...[size=4][b]Get control of the friggin borders, for crying out loud![/b][/size=4]

Here's the story from worldnetdaily.com:

[size=4]'Arab terrorists'
crossing border[/size=4]
[i]Middle Eastern illegals find easy entrance into U.S. from Mexico[/i]

COCHISE COUNTY, Ariz. -- The U.S.-Mexican border here is the most heavily used corridor for illegal alien traffic on America's southern boundary. With its difficult topography that is folded, creased and convoluted, it is a land that yields well to smuggling. The Huachuca, Chiricahua, Dragoon and Whetstone Mountains are riddled with hundreds of deep canyons, caves and arroyos that offer superb concealment for the hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens that annually cross here.

The numbers of unauthorized immigrants smuggled across this porous border dumbfound the imagination. To date, the U.S. Border Patrol has apprehended 158,782 illegals in 2001. By the Border Patrol's own admission, it catches one alien in five, and admits that around 800,000 have slipped across the U.S. line this year. The local ranchers, who have been watching the border for several generations, strongly disagree. They contend the agency only nets one in 10, and estimate that in 2001 over 1.5 million unlawful immigrants have crossed into America in what the Border Patrol calls the Tucson Sector.

Many border ranch-owners are validly apprehensive of speaking about their desperate situations because of likely retribution by narco-militarists (drug runners) and coyotes (smugglers of humans). Unsolved murders and arsons are alarmingly ordinary in Cochise County, so pure fear keeps locals from speaking on the record.
*    *    *
Another agent, of supervisory rank, stated, "The smuggling traffic of Mexicans has really slowed. We are experiencing a tremendous increase in OTMs" – border lingo for "other than Mexicans." When queried about the ethnic make up of the OTMs, he answered, "Central and South Americans, Orientals and Middle-Easterners." Middle-Easterners? "Yeah, it varies, but about one in every 10 that we catch, is from a country like Yemen or Egypt."

Border Patrol spokesperson Rene Noriega stated that the number of other-than-Mexican detentions has grown by 42 percent. Most of the non-Mexican migrants are from El Salvador and other parts of Central America, she said, but added that agents have picked up people from all over the world, including the former Soviet Union, Asia and the Middle East.
*    *    *
Arabs have been reported crossing the Arizona border for an unknown period. Border rancher George Morgan encounters thousands of illegals crossing his ranch on a well-used trail. He relates a holiday event: "It was Thanksgiving 1998, and I stepped outside my house and there were over a hundred 'crossers' in my yard. Damnedest bunch of illegals I ever saw. All of them were wearing black pants, white shirts and string ties. Maybe they were hoping to blend in," he chuckled. "They took off, I called the Border Patrol, and a while later, an agent, Dan Green, let me know that they had caught them. He said that they were all Iranians."

See remainder of story at: [url]
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=24987[/url]

If Sept 11 did not rattle us enough to seriously protect our borders, what will it take?

Eric The(Think'GreatWall'OfMilitaryBases)Hun[>]:)]

More from article -

On Oct. 12, a Mexican national, associated with the hotel in Agua Prieta, abandoned it and moved to Arizona -- to hide out. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he told WND: "There were 13 Arabs there when I left. They were paying the coyotes 30 to 50,000 bucks, apiece, to transport them safely into the U.S. [b]I became so frightened I left. They are genuinely bad hombres[/b]." Since Carrillo had reported only nine Arabs at the hotel, it is unclear if the missing five Yemenis made it into the U.S. as reported.

Like most ranching families on the Arizona-Mexico border, the Winklers live behind protective bars. "We are having steel gates like this made for all our doors." says Doris Winkler as she peers through an armored entrance. "We never know what kinda people will try to bust in our home." Photo provided by the Paragon Foundation.  

Potential terrorists, stealing across the border, had been predicted well in advance of the World Trade Center disaster. In a May 1, 2000, Report to Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, the General Accounting Office reported, "[b]Alien smuggling is a significant and growing problem. Some are smuggled as part of a criminal or terrorist enterprise that can pose a serious threat to U.S. national security[/b]."

Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., in an Oct. 9 speech to the House of Representatives, stated, "[b]It's almost incredible to recognize, as part of the overall strategy this government is going to employ to deal with the issue of terrorism, that we would not concentrate heavily on securing our borders and try to do everything humanly possible to stop people, who have evil intent, from coming into the United States[/b]."

Terrorists are well aware that the 4,000-mile border between the U.S. and Mexico is easy to cross, with its vast unmonitored stretches. Their crossing directly into Arizona is of special concern. Arizona appears to have been the home of a "sleeper cell" of Osama bin Laden's worldwide terrorist organization, with a select group of operatives living quietly in bland apartment complexes and obtaining flight training, in preparation for the Sept. 11 attack. The organization's known history in the state goes back nine years. Terror experts say the activities of at least three part-time Arizona residents fit the pattern of the al-Qaida terrorist network.

Sealing the border is a daunting task. Perhaps the most valuable asset that the Border Patrol has is the aid of rural Cochise County citizens. Many have attempted to help, in accordance with Arizona law. Through that legal process, landowners may execute a citizen's arrest for individuals or groups trespassing on their property. However, even that has been nullified. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, backed by the American and Mexican media, have characterized citizens who have legally detained aliens as "racist xenophobic vigilantes."

Rural citizens here have met with savage recriminations for exerting their legal rights. Immigration advocacy groups howl in protest, as does the Mexican government. Their lawyers have demanded that the ranchers be prosecuted for false arrest, kidnapping, intimidation, criminal assault and violation of civil rights – anything lawyers can come up with to advance their clients' interests. [b]Illegal immigrants have now sued some Cochise County citizens in American courts[/b].

Eric The()Hun[>]:)]

Ben Anderson, a retired U.S. Army colonel who lives in Sierra Vista, Ariz., has made a detailed study of the border danger since the flood of illegals began through Cochise County in 1997.

"There is only one way to handle this," the colonel says firmly. "In a world now filled with biowarfare agents, backpack nuclear devices and chemical weapons like Sarin gas, we must militarize the border. There is no other way to stop the flow."

[i]Reporter's personal note: "I do not see how the folks living along this border keep going. I am a former U.S. Marine sergeant, and yet the presence of so much apparent violence spooked me. In researching this story, I went backcountry on quad-runners with a goodly couple, Larry and Toni Vance. The first thing they asked me was if I brought a sidearm. When I said, 'no,' they promptly gave me a wheel-gun to strap on. To tell you the truth, that lump of metal was comforting. It's not wise to travel unarmed in a war zone."[/i]

Eric The(Hush!Nobody'sListeningAnymore!)Hun[>]:)]

"It's not wise to travel unarmed in a war zone."

Golly Gee, isn't that what we have been saying all along here?

[img]http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/smilie/director.gif[/img]

But they're just looking for prosperity. It's not fair. Aren't we all the descendants of immigrants? Without illegal aliens...pardon me, I mean "undocumented workers"...a head of lettuce would cost $5. We should be more sensitive to the plight of these hardworking people.

We could seal the border, but our politicians don't have the sack to withstand the outcry from the Aztlan and ACLU bitches. Face it, we're just not serious about "Homeland Defense," no matter what anyone tells you.

If we're going to have an AR15.com Convention, I say we have it in either Douglas or Tucson, Arizona!

It would make for some interesting 'day trips' if you know what I mean!

Eric The(AndIKnowYouDo)Hun[>]:)]

RE: $5 heads of lettuce, and from another topic: if we don't bail out airlines it'll be the 'great depression II':

I call bullshit, either that or I call "don't care".  It's called a FREE MARKET, or at least it's supposed to be.

We have to do what we have to do.  The market will eventually shake things out, and it will be better in the long run.

How much do you want to bet the bigger airlines have stronger lobbyist, and will get more than their share of the so-called bail out?  Airlines like Southwest, who are fundamentally strong companies will not get as much... so they are less deserving because they know how to handle business?

Sounds a bit like "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need" to me.

Yes, I am aware a bad economy will impact me and my family, and I don't care, because I am intelligent, hard working, etc, and know we will land on our feet.

The very first mistake made by George W. was to offer to 'bail out' the airlines.

Rush Limbaugh had an e-mail suggestion from a listener that made so much more sense!

Let the US Government buy $5Billion in advance airline tickets from each airline, to be used in the future by government employees as usual.

The airlines gets the cash NOW, the government gets the benefits later!

I mean that's what airlines are in business for, right? To sell tickets! Well consider $5 Billion already sold!

Eric The(CorporateWelfareIsJustThat-Welfare!)Hun[>]:)]

Lets just send the illegals home on the planes.