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  • From: "Rick Williams" <mrfarm AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] OT Profiling terrorists
  • Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2003 12:07:31 -0600

Lucy Goodman wrote:
> I know this sounds paranoid but we live in paranoid times and this sort
> of thing is already happening to all men of middle east origins in this
> country-they must register and many are held for days and weeks with
> absolutely no reason by the US gov't other than some vague suspicion
> that ALL men who are dark skinned and Muslim are terrorists.

My understanding is that this is not citizens but primarily aliens who come
to the U.S. We have no choice to treat all potential terrorists as just
that. Their physical appearance helps a great deal in narrowing the
potential candidates. At this time, with few exceptions, most al-Qaida
terrorists are going to be Muslims. Just a fact of life.

> And since
> most FBI agents probably have never set foot on a farm or know any
> farmers most would not understand why there should be explosives or the
> materials (anhydrous ammonia, etc.,) to make them on a farm and that
> would make a lot farmers suspect and could also lead to some
> false arrests.

Although some FBI agents may have grown up on farms and may know about the
materials that are used for certain kinds of fertilization, there is NO
question whatsoever that they are fully trained in understanding the ammonia
products, the potassiums, etc. This is rather basic training for anyone
dealing with explosives or terrorism, and they probably have the most
training of any group on the subject.

One thing about police work ... you will find some excellent and rigorous
training programs. When I was a Security Policeman in the USAF, I had a
several day "short course" to be an acting U.S. customs agent due to the
potential need to land international flights in an emergency diversion at
military bases. (N.B. ... There were a rash of hijackings that some of you
may recall in the late 60's and early 70's.) I found the training by U.S.
Customs Agents to be surprisingly complete and detailed and we were not only
trained to find contraband, but also given an overview of how and why they
were produced and the techniques of concealment at each step of the process.
This was especially targeted toward heroin.

Believe me, the FBI would have several magnitude better training for any
police specialty.

Sincerely,

Rick Williams






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