Well said.
Posted on 06/06/2002 2:38:06 AM PDT by kattracks
ore than 700 known or suspected terrorists have applied for visas to get into the United States during the last five months and been turned away, officials say.
They were stopped after being red-flagged as terror suspects by the Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force's expanded database on people believed to have terrorist ties, said director Steven McCraw.
"We've identified people who tried to get in applying for visas that were known or suspected terrorists," McCraw said.
The new database has fingered 720 visa applicants since January, he said.
"No one is issued a visa who is not cleared through the tracking system," said Edward Dickens of the State Department consular office that approves visas.
The rejections were revealed as the Justice Department proposed new anti-terrorism visa regulations yesterday that will require tens of thousands of visitors to be fingerprinted and photographed at the border. Officials said the new measures would mostly affect those from Muslim and Middle Eastern countries.
The new rules will apply to people who stay more than a month.
But the terrorist task force checks have already located 23 known or suspected terrorists who may be in the U.S., McCraw said.
All of those names were turned over to the FBI for monitoring. Federal officials have also deported two individuals whose names showed up on their terrorist suspect list in April and May, McCraw said.
'Watch List'
Before the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, a so-called "Watch List" of terrorists — culled mostly from CIA and FBI sources — at times proved ineffective.
Two of the 19 hijackers of Flight 77 were put on the list, but only after they were already in the country. And in 1991, Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman was on the list but still managed to slip past officials and become involved in a 1993 plot to blow up New York landmarks. He was convicted and is serving a life sentence.
The new Terrorist Watch List includes information from the FBI and CIA, but also from the Defense Department and cooperating foreign governments.
The database also refers to commercial data, which include credit card and phone information, to locate suspected terrorists already in the U.S.
In one case in the last five months, the task force identified a foreign national in the U.S. who "has links to Al Qaeda," McCraw said.
Authorities know where he is, though they won't say where. Sources say none of the 23 terror suspects are in the New York City area.
"It may be some of these people are in fact not terrorists. It also may be we got a name from a foreign government, and this person is more of an insurgent than a terrorist," McCraw said. "But we do make a point to tie it to the State Department's list of known terrorist organizations."
Maybe I'm reading this the wrong way, or don't understand the process, but it only takes a day to strap a bomb to your body and walk into Grand Central Station.
MONITORING??? How about DEPORTING?? Am I the only one who thinks this is crazy? WHY ARE WE STILL ISSUING VISAS? What good will it do to photograph, finger print, etc. as they come into the country - they just disappear - they can't keep track of them. These are different times - our country has been attacked and will probably be attacked again. Different times calls for different methods of operating. What is so wrong with issuing NO VISAS for one year until we clean out as many illegals as possible? And, tell the PC crowd to go to H*LL. We're talking about the survival of America here.
If we "hurt" the feelings of some - too bad. If Arabs don't like being profiled - too bad. If the "Arab-Americans" feel they are being picked on - too bad. Who attacked our country - people from Finland, Denmark, etc., etc. - NO! If the "Arab-Americans" don't like being profiled then why don't they behave like AMERICANS first. Rout out those in your communities who you KNOW are here to harm this country. Start acting like citizens of THIS country - then we'll listen to you.
There is an understatement if I ever saw one.
We need a list of possible/potential terrorists that are collecting an American paycheck.
Therein lays the problem.
Here comes another lawsuit for not providing water, food, shelter, and limousine service to these law breakers.
Well said.
DEPORT NOW, ASK QUESTIONS LATER!! NO MORE VISAS!!
On this subject of ungrateful Arabs in America - I've had enough of James Zogby and his whining. If anyone wants to let him know it's time to shut his mouth, here's an email address: jzogby@aaiusa.org
A point of consideration in the use of words...
MSANEWS FOCUS: Trial of the 'Sheik'
National Public Radio (NPR)
SHOW: Morning Edition (NPR 6:00 am ET) January 9, 1995
SECTION: News; Domestic
HEADLINE: Islamic Fundamentalists to be Charged With Sedition
GUESTS: LYNN STEWART, Attorney for Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman; JUDITH MILLER, Writing a Book on Islamic Fundamentalism in America; GERALD LEFCOURT, Vice President, National Associate of Defense Attorneys
By MARIA HINOJOSA
Snip...In any case, Mr. Abdel Rahman tried to leave the country on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. Egyptian journalists reported that he was detained at passport control at the Cairo International Airport until after the plane to Saudi Arabia had left. Barred from leaving the airport, he went to the Sudan. There, even though he was on a list of suspected terrorists barred from entry to the United States, he was given a visa at the United States Embassy and, after a trip to Pakistan, he arrived in New York in July 1990.
In the United States, he quickly attracted a following at storefront mosques in Brooklyn an d Jersey City, and he traveled to other American cities and to Canada making speeches and calling for Islam to prevail over its enemies.
Prosecutors, tracing Mr. Abdel Rahman's movements and speeches since his arrival in the United States, argue that, from the beginning, he was the intellectual leader of a "Jihad Organization" dedicated to "punishing the United States for its perceived status as leader of the 'infidel' order to be toppled, and for its support of Israel and Egypt."
So if no one knew he was in the States how could the "prosecutors" trace him "since his arrival" in New York in July 1990?
Why not the terrorists who want to stay just a few days?
Bin Laden email to terrorists- enter the US less than one month before the operation.
They are backtracking already. It doesn't take much to make the Bush domestic crew blink. Mueller, Ziglar and the rest really aren't up to the task at hand.
Why havent more customs agents and border patrol gaurds been stationed to gaurd against someone smuggling missles and bomb components for a fraction of the cost of what it will take to profile and spy on American citizens.
Why did mohammed atta received his passport by the INS and we've still yet to hear of any major INS reviews by any Senate subcommitee.
Yeah. This is a step in the right direction.
or maybe just appearing to do something, while doing very little
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