Thread: 23 Million for Border Fence!!!

US to help Egypt prevent smuggling on Gaza border

America transfers $23 million worth of aid to Egyptians, agrees to send engineering teams to assist in locating smuggling tunnels; budget also for building sturdier fence on Gaza-Egypt border

Roni Sofer
Published: 03.21.08, 08:27 / Israel News

US helping Egypt build border fence on Gaza frontier: American officials have agreed to a $23 million aid package from which most will go towards purchasing technology to prevent the fence from being perforated and for locating underground smuggling conduits, according to information received in the Israeli political circuit.

From details that were made known to Ynet, the US intends to send teams from the US Army Corps of Engineers to the Egyptian side of the Gaza-Egypt border in the near future. Theses teams will assist Egyptian forces deployed along the frontier pinpoint the locations of smuggling tunnels west of the border in the Rafah area.

In recent days, Cairo is completing the construction of a stone wall on the border. At the same time, Egypt has positioned a specially-trained police force near the new wall in order to prevent a new perforation in the fence. The US teams will brief the Egyptian force, which numbers around 750 personnel.

In Jerusalem, Israel officials are welcoming the move. Nonetheless, Israel also believes that more hard work is needed in order to stop the flow of terrorists and weapons from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula into the Gaza Strip.

Amos Gilad, head of the political-military bureau at the Defense Ministry, traveled to Washington this week to speak with US officials about an arrangement with the Egyptians over the border fence. Gilad also stopped in Cairo, where he met with Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman. The two discussed the issue of reopening the Rafah border crossing.

Israel has requested that the terminal be operated under international supervision by European Union monitors and that Palestinian Authority representatives from Fatah man the crossing on the Palestinian side. The issue is still up for contention since Hamas opposes any type of supervision on the terminal.

An Israeli official cautioned that there was still a long way to go. "More time is needed to take care of all the sensitive issues," he said. Among other things, Egypt is asking to add 750 soldiers and police to its side of the Egypt-Israel border. The issue is currently a bone of contention between the Foreign and Defense Ministries.

The Defense Ministry claims that the issues necessitate the reopening of the Camp David peace accords that were signed between Israel and Egypt in 1978. Conversely, the Foreign Ministry is ready to accept an Egyptian bolstering of forces if it deals with the entire Israel-Egypt border not just the area around the Gaza Strip.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...521849,00.html

Comment Section Alert

Oh this is rich isn't it!! They can get fences built all over the world but not in the U.S. I am sending this off to some congressmen and telling them not one red cent to anyone for a fence until the United States is secure Now I'm really mad!!!

We can donate millions to help other countries secure their borders but we cannot seem to get our fence built. In fact, didn't Bush claim last year there wasn't enough funds to complete the fence, or something to that effect.

Bush is an absolute criminal and needs to be removed from office!

The US has had some 30,000+ troops in South Korea since 1953 helping to defend that country and it's border. The Army has divereted a good number of their troops now to Iraq.

From details that were made known to Ynet, the US intends to send teams from the US Army Corps of Engineers to the Egyptian side of the Gaza-Egypt border in the near future. Theses teams will assist Egyptian forces deployed along the frontier pinpoint the locations of smuggling tunnels west of the border in the Rafah area......... In recent days, Cairo is completing the construction of a stone wall on the border. At the same time, Egypt has positioned a specially-trained police force near the new wall in order to prevent a new perforation in the fence.

Why does Egypt warrent a STONE WALL for their fence when we have to endure a farce of a fence known as a 'virtual fence'?

Will Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security, be going to Egypt to personally over-see the construction of the wall?

Why isn't the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers working on the U.S. Mexican border?

Why are National Guard Units going to be pulled off the U.S. Mexican border in July?

Posted on Sat, Mar. 22, 2008print email Digg it del.icio.us AIM
Guard presence along Mexican border to end this summer
By ARTHUR H. ROTSTEINAssociated Press Writer
TUCSON, Ariz. -- A program that has rotated thousands of National Guardsmen along the Mexican border to augment U.S. Border Patrol agents comes to a close in four months, despite calls by at least one border governor to extend the Guard's mission.

Operation Jump Start began in mid-2006, deploying up to 6,000 troops at a time during the first 12 months in non-enforcement roles that freed up Border Patrol agents for front-line duty.

Through January, the National Guard Bureau spent more than $1 billion on the program - nearly $212 million in the 2006 fiscal year, $687 million in fiscal 2007 and $136 million during the first four months of fiscal 2008.

The guardsmen have built roads and fences, maintained equipment, provided aviation support and monitored cameras. They've also spent months at border outposts, calling in Border Patrol agents to capture illegal immigrants and drug runners they spot entering the country.

Jump Start was designed as a stopgap to give the Border Patrol additional help while the agency ramped up its numbers.

The Border Patrol had just under 12,000 agents when the program began, and President Bush said at the time that another 6,000 would be hired over the next two years. But the Border Patrol has hired only about half that many and now has 15,550 agents, although it says it hopes to reach the goal by the end of this calendar year.

"We have a really aggressive recruiting campaign going on," said Lloyd Easterling, a Border Patrol spokesman in Washington. "We're committed to hitting that 18,000, no doubt."

Bush said when he announced the program that the troop numbers would be cut in half after the first year, and the military followed through. Since last July, an average of 3,000 troops have been deployed in the four Southwest border states, though numbers fluctuate daily.

As of mid-March, there were 2,842 deployed, including 1,063 in Arizona and 1,779 in Texas, New Mexico and California.

The mission will wind down to a July 15 finish, though some Guard personnel will remain to finish up paperwork and account for equipment.

Border Patrol and National Guard officials hailed the National Guard's performance and contributions as a resounding success.

"Being a short-term bridge, it helped us get staffed up," Easterling said. "It's been fantastic."

Easterling said it enabled 500 agents to return to active patrolling.

"If you ask anybody from the National Guard or Customs and Border Protection, they would all tell you that this has been a huge success as far as freeing up CBP for the 'back to the borders' aspect of the mission," said 1st Lt. Amanda Straub, a spokeswoman at National Guard Bureau headquarters in Washington.

The Guard helped in the arrests of 140,000 illegal immigrants and seized more than 143 tons of drugs, mostly marijuana, Easterling said.

Military engineers also built 111 miles of border fencing and more than 18 miles of new all-weather roads, while maintaining or improving more than 570 miles of existing roads.

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano wants the soldiers to stay.

The Democratic governor wrote a letter this month to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, urging him to "reconsider the drawdown of Operation Jump Start, and instead retain National Guard personnel strength in numbers necessary to maintain the hard-won improvements in operational control of the international border."

She said ongoing problems with a high-tech "virtual fence" on the border mean it won't be operational before 2011, and keeping the military on the border until then is clearly needed.

Chertoff's spokesman said the Border Patrol hopes to have 18,000 agents by the end of 2008 and has asked Congress to approve funding for an additional 2,000. He also said they're sticking with the drawdown plan.

"We've been abundantly clear since Day One about the intent and timeline for Operation Jump Start," spokesman Russell Knocke said.

National Guard support on the border will continue, with units using border duty as part of their training.

"We will be down there," Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said recently. "Operation Jump Start will end, but it doesn't mean the Guard's support for the Border Patrol and counter-narcotics ... along the Southwest border will not continue."

http://www.star-telegram.com/448/story/542543.html

Good fences make good neighbors.

Egypt fence plans unveiled


Ynetnews presents plans for new border fence characterized as 'national emergency project' aimed at hindering terror threats on Egyptian border; fence to consist of two sections, construction scheduled to start in three months

Hanan Greenberg Published: 03.14.08, 20:23 / Israel News

Fence to counter southern terror threats: The new fence slated to be built on the Israel-Egypt border will consist of two sections of a "smart" fence that would extend for a total of 84 kilometers (roughly 50 miles.) The new obstacle would identify any contact with the fence and relay the information to special control rooms, defense officials say.

The construction of the fence, estimated to cost NIS 1.4 billion (roughly $400 million) will start in about three months and is expected to take about two years.

As the venture is characterized as a "national emergency project," every completed section of the fence would be handed over to the IDF immediately.



'Smart' fence to be built on border. (Photo: Meir Partoush)



Even before IDF troops left the Gaza Strip in the framework of the disengagement plan, senior military officials estimated that the 236-kilomter (roughly 150 miles) Israel-Egypt border will became a major vulnerability in terms of terror threats. The main concern is that terrorists will make their way from Gaza to Egypt and from there to Israel, via the breached border. At the time, the border already featured prolific criminal activity, including the smuggling of drugs and prostitutes.

Counting on natural obstacles
The terror attack in Eilat in January 2007 saw the pessimistic estimates materialize. Southern Command officials boosted the IDF's deployment in the south, and at the same time the defense establishment started working on the "Hourglass" plan that outlined the border fence. This obstacle, which was never built, was supposed to provide a significant response to terror threats.

According to the plan, two fences will be built at two sections of the border. Other border sections feature natural obstacles that make it difficult for infiltrators to reach Israel, security officials say. The new fence will also be based on lessons drawn from previous fences built by Israel, on the northern border and in the West Bank, the defense establishment says.

As the fence needs to be built in remote areas in the south of the country, the army needs to identify contractors that would be able to work under difficult conditions in areas far from water and electricity sources. Defense officials also say that they are carefully studying the topography of the area, and that the new fence will have a minimal effect on nature reserves in the region.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340 ... 43,00.html

Unbelievable!
Millions to help Gaza build their fence and recently we send millions to help Mexico protect their southern border.
And our president has the audacity to say there isn't enough money to build our own fence. Why doesn't the man just come out and admit he doesn't want the border fence.

aint that the truth

I've forwarded this article along with a very angry letter to Boxer, Feinstein and Costa