U.S. military beefing up its presence on borders
The Brownsville Herald

August 30, EL PASO — There’s a growing sense of urgency among those who police America’s long, porous borders that tighter control is needed to prevent terrorists from slipping into the flood of illegal immigrants entering the United States.

The Sept. 11 Commission found that the nation’s borders are largely unprotected and recommended that border security become an integral part of national security policy. Now that airline security has been improved, terror suspects increasingly are being detected trying to enter the country on ships or overland.

A military unit called Joint Task Force-6 is greatly expanding its role in supporting the hunt for terrorists trying to slip across the Mexican and Canadian borders.

A modern control center at its headquarters at Fort Bliss in El Paso, which starts operations next month, will gather feeds from U.S. intelligence agencies. And the commander of JTF-6 gets military Reserve units from all over the country to volunteer for missions along the southern border. He tells them there’s no better place in America to get the kind of training that will prepare a unit for deployment to Afghanistan or Iraq.

Units come here for two weeks at a time, in lieu of ordinary summer training back home. This month, Army Reserve engineers from New York were out in the 115-degree heat building roads on the border at Nogales, Ariz. Marine Reservists flying Super Cobra helicopter gunships with forward-looking infrared radar were helping the Border Patrol by scouring the border at night looking for smugglers and illegal immigrants.

Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, the government has directed more resources at tightening border security. Still, the commander of JTF-6, Brig. Gen. John “Jay” Yingling, said his nightmare is that al-Qaida terrorists will slip in with illegal immigrants and attack the United States again.

Bush suggests war on terrorism cannot be won
MSNBC

President Bush ignited a Democratic inferno of criticism on Monday by suggesting the war on terrorism could not be won, forcing his aides to scramble to defend his remarks just as he had hoped to bask in convention accolades.

Bush sought to emphasize the economy but his comments on terrorism dominated national attention.

In an interview with Matt Lauer on NBC’s “Today” show, Bush vowed to stay the course in the war on terrorism, saying perseverance in the battle would make the world safer for future generations. But he suggested an all-out victory against terrorism might not be possible.

Asked, “Can we win?” Bush said, “I don’t think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that the — those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world.”

"I have a two-pronged strategy," he said. "On the one hand is to find them before they hurt us. ... The long-term strategy is to spread freedom and liberty."

He added later, “You cannot show weakness in this world today because the enemy will exploit that weakness. It will embolden them and make the world a more dangerous place.”

Russia Plane Suspects: Roomies
CBS News

(AP) They lived in the same apartment in Chechnya, worked in the same market and may have died within moments of each other on separate airliners that crashed in Russia last week.

New details emerged Monday about the two Chechen women who are the focus of suspicion that the planes were blown up by terrorists.

Russian investigators continued piecing together information about the Tuesday crashes that killed a total of 90 people. Gen. Andrei Fetisov, chief of the scientific department at the Federal Security Service, said investigators are certain there were explosions on both planes and reiterated that traces of the high explosive hexogen were found in the wreckage.

How the explosive may have been brought on board the planes that took off from Moscow is still unclear, and investigators were scraping for clues about Amanta Nagayeva and S. Dzhebirkhanova, two Chechen women whose names were listed on tickets for the flights.

The crashes happened just five days before presidential elections in Chechnya, where separatist rebels have been fighting Russian forces for five years. Officials had warned that insurgents and their supporters could commit terrorist acts to try to undermine the vote.

Nagayeva, 30, and Dzhebirkhanova, 37, aroused accident investigators' suspicions because they purchased tickets at the last minute — and because they were the only victims about whom no relatives inquired after news of the crashes.

Coast Guard Resumes Search For Men Seen Floating On River
Yahoo News

The Coast Guard on Thursday resumed the search for two people seen floating in the Mississippi River.

A tugboat worker reported Wednesday at 11:15 a.m. that he saw four people using plastic milk jugs as flotation devices in the river near Kenner.

The Coast Guard found two of the men later that day after a ground and air search.

Michael Moore draws boos at Republican convention
San Francisco Chronical

Already a box office sensation, filmmaker Michael Moore got another loud reception Monday at the Republican convention. This time, it was boos.

When Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told the delegates about "a disingenuous film maker who would have us believe that Saddam's Iraq was an oasis of peace," they knew he was referring to the maker of "Fahrenheit 9-11." The film, which savages Bush's Iraq policy, has set a box office record for documentaries, grossing $115 million so far.

McCain's comments prompted prolonged booing and chants of "Four more years." Many of the delegates faced Moore, who was seated in the press seats at Madison Square Garden because he is writing a column this week for USA Today.

Moore seemed to relish the attention, thrusting his arms over his head, laughing and saying, "Two more months."

Asked about McCain's remarks, Moore said, "I can't believe they're dumb enough to bring up the film and help its box office."

Toy Apparently Shows Bin Laden Between Two Towers
Local6.Com

The head of a Miami, Fla. wholesaler says his Lisy Corp. is recalling 14,000 bags of candy, because they contain a toy that some believe is a plane flying into New York City's World Trade Center towers.

Pedron, the national sales manager for Lisy, explained to reporters over the weekend that his company meant no harm and didn't notice the problem with the plastic figurines until Orlando, Fla. grandmother, Anna Rodriguez complained.

The Associated Press is reporting that the authentic Mexican candy bags were sent to Lisy's distributors, to be sold in neighborhood Hispanic and Mexican grocers.

Lisy troubles may not be over with the current recall.

Another a toy looks remarkably like Osama bin Laden standing between two buildings.

See Also : Airplane and Towers Toy Recalled

New York Police Arrest 4 in March Against Convention
Bloomberg News

Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) -- New York police arrested at least four people in brief clashes late today with demonstrators who marched outside the Republican National Convention to present a mock arrest warrant accusing President George W. Bush of ``crimes against humanity.''

At least one protester was taken into custody as a march of several thousand people organized by the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign approached Madison Square Garden, Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne said. Demonstrators knocked a police officer off a motor scooter and ``kicked and pummeled'' him, Browne said. The officer, not immediately identified, was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital with unspecified injuries.

Cheri Honkala, national organizer for the group, said it had abandoned plans to march to the doors of the Garden -- a tactic that she said in an interview last week would likely have provoked mass arrests. ``We were able to talk about our issues,'' she said. ``There was no need to go to jail.''