[3 items]
Pot growers portrayed as terror threat
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2010/11/pot_growers_portrayed_as_terro.html?hpid=news-col-blog
By Jeff Stein
11/18/2010
What were they smoking?
Federal, state and local officials carrying out a counter-terrorism
drill in Northern California Wednesday played out a scenario in which
local marijuana growers set off bombs and took over the Shasta Dam,
the nation's second largest, to free an imprisoned comrade.
According to an account in the Redding (Calif.) Record Searchlight,
the 12-hour drill was part of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's
Critical Infrastructure Crisis Response Exercise Program, begun in
2003. [see below]
"More than 250 people from more than 20 agencies took part," said
Sheri Harral, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Reclamation, according
to the paper.
Harral said the drill took 18 months to plan and cost the bureau
alone $500,000. The other agencies covered their own costs.
The paper made only passing reference to the scenario's designation
of pot growers as terrorist villians.
In the otherwise realistic mock-terror scenario, the marijuana
growers' "red cell" set off bus and car bombs as distractions, took
over the dam with three hostages, and then "threatened to flood the
Sacramento River by rolling open the drum gates atop the dam,"
according to the paper.
No matter how worthwhile a drill, said marijuana legalization
advocates, envisioning pot growers as a terrorist threat in laid-back
Northern California was ridiculous.
"That was so stupid," said Dale Gieringer, head of the California
chapter of NORML, the decades-old National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws.
"I don't know what inspired it," Gieringer told the Drug War
Chronicle. "I can see the need to do better pat downs for air
travelers to make sure they're not holding joints in their
underpants, but this? It sounds like something some yahoo redneck
county sheriff would dream up."
Harral did not return the Chronicle's call for comment and could not
be immediately reached by SpyTalk.
In a confidential catalogue of terrorist threats, uncovered by
Congressional Quarterly in 2005, the Department of Homeland Security
did not include the region's marijuana growers.
In August, however, the Big Valley News in Madera, Calif reported
that the federal High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program "has
been studying the escalating violence associated with the growing of
cannabis throughout California." [see below]
It said, "The increasing involvement of highly organized drug
trafficking organizations protecting their investment or competing
for territory and market share has elevated the dangers surrounding
cannabis growing from 'pot users merely growing their stash' to...a
'marijuana war.'"
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Practice makes safety:
20 agencies coordinate for mock Shasta Dam attack
http://www.redding.com/news/2010/nov/17/practice-makes-safety/
By Dylan Darling
November 17, 2010
Bomb blasts that blew apart a car and a bus at Shasta Dam were
distractions to allow terrorists time to take hostages and control of
the nation's second-largest dam.
Luckily for the north state the dramatic scenario Wednesday was part
of a 12-hour terrorist drill at the dam and not real. The goal was to
ensure local, state and federal agencies could respond to such a
situation and reclaim the dam.
More than 250 people from more than 20 agencies took part, said Sheri
Harral, Shasta Dam's spokeswoman for the Bureau of Reclamation.
"It's not just a couple of agencies," Harral said. "It's 20."
Led by the Bureau of Reclamation the federal agency that oversees
the massive concrete dam that creates Lake Shasta medical, fire and
police agencies responded to the mock terrorist attack. During the
drill the dam, the roads leading to it and a pair of popular fishing
boat ramps were closed.
Part of the Bureau's Critical Infrastructure Crisis Response Exercise
Program, which started in 2003, the exercise was the first of its
kind at the dam, Harral said. Similar drills took place at Utah's
Flaming Gorge Dam in 2003, Washington's Grand Coulee Dam in 2005 and
Hoover Dam on the Nevada-Arizona line in 2008. A similar drill is set
for Folsom Dam next.
The federal government identified the six dams as possible terrorist targets.
Harral said the reclamation bureau's role in the drill took 18 months
of planning and cost $500,000. The other agencies that helped in
planning and performing the drill covered their own costs.
The Shasta Dam scenario began with the two mock bomb blasts followed
by the "Red Cell" terrorist group taking over the dam in an effort to
free one of their fellow marijuana growers from prison. Holding three
people hostage, they threatened to flood the Sacramento River by
rolling open the drum gates atop the dam. Those gates hold back the
nearly full lake.
To show their seriousness in the drill, the Red Cell twice pretended
to release water from the dam. Each of the dam's three drum gates can
release up to 66,000 cubic feet per second when the dam is full
198,000 cubic feet per second in all while the river's channel can
only handle 79,000 cubic feet per second, said Pete Lucero,
reclamation bureau spokesman in Sacramento.
Such a terrorist attack could flood parts of Redding and the Central Valley.
"The river channel won't be able to handle the water coming out of
(Shasta Dam's) gates," he said.
In the end the Shasta County SWAT team raided the dam and the
hypothetical flood didn't happen.
"We had them go in, search for and neutralize the Red Cell," Lucero said.
While the drill offered the bureau a chance to see how its security
at the dam would respond to such an attack, and the SWAT team the
opportunity to test its skills in the field, Lucero said it also
provided training for medics, firefighters and bomb squad members.
About 30 students studying to be firefighters played the role of the
bus bomb blast victims, with tags telling medics their injuries.
Near the end of the drill late Wednesday afternoon, Lucero said
everything went according to plan. He said it was too early to tell
what changes, if any, might be made as a result of problems
discovered during the drill.
"That we will know later on tonight and as we debrief it tomorrow," he said.
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Marijuana: A Culture of Violence
http://www.bigvalleynews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=398:marijuana-a-culture-of-violence&catid=85:opinion&Itemid=69
Tuesday, 03 August 2010
California's Public Lands Are Threatened: Could parts of California's
forests and other public lands be closed off to the public because
they are too dangerous for people to use due to heavily armed Mexican
drug cartel members? It is possible. Perhaps you are thinking "prove
it!" Consider the following. Recently the Bureau of Land Management
and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife posted signs warning visitors to
Arizona's Buenas Aeries Wildlife Recreation Area to beware of armed
drug smugglers and human traffickers. Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu
said that "public use of the area is not prudent. The violence
against law enforcement officers and U.S. citizens has increased in
the past four months, further underscoring the need to keep the 80
miles of border land off-limits to Americans."i In 2007 a significant
portion of Whiskeytown National Recreational Area in Northern
California was closed for a short time to ensure visitor safety due
to the possibility of an outstanding suspect armed with a shotgun who
fled from a marijuana grow site.
Marijuana and Violence Are International Partners: Marijuana is the
greatest revenue source for Mexican drug cartels. In 2007 marijuana
earned the cartels $8.5 billion.ii The drug trade is so profitable
that El Chapo Guzman head of the Sinaloa cartel was listed in Forbes
Magazine as one of the world's billionaires in 2009.iii But Guzman
isn't a businessman; he's a ruthless cartel leader who issued orders
to his followers to use deadly force to protect their drugs when
challenged by rivals or authorities.iv The Mexican cartels are at war
with each other and with the Mexican Government. At least 23,000
people (in Mexico) have been killed in drug-related violence since
December 2006.v Expectations are that the violence will eventually
spill over into the U.S. There are some indications that this may
already be occurring. California law enforcement needs to be prepared
for increasing violence. Few people in Northern California can forget
that marijuana growers shot a man and his 8 year old son while they
were hunting in El Dorado County in November 2000.
California's Drug Cartels and Marijuana Violence: California produces
more marijuana from outdoor grow locations than any other state and
may grow more marijuana than Mexico.vi Nearly 80% of the grows are on
public lands in this state and most are occupied by two or three
illegal aliens. There were nearly 2,000 grows eradicated during 2009;
it's possible that there were nearly 4,000 armed illegal aliens in
the forests of this state last year. Nearly 90% of those arrested
were from Michoacán Mexico. One news report said that the La Familia
Michoacána (LFM) cartel employs 65,000 farmers growing marijuana in
Michoacán.vii The LFM cartel may be the most violent and its
associates may pose the greatest threat in California. Since 2004,
the Central Valley California HIDTA has been studying the escalating
violence associated with the growing of cannabis throughout
California. The increasing involvement of highly organized drug
trafficking organizations protecting their investment or competing
for territory and market share has elevated the dangers surrounding
cannabis growing from "pot users merely growing their stash" to what
the National Geographic News called it (a) "Marijuana War Smolders on
U.S. Public Lands.viii Cartels have hired and trained killers and
gang members to ensure their territorial control. The cartel members
have already demonstrated a capacity for wanton brutality and
unspeakable viciousness in their battles with each other, the
military and law enforcement in Mexico.
The Meaning for California: In addition to the human toll, marijuana
growing damages forest lands. Estimates are that up to 77,697 acres
(121 square miles) may be used to grow marijuana in this state. The
environment is damaged in a multitude of ways and the costs to
reclaim it range from $2,000 to $14,000 per acre. Marijuana is not a
harmless organic plant as the proponents of legalization infer. Since
2007 the following are a few of the violent incents reported:
• 12 deaths associated with growing marijuana many of which were
homicides of illegal Mexican aliens.
• Marijuana growers started seven (7) forest fires and one of the
wildfires burned over 150 square miles of forests threatening homes and people.
• Over 50 different incidents where forest works, hikers and campers
reported being frightened when they came upon marijuana growing operations
• 20 bodily assaults were reported during this period. Many other
violent acts occurred that went unreported due to fear of reprisals.
• Law enforcement officers encountered armed and violent individuals
on 5 different occasions; several of these involved exchanges of gunfire.
The 2010 outdoor marijuana eradication season began with a spate of
violent incidents. The following recap is current of July 1st yet
there are 4 months remaining in the growing season. The events included:
Ø April 27, 2010: A marijuana grower in Maricopa County was shot in
the chest by another Hispanic male grower
Ø May 25, 2010; A marijuana growers body was found wrapped in black
plastic alongside a road in Tuolumne County.
Ø June 29, 2010; Napa County Deputies were confronted by an armed
suspect in remote marijuana grow site; the individual was shot and killed.
Ø June 29, 2010; A Mendocino County Deputy Sheriff was driving his
vehicle following the eradication of 22,000 marijuana plants when
someone shot out his rear window.
We can expect the violence in California to continue. It may in fact
escalate when drug cartels vie for control of this billion dollar
industry and scarce law enforcement resources will be hard-pressed to
control it. This month, the members of the Nogales (AZ) Police
Department are under death threats from Mexican drug cartels because
they seized a large load of marijuana from smugglers while in a
off-duty status. "The cartel's belief is that when officers are not
in uniform, they should look away and not do their job."ix Several of
the Mexican drug cartels already have a strong foothold in
California. As the user base of marijuana increases, so does the
profitability of growing and distributing the drug by criminal
enterprises. California may be teetering on the edge of a new and darker era.
--
i Uptick in Violence Forces Closing of Parkland Along Mexico Border
to Americans, www.FoxNews.com, 6-16-10
ii Stakes Rise as Drug War Threatens to Cross Border,
http://www.cnn.com, May 18, 2009 iii Ibid iv Sinaloa Cartel May
Resort to Deadly Force in U.S., Los Angeles Times, May 6, 2009
v Calderon calls on Mexicans to unite against drug gangs,
www.latimes.com June 30, 2010 vi Marijuana Production in California,
Central Valley California HIDTA Research Paper, June 4, 2010 vii
Mexican Cartel Deals Drugs, Violence with Religious Fervor, by Tim
Johnson, McClatchy Newspapers, June 22, 2010. viii
www.nationalgeographic.com/news/pf/69453298.html
ix Quote by Nogales Police Department Chief of Police, Jeff Kirkham,
Mexican drug cartel threatens Nogales police officers, www.kgun9.com,
June 22, 2010
.
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