defend himself against religious leaders, civil right advocates and others who have been pressing him to broaden the scope of the effort. He has repeatedly said he would not, and on Thursday, he was defiant.

“I'm more convinced than ever that they were appropriate,” he told reporters afterward, adding that he hoped the session would help do away with the “mindless hysteria” of the news media and his detractors.

Among those detractors was Representative Loretta Sanchez, a Democrat from California, who went after the Republicans' star witness, Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, a Phoenix doctor who, as founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, has been deeply critical of fellow Muslims.

It was Dr. Jasser who used the cancer analogy; in his testimony, he complained that too often, Muslim leaders counsel Muslims against speaking to law enforcement officials without a lawyer.

“The right to have an attorney present when speaking to law enforcement is a specific principle of American civil liberty,” Ms. Sanchez said sharply, adding, “So by what legal principle do you assert that any minority in America should waive that American principle?”

Dr. Jasser, who described himself as a devout Muslim, sought to draw a distinction between spiritual Islam and what he called “political Islam” — the notion that a government or country should be run according to principles of Islamic law. He said there was an inherent contradiction between that notion and the American tenet of separation of church and state.

But some of his declarations — like his assertion that American Muslim organizations are “circling the wagons” — rankled fellow Muslims, who were also irritated that his nascent organization got the spotlight when better established Muslim groups were passed over.

“We've been working on this issue even prior to 9/11,” said Haris Tarin, director of the Washington office for the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Mr. Tarin said his group's leaders recently participated in a seminar for law enforcement agents on countering Islamic radicalization — a point Sheriff Baca brought up.

If Dr. Jasser was the Republicans' star, the sheriff was the Democrats'. He said Muslims often cooperated as individuals, “without the cover” of organizations. “The truth is that Muslims are just as independent, just as feisty, just as concerned about safety,” he said. “They certainly don't want their homes or their mosques blown up.”

Before the proceedings ended, a group of Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious leaders gathered in a room downstairs to denounce them as counterproductive for singling out Muslims. But at the same time, they said they were pleased with testimony that focused on how much Muslims do cooperate with law enforcement.

“We do believe there's an element targeting our youth and our communities,” said Imam Mohamed Hagmagid Ali, president of the Islamic Society of North America. “But we are saying Muslims are really engaged in this fight.”

Mr. King intends to hold additional sessions over the next year and a half, he said, on issues including radicalization in American prisons and the flow of foreign money into mosques.

As Thursday's session wound down, one attendee, Laurie Jagh, who works for a nonprofit group and lives in the Northern Virginia suburbs, home to a large Muslim population, said she was left with one overarching impression.

“I was struck,” she said, “by how divided we are as a country.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/us/politics/11king.html?_r=1&ref=us&pagewanted=print

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Idaho Rancher Revealed as Gangster From Boston

MARSING, Idaho — Enrico Ponzo was never a proper mobster, a “made man” in the vernacular of the underworld. He was a renegade, prosecutors say, part of a violent faction intent on ousting the bosses of the powerful Patriarca crime family in Boston in the early 1990s.

When a wide-ranging indictment came up against him and 14 others in 1997, Mr. Ponzo was charged with crimes that included attempted murder and extortion. But he was also listed as the target of a contract killing planned by one of the other defendants.

While most everyone else in the case went to prison, Mr. Ponzo was not arrested — he had been missing since 1994.

Jeffrey John Shaw, known as Jay, was never a natural rancher. The accent from back East and his inexperience with cattle gave him away quickly as another newcomer reinventing himself in the West. “He wore bib overalls and straw hats,” said Brodie Clapier, a neighbor and a longtime rancher. “People did wear bib overalls here — in the 1930s.”

But no one pried. After all, Mr. Shaw was quick to help move your furniture or fix your computer. He was trusted to manage the irrigation system people depended on for water, and he was responsible with the money they paid him to do it. In time, as he began raising two children and 12 cows on his 12 acres, prosecutors say Jay earned a stature no mob boss could ever confer on Enrico.

He became a remade man.

After tracking him down in a manner they declined to describe, and watching him for more than a week, federal marshals arrested Mr. Ponzo on Feb. 7 as he drove down the rural road where he has lived for the past decade. Soon after, Jay Shaw's friends were stunned to see him in court in Boise, his ever-present hat and goatee gone, admitting he was Mr. Ponzo, someone they had never heard of, someone living on the lam, living a lie, for nearly two decades.

Now he is being extradited to Massachusetts. “I don't know whether he really was a fugitive,” said Norman S. Zalkind, a Boston lawyer who represented Mr. Ponzo two decades ago. “If you look at the indictment, he was also one of the victims.”

He has called friends in Marsing to say he is sorry — and to tell them which pipes in the irrigation system need fixing. He asked them feed his dogs and his cows.

“I asked him, ‘It must be a weight off your chest that you don't have to hide this anymore,' ” said Kelly Verceles, a friend from Idaho who recently visited Mr. Ponzo while he was behind bars there. “He said, ‘Dude, I might be going to jail forever.' ”

Investigators have not said what finally led them to Mr. Ponzo, 42, but his new life had been fraying in the months before they found him. Cara Lyn Pace, his girlfriend since before he arrived in Marsing and the mother of his two children, left him last summer and later took the children, a boy, 7, and a girl, 6. The couple were locked in a custody dispute.

In court papers, Ms. Pace complained about his drinking and “aggression,” saying she was “fearful for my life.”

“Jeff has little respect for the rules of law,” Ms. Pace wrote.

It was Mr. Ponzo, acting as Mr. Shaw, who filed the custody suit. In perhaps his boldest act with his new identity, he demanded that the birth certificates of the children be amended “to reflect that Jeffrey John Shaw is the natural father of our children.”

Friends say only Ms. Pace's name is listed on the children's birth certificates. Mr. Ponzo was arrested before the case went to a hearing.

Ms. Pace, who is now living in Utah, did not respond to requests for comment. Did she turn him in? Did something happen during the custody fight that prompted law enforcement to take a closer look at him?

She has told friends that she did not report Mr. Ponzo, and that she will struggle explaining his past to their children.

Mr. Verceles, who sells construction equipment, said that he has made a point of not passing judgment on anyone involved, that he is determined to view Mr. Ponzo only as the person he knew in Marsing.

In recent weeks, Mr. Verceles has enjoyed talking on the phone with Mr. Ponzo's family from back East. He has sent family members photographs and even a video clip of Mr. Ponzo dancing along with a video game on New Year's Eve.

“They're so interested in his life,” he said. “They thought he was dead.”

Mr. Ponzo has told friends he has a teenage son with a former girlfriend from Boston, but no one would confirm knowing them. Mr. Ponzo's father was a postal service employee for 30 years and a longtime manager at Dom's, an Italian restaurant in the North End of Boston. Both of his parents have died. A sister who has been involved in Girl Scouts said in Idaho court via telephone that she would welcome her brother back. A cousin is active in Republican politics in New Jersey. No one would comment for this article.

“I really don't want my name out there,” one family member said.

The most high-profile crime Mr. Ponzo is accused of is the attempted murder of Francis Salemme, a k a Cadillac Frank, who eventually took charge of the fractured Patriarca crime family amid a power struggle. Mr. Salemme survived being shot by masked gunmen — prosecutors say Mr. Ponzo was one of them — outside an International House of Pancakes in Saugus, Mass., in 1989. He is now believed to be under federal witness protection.

Years later, prosecutors say, Mr. Ponzo became a target of another mobster after the mobster's son was fatally shot shortly after Mr. Ponzo and another man left him to change a flat tire alone.

Here in Marsing, investigators say they found 38 guns, $15,000 in cash and a 100-ounce bar of silver in Mr. Ponzo's modest house. They also found dozens of books about changing identities.

Mr. Verceles has since moved into the house.

“It's not for sale,” he said. “He's planning on coming back to Idaho. We sold his cows for him, but he told me to keep his fishing boat ready.

“He realizes that he wasn't the best citizen back then, and he knows he's got to do what he's got to do,” he added. “But when he comes back, he's going to be Enrico Ponzo the rancher, not Jay Shaw. He's kind of excited about that.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/us/11mobster.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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9 Fort Hood Officers Reprimanded

The Army is reprimanding nine officers for leadership failures in connection with the shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, and their failure to detect problems with the accused shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan.

The Army said in a statement that although no single event led directly to the shootings, certain officers failed to meet expected standards.

A Pentagon review last year found that Major Hasan's supervisors expressed concerns about his questionable behavior and poor judgment but that they continued to give him positive evaluations.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/us/11brfs-army.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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What Is the Terrorism Threat Now?

Introduction

Emotional testimony filled Thursday's Congressional hearing on what Representative Peter King describes as the radicalization of American Muslims.

Critics have attacked the hearing, the first in a series, as reminiscent of McCarthyism in stoking anti-Muslim fears. In the opening session, Mr. King, a New York Republican who is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, insisted that the Congressional investigation must go forward as "the logical response to the repeated and urgent warnings" from the Obama administration about domestic terrorism.

Are law enforcement agencies having a hard time identifying homegrown terrorist threats? What have we learned in the past 10 years about tracking such groups?

Read the Discussion » http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/03/10/what-is-the-terrorism-threat-now?ref=opinion

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From Google News

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Some in Texas town blaming young girl in assault

Many who attended the meeting said they supported the group of men and boys who have been charged in the case. Supporters didn't claim that the men and boys did not have sex with the young girl; instead they blamed the girl for the way she dressed or claimed she must have lied about her age — accusations that have drawn strong responses from those who note an 11-year-old cannot consent to sex and that it doesn't matter how she was dressed.

Other people in this small town about 40 miles northeast of Houston said earlier this week they were outraged by the attacks. The age of consent in Texas is 17 and ignorance of a girl's age is not a legal defense.

"She's 11 years old. It shouldn't have happened. That's a child," Oscar Carter, 56, who is related to an uncle of one 16-year-old charged in the case, said in an interview earlier in the week. "Somebody should have said what we are doing is wrong."

Police say the girl was sexually assaulted during several attacks last year. Authorities have arrested 18 people, including two of Cleveland's star high school athletes and adults with criminal records. They face assault and abuse charges.

Authorities began investigating in December after a friend of the girl told a teacher he had seen a lurid cell phone video that showed the girl being raped.

Police investigators determined it was recorded inside an abandoned mobile home on the city's northern outskirts. The girl told investigators she was raped on Nov. 28, first at a house near the mobile home and then at the trailer.

Indictments in the case allege that before the Nov. 28 attack, the girl also was assaulted on Sept. 15 and Oct. 25. Each of those times, at least two individuals were involved.

Thursday's meeting was led by Quanell X, an activist prominent in Houston's black community. He told the audience of more than 130 people who had packed a small community center that the gathering's goal was not to criticize the girl but to question the investigation by police, although he did question why she didn't report the attack to authorities herself.

"I did not come here this evening to jump on an 11-year-old girl," he said.

The activist, who was invited to speak by a local pastor, said he was concerned that only young black men had been arrested. He said he believed some of those arrested were guilty but that others were not. He told those in attendance that if they were questioned by police about the case that they should only talk to police with a lawyer present.

During the meeting, Quanell X also asked people to donate money to the defense funds for two of those arrested in the case.

After the meeting, many in attendance told reporters that the girl had consented to the sex.

"She lied about her age. Them boys didn't rape her. She wanted this to happen. I'm not taking nobody's side, but if she hadn't put herself in that predicament, this would have never happened," said Angie Woods, who lives in Houston but grew up in Cleveland.

The AP was unable to locate the family this week, but her mother has told The Houston Chronicle that Child Protective Services placed the girl in a foster home with restricted access to her family.

Suspected Pirates Indicted in Yacht Killings

Fourteen men accused of seizing a yacht and killing its American crew last month in the Arabian Sea were indicted Thursday by a grand jury in Norfolk, Va., on piracy and kidnapping charges. If convicted of piracy, they face a mandatory life sentence.

The men—13 Somalis and one Yemeni—were captured by U.S. Navy Seals who stormed the 58-foot Quest four days after it was hijacked while sailing from India to Oman. Navy officers negotiated for the release of the American sailors. The four were killed before the assault force could storm the ship.

The men were indicted on one count of piracy, one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and one count of the use of a firearm during a crime of violence. They weren't charged with murder, but the indictment stated that "at least three of the defendants on board the Quest intentionally shot and killed" the U.S. citizens.

U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride said the investigation would continue and that "additional future charges are possible." He noted that the other charges include hefty sentences: up to life in prison for kidnapping and a minimum of 30 years for the weapons charges.

The American sailors—Scott and Jean Adam, Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle—were completing an around-the-world voyage, and just days before the attack had separated from a group of fellow sailors to chart their own course toward Oman. The Adams owned the yacht.

The alleged pirates appeared in court Thursday afternoon to hear the charges. A detention hearing will be held in about one week, and a trial could begin this summer. The men are being held in Norfolk pending the detention hearing.

Pirates operating out of Somalia are threatening an ever-wider swath of the Indian Ocean and causing increasing concern, with the Quest case marking a worrisome eruption of murderous violence in Somali piracy. Until now, pirates have abstained from killing hostages who can bring multimillion-dollar ransoms.

Last week, pirates unsuccessfully attacked a chemical tanker and a container ship, according to the bureau. In addition, the Maersk Alabama—the cargo ship famously attacked in April 2009, whose American captain was taken hostage and later rescued from a lifeboat by Navy Seal snipers—was attacked this week for the third time in two years. It was approached by a suspicious skiff, chased away with warning shots.

Current and former naval officers note that the international task forces operating in the Indian Ocean have to cover an area three times the size of the Gulf of Mexico with about 30 ships.

And battling pirates in the courtroom is tough for most attacks in the Indian Ocean. Few countries in the region are willing and able to prosecute pirates. Western countries whose warships patrol the area are loath to prosecute without an abundance of evidence, often hard to gather when pirates disguise themselves as fishermen. Numerous European and American warships have caught and released pirates for lack of evidence in recent years.

"It's the problem of the dog catching the car: What do you do when you catch the pirates?" said Terrence McKnight, a retired U.S. admiral who set up the first international anti-piracy task force in the Indian Ocean in 2007. Mr. McKnight proposes increasing aerial surveillance and naval patrols closer to the Somali region of Puntland, from which most pirate skiffs depart.

"We're just waiting and reacting, instead of being proactive," he said.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704823004576192642192636916.html

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Texas farmers say drug war making job dangerous

LA JOYA, Texas—As Texas farmhands prepared this winter to burn stalks of sugarcane for harvest along the Rio Grande, four masked men on ATVs suddenly surrounded the crew members and ordered them to leave.

Farmer Dale Murden has little doubt they were Mexican drug traffickers.

"They hide stuff in there," Murden said of the dense sugarcane crops, some as high as 14 feet. "It was very intimidating for my guys. You got men dressed in black, looking like thugs and telling them to get back."

Texas farmers and ranchers say confrontations like these are quietly adding up. This month the Texas Department of Agriculture, going beyond its usual purview that includes school lunches and regulating gas pumps, launched a website publicizing what it calls a worsening situation "threatening the lives of our fellow citizens and jeopardizing our nation's food supply."

However, some Texas Democratic lawmakers say the danger is being wildly overstated, and U.S. Border Patrol officials said they are not aware of landowners in the Rio Grande Valley facing increasing threats.

The launch last week of ProtectYourTexasBorder.com also left the state somewhat embarrassed after the site's message board quickly filled with postings calling for vigilante justice and the killing of illegal immigrants. The postings have since been removed.

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples, a Republican in the job once held by Gov. Rick Perry, condemned those postings

"The website demonstrates in undeniable form that greater federal government presence is needed. We need to keep this as a lookout post"," Staples said.

But Texas state Sen. Jose Rodriguez said the site is misleading, lacking any data that puts the incidents or danger in context.

"For the site to convey the impression that we are under a serious threat and that there's all this concern, including to the food supply, it's just total exaggeration of reality," Rodriguez said. "It's unacceptable."

Still, there is little doubt of increased unease on Texas border farms.

Most brazen among the reported confrontations occurred earlier this year on the sugarcane field near Rio Grande City. In February, a Hidalgo County employee was similarly threatened by three men along the border river to stop clearing brush near a canal, said Troy Allen, general manager of the Delta Lake Irrigation District.

Allen said another of his workers has taken to locking himself inside the water pump houses along the Rio Grande. If someone knocks, Allen said, he doesn't answer.

"Five years ago, if someone wanted a drink of water we'd give it to them," Allen said of illegal immigrants passing through. "We have a situation that's getting pretty serious in my opinion."

Last weekend, on a ranch adjacent to land owned by country music star George Strait, authorities said a ranch foreman was shot at by men inside a pickup truck who were found trespassing. The foreman returned fire, and no one was hurt.

Staples pointed out the bullet holes as proof of the escalating threat along the border. Webb County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Maru De La Paz, however, said there was no evidence tying the shooting to suspected drug traffickers.

Several growers and ranchers say their jobs started becoming more dangerous about two years ago.

An Arizona rancher was gunned down in 2009 while checking water lines on his property, in what authorities suspect was a killing carried out by a scout for drug smugglers. No arrests have been made. Apart from that incident, Arizona agricultural leaders say they've heard of no direct threats toward their farmers and ranchers.

In Texas, the run-ins with traffickers are largely anecdotal. Border Patrol spokesman Mark Qualia said any confrontations would be investigated by local law enforcement, but added that landowners "haven't been expressing those feelings to us."

Staples said farmers are scared to speak out. Last week, a 2 1/2-hour meeting between Staples and about 20 farmers was closed to reporters over concern farmers wouldn't otherwise attend.

"I told (farmers) we have to tell this story so our policymakers understand the critical nature of what's being said," Staples said. "It is a process that we have to continue to tell it until we get the help we need."

The Rio Grande Valley is largely farmland, making it an almost necessary route for drug smugglers. The border fence built in the last few years doesn't run through all the farms, and even farmers with the fence worry about their safety while cultivating their crops between the fence and rivers.

Texas farmers for decades have lived—begrudgingly but unafraid—with illegal immigrants cutting through their land. But some farms say they have become more intrusive in recent years, presenting a greater threat.

One farmer, Joe Aguilar, told state officials he quit the business because of the escalating risk.

"After so many years it's upsetting, but either you move on, or it's dangerous for your family," Aguilar says in a video posted on the state's new website.

But in a 2009 interview with a local TV news station about hard times for farmers, Aguilar doesn't mention danger as why he quit. He told The Associated Press this month that financial factors also played a role in his decision to sell his land.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_17590888?nclick_check=1

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From the Department of Homeland Security

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Secretary Napolitano and Canada Public Safety Minister Vic Toews Announce Release of Joint Border Threat and Risk Assessment

March 10, 2011

Washington, D.C. – Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Canada's Public Safety Minister Vic Toews today announced the public release of the Joint Border Threat and Risk Assessment, highlighting the United States' and Canada's commitment to identifying and mitigating potential threats of terrorism and transnational organized crime along the shared border. This fulfills their July 2010 pledge of public release of this assessment.

The Joint Border Threat and Risk Assessment is a part of a shared vision for border security that Secretary Napolitano and Minister Toews outlined during meetings held throughout 2010, and reflects their mutual commitment to working together to safeguard both nations' vital assets, networks, infrastructure and citizens.

"The United States and Canada have a long history of productive collaboration," said Secretary Napolitano. "The Joint Border Threat and Risk Assessment reflects our ongoing commitment to enhancing security along our shared border while facilitating legitimate travel and trade that is critical to the economies of both countries."

The Assessment addresses a range of security issues, including terrorism, drug trafficking and illegal immigration. It also reflects the commitment to work together to protect our borders and shared critical infrastructure from terrorism and transnational crime articulated by President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in February. Their historic declaration – "Beyond the Border: A Shared Vision for Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness" – sets forth how the United States and Canada will manage our shared homeland and economic security.

"The Government of Canada is committed to a safe, secure and efficient border. This is vital to Canada's economy and to the safety and security of all Canadians," said Minister Toews. "Canada and the U.S. are working closely to ensure that our shared border remains open to the legitimate movement of people and goods, and closed to those who would do either country harm."

A public version of the Joint Border Threat and Risk Assessment can be found here. For more information, please visit www.publicsafety.gc.ca or www.dhs.gov.

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1299795413607.shtm

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From ICE

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ICE, CBP seize 11,000 pounds of marijuana in Nogales

Joint effort prevents $6.6 million in narcotics from reaching streets

NOGALES, Ariz. - U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) Office of Field Operations interdicted a large drug smuggling attempt on Monday - seizing more than 11,000 pounds of marijuana in Nogales, Ariz.

During the course of an ongoing investigation, HSI agents in Nogales became aware of two trailers laden with marijuana that smugglers were attempting to move through the Mariposa Port of Entry. Agents identified one of the suspect vehicles near Industrial Park Drive, and then alerted CBP officers at the port of entry to be on the lookout for a second trailer. Agents followed the first vehicle to Bell Road, where the driver pulled over to unhook the trailer. Agents approached the driver and obtained consent to search the vehicle. A search of the trailer revealed a false compartment. A CBP canine unit responded to assist and positively alerted to the trailer.

At the port of entry, CBP officers identified the second trailer and referred it for further inspection. An X-ray revealed a false compartment in the front of the trailer and CBP K-9 positively alerted to the trailer. Further inspection revealed the compartment matched the one found in the first trailer.

"This team effort is a credit to the strong partnerships shared by DHS agencies like ICE and CBP in Arizona," said Matt Allen, special agent in charge of ICE HSI in Arizona.

The first trailer contained a total of 260 bales of marijuana weighing 6,013 pounds. The second trailer seized at the port of entry contained a total of 244 bales of marijuana weighing 5,686 pounds. Combined, the trailers contained 11,699 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of $6.6 million.

"Significant interceptions of this magnitude involving DHS inter-agency cooperation should send a strong message to criminal organizations: we will not tolerate the exploitation of our borders," said David Higgerson, CBP Director of Field Operations in Arizona.

Both tractor trucks and semi-trailers were seized. The investigation is ongoing.

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1103/110309nogales.htm

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