Thread: AZ-SEN: GOPer Kyl Equates Immigration With Terrorism

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AZ-SEN: GOPer Kyl Equates Immigration With Terrorism
By Greg Sargent | bio
GOP incumbent Senator Jon Kyl -- who's facing a challenge from Dem Jim Pederson -- equates Mexican immigration with terrorism in his latest TV ad. The whole spot is about terrorism, featuring pictures of terrorists and planes taking off. At one point, the ad's narrator says, "Jon Kyl wrote the law that now allows search and intercept of terrorists like Moussaoui." For about a second during the narration of that line, the screen presents a picture of Kyl standing near what appears to be the Mexican border -- a clear effort by the Kyl campaign to link Mexican immigration with terrorism. Here's the screen grab:

http://www.jonkyl.com/press/082106.aspx

For Immediate Release
August 21, 2006 Contact: Andy Chasin
Office: 602-840-0306
Cell: 602-540-8418
Kyl Campaign Releases “Lone Wolf” Ad

Ad Highlights Senator Kyl’s Experience on
National Security and Intelligence Issues

(PHOENIX—August 21—2006)—The Kyl campaign today released a new ad highlighting provisions Senator Kyl has authored which will help authorities detect, prevent, and prosecute terrorist threats. The ad specifically focuses on “the Moussaoui Fix” authored by Kyl and enacted into law into 2004. Prior to the change in federal law, law enforcement had to establish that a suspect was linked to a known terrorist group before seeking a surveillance warrant. This requirement prevented federal agents from obtaining a warrant to search the computer of Zacarias Moussaoui, who had raised suspicion among his instructors when taking flight lessons. The computer would have linked Moussaoui to two other hijackers who participated in the September 11th attacks. Moussaoui pled guilty for his role in the September 11, 2001 attacks and is now serving a life sentence.

Other elements of Senator Kyl’s Tools to Fight Terrorism Act which were passed into law include provisions to: (1) allow sharing of grand jury information with state and local governments, (2) punish and deport persons who receive military-type training from a terrorist group, (3) expand and clarify the material support statute, (4) punish concealment of terrorist financing, (5) punish military and terrorist hoaxes, (6) increase penalties for obstruction of justice in a terror case, (7) expand weapons of mass destruction prohibitions and punish aiding rogue states’ weapons of mass destruction efforts, and (8) severely punish possession of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft rockets, atomic, radiological bombs, and smallpox virus.

Senator Kyl is a recognized national authority on national security and terrorism. Kyl currently chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security. The Senator served on the Senate Intelligence Committee for eight years. Days after September 11th, the East Valley Tribune recognized Sen. Kyl as “a leading congressional expert on terrorism who has been ringing the alarm about a possible terrorist-caused domestic catastrophe for years.” [East Valley Tribune, “America’s Other Wake-Up,” September 16, 2001]. Similarly, the Arizona Republic called Kyl, “a recognized authority on terrorism,” and noted that “few can match Kyl’s command of the issues,” like terrorism. [Arizona Republic, “Kyl Leads Charge v. Terrorism,” September 13, 2001; Arizona Republic, “Debate the future,” Editorial, September 19, 2005].

You can see the ad by visiting www.jonkyl.com and clicking on the “play” button. The script for the ad and a justification for the claims is included below:

VO: “Zacarias Moussaoui. The suspected twentieth Al Quaeda terrorist on 9/11.

· “[T]he Senate voted 90-4 to approve a measure expanding the government's ability to use secret surveillance tools against terrorist suspects who are not thought to be members of known terrorist groups. Under current law, federal officials are not allowed to seek secret surveillance warrants against noncitizens, unless the officials can establish that they are linked to a known terrorist group. The bill is meant to fix a problem exposed by the case of Zacarias Moussaoui, suspected as the intended 20th hijacker in the Sept. 11 attacks, who faces trial on terrorist charges in suburban Virginia.” [New York Times, “GOP Senators End Push To Make Patriot Act Permanent,” May 9, 2003].


Moussaoui pled guilty to participating in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and is serving a life sentence for his role. He signed his guilty plea before a federal district court as “The Twentieth Hijacker.” Moussaoui admitted that, among other things, he “knew of al Qaeda’s plan to fly airplanes into prominent buildings in the United States and he agreed to travel to the United States to participate in the plan. … On February 23, 2001, Moussaoui traveled from London to Chicago and then on to Norman Oklahoma, where he attended the Airman Flight School and received training as a pilot of smaller planes. In summer 2001, an al Qaeda associate directed Moussaoui to attend training for larger jet planes.” [See United States of America vs. Zacarias Moussaoui, Statement of Facts, Filed April 22, 2005]. Available here.

VO: “Flight instructors reported his suspicious behavior to the FBI. Yet, laws prevented the FBI from searching his property that included names of 9/11 terrorists.”

“Shortly before the Sept. 11 attacks, the FBI attempted to get a FISA warrant for surveillance on Zacarias Massaoui, a French citizen who had aroused suspicion by taking flight training in Minnesota. FBI agents sought help from the CIA to tie Moussaoui to such a group but ultimately failed—missing a potential tip-off prior to the attacks, according to the commission that investigated the attacks. Moussaoui is now awaiting trial in Alexandria, Virginia, as the only person charged in the United States in connection with the attacks.” [Associated Press, “Intelligence Measure Also Expands Government Counterterrorism Power,” Dec. 9, 2004].

“[Special Agent Harry] Samit testified that before the attacks, FBI officials in Washington refused to support his search requests despite Samit’s increasingly ‘desperate’ attempts to learn more about Moussaoui, who had raised suspicions among his instructors while training as a flight student. … Samit’s FBI superiors at the time did not believe he had enough evidence for either either a criminal or intelligence investigation. Since then, the USA Patriot Act has made it easier for federal authorities to obtain such warrants in terrorism investigations.” [USA Today, “Agent warned FBI about Moussaoui, Hijack Plan,” Feb. 20, 2006].

“We do know, however, that information in this terrorist’s effects would have linked him to two of the actual September 11 hijackers, and to a high-level organizer of the attacks who was captured in 2002 in Pakistan. And we do know that suspending the requirements of a foreign-power link for the lone-wolf terrorists would have eliminated the major obstacle to federal agents’ investigation of this terrorist…” [Senate Judiciary Committee Report 108-40 to Accompany S. 113, April 29, 2003].
Transition –

VO: “Jon Kyl wrote the law that now allows search and intercept of terrorists like Moussaoui.”

“In the 108th Congress, Senator Kyl introduced S. 113 on January 9, 2003. … S. 113 expands the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to permit surveillance or physical searches relating to non-United States persons where there is probable cause to believe that such individual is involved in international terrorism, without regard to whether such persons are affiliated with a foreign government or terrorist group.” [Senate Judiciary Committee Report 108-40 to Accompany S. 113, April 29, 2003].

VO: “And the ‘Tools to Fight Terrorism Act’ to strengthen anti-terror laws.”

Provisions of Senator Kyl’s Tools to Fight Terrorism Act, S. 2679, 108th Congress, were enacted in 2004 – the first strengthening of anti-terror laws since passage of the USA Patriot Act in 2001. [Kyl’s provisions were incorporated into the Intelligence reform bill, S. 2845, which became Public Law 108-458].

Among the provisions of the Kyl bill that were enacted: the “Lone-Wolf Fix” to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the pre-trial detention of terrorists, and provisions to (1) allow sharing of grand jury information with state and local governments, (2) punish and deport persons who receive military-type training from a terrorist group, (3) expand and clarify the material support statute, (4) punish concealment of terrorist financing, (5) punish military and terrorist hoaxes, (6) increase penalties for obstruction of justice in a terror case, (7) expand weapons of mass destruction prohibitions and punish aiding rogue states’ weapons of mass destruction efforts, and (8) severely punish possession of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft rockets, atomic, radiological bombs, and smallpox virus.

VO: “Jon Kyl: ‘A recognized authority on terrorism.’”

“Sen. Jon Kyl, who has long scolded his colleagues that they need to do more to boost U.S. counterterrorism programs, took up the cause again Wednesday. But this time, the Arizona Republican's credibility was boosted by the catastrophic failure of intelligence agencies to thwart or even warn about the possibility of sophisticated attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. ‘The greatest way for us as leaders to confirm our commitment to the victims of this evil is to dedicate ourselves to a real and forceful battle against this terrorism,’ Kyl said on the Senate floor. ‘Actions, not words, that is the challenge before us.’ A recognized authority on terrorism, Kyl spoke out for legislation to loosen restrictions on the recruitment of foreign agents, called for congressional scrutiny of security failures at airports and advocated for congressional hearings to examine ‘this failure of our intelligence network.’ Kyl's call to action came near the end of a long and intense Day After, which he began by leading a bipartisan congressional prayer breakfast and ended with an appearance on Larry King Live. In between, Kyl gave interviews to a half-dozen Arizona radio and television stations, attended a conference of GOP senators, and, as a member of the Select Intelligence Committee, attended a briefing by some of the nation's top security officials.” [Arizona Republic, Kyl Leads Charge vs. Terrorism: Wants ‘Actions, Not Words,” Sept. 13, 2001].

Senator Kyl: I’m Jon Kyl and I approve this message.

Illegals aliens = Domestic and economic terrorists. I AGREE!!!

That's all fine Sen. Kyl, but how about you tell us exactly where you stand on illegal immigration!