Friday, January 28, 2011

Yep, a Martyr Book Was Found in the Desert

Posted By on Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 6:39 PM

A story on Fox News began circulating yesterday that an Islamic martyr book documenting those who died as suicide bombers was found in the middle of the desert by U.S. Border Patrol agents in the Casa Grande sector.

Considering some past reports about prayer rugs and such have gone unsubstantiated, the Tucson Weekly asked Border Patrol for comment, and our calls were referred to Washington, D.C., and the Department of Homeland Security.

A DHS official e-mailed and confirmed that such a book was found, but no additional details were released. They also issued the following statement:

“At this time, DHS does not have any credible information on terrorist groups operating along the Southwest border. One of the Department’s primary mission it to guard our nation’s borders from exploitation by terrorists and criminal organizations. In the past two years, DHS has committed unprecedented personnel, technology, and infrastructure to our SW Border. Today, the Border Patrol is better staffed than at any time in its 86-year history, having doubled the number of agents from approximately 10,000 in 2004 to more than 20,500 in 2010. ICE has doubled the number of personnel assigned to Border Enforcement Security Task Forces, increased the number of intelligence analysts along the Southwest border and now has quarter of all its personnel in the Southwest border region — the most ever. We work closely with our partners in the law enforcement and intelligence communities and as a matter of due diligence and law enforcement best practice, report anything found, no matter how significant or insignificant it may seem.”