goldiron

Myrtle Beach Asks Atlantic Beach for Biker Ban

Atlantic Beach, SC - (AP) — Officials from Myrtle Beach want their counterparts in nearby Atlantic Beach to join them in getting rid of motorcycle rallies.

The Sun News of Myrtle Beach reports that leaders in Atlantic Beach say the annual rally that attracts black motorcyclists makes money for the town.

Councilman Donnell Thompson says he would consider banning the rally if Myrtle Beach helped his town with its financial problems.

Myrtle Beach passed 15 laws last year designed to get rid of two May motorcycle rallies — the Harley-Davidson spring rally that attracts mostly white riders, and the Atlantic Beach Bikefest.

Myrtle Beach City Manager Tom Leath detailed the new laws at the meeting, and said it is time to regain control of the Grand Strand.

S.C. becomes focal point to track funds for gangs, narcotics

South Carolina’s political and military leaders fear that U.S. street gangs are conspiring with international terrorists, an alarming scenario they said highlights the need for a specialized unit that targets major drug runners and their bankrollers.

And they want the South Carolina National Guard to run the federally-funded pilot program.

U.S. Reps. Joe Wilson and Henry Brown, both Republicans, have asked U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to back the creation of a military unit that would bridge a perceived security gap between the international drug trade and the war on terror.

“The National Guard has the capacity and the authority to play a unique role in our nation’s counter-narcotics mission,” Wilson told The Post and Courier. “The counter-narcotics pilot program would specifically target the illicit finance generated by the narcotics industry here at home and abroad which is used to fund terrorist operations around the world.”

Proponents said a successful program in South Carolina could serve as a national model and that several factors make the state a strategic location to set up shop:

–The state boasts an abundance of major military installations and resources that already serve key national security roles, including Charleston Air Force Base and its fleet of C-17s, Charleston’s port and the Navy brig, which has housed terrorism suspects.

–Organized gangs with international ties already are operating in the state. One of these organizations, the notorious Mara Salvatrucha-13 (MS-13), has possible links to hostile groups in Afghanistan and the Middle East, according to Wilson and Brown.

–Wilson cites a new report by the Congressional Research Service on the emerging international threat posed by the MS-13 and 18th Street gangs. The report states that “alarms have been sounded in some circles that international terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda could exploit alien and narcotics smuggling networks controlled by these gangs to infiltrate the United States.”

–The state National Guard already is working in some counter-narcotics programs, and its citizen soldiers are accustomed to collaborating in drug investigations with state and local law enforcement.

But questions remain. Among them: How strong is the evidence linking terrorists, gangs and drug-trafficking? How would this new program square with existing federal, state and local drug enforcement efforts? And is South Carolina the best place for this mission?

The gang connection

Gang activity in South Carolina has increased steadily over the past decade as these criminal organizations have spilled from urban centers into rural and suburban nooks across the nation in search of new territory and customers.

In 2004, the state Law Enforcement Division had identified 84 groups in South Carolina that fit a general definition of a gang: an organized group of five or more people who adopt a common name and engage in crime. By 2007, that figure had ballooned to 325 identified gangs, authorities said.

The number of crimes attributed to gangs has mushroomed as well. In 2007, gangs were linked to more than 950 crimes in South Carolina, including drug trafficking. By comparison, 370 gang-related crimes were reported statewide in 2001, according to SLED.

Many of these groups are what police describe as “hybrid gangs,” small, independent groups connected by turf or friendship. But highly organized gangs with cross-border connections also are present — gangs such as MS-13, Surenos, 18th Street and the Mexican Mafia.

“The number of Hispanic gangs is drastically growing,” said Special Agent Nicole Bryan, SLED’s coordinator on gangs in the Midlands. “As the Hispanic community has grown, Hispanic gangs have increased as part of that growth.”

Across the country, MS-13 and other gangs increasingly have become involved in narcotic trafficking at the wholesale level. They’ve cultivated connections with Mexican drug cartels and other power criminal organizations to gain access to international suppliers and large- volume shipments, according to the National Drug Intelligence Center. These affiliations have increased the availability of illegal drugs and the profits flowing out of the country.

The revenue stream is huge, with traffickers employing myriad of methods to launder and smuggle drug money to foreign destinations. The drug intelligence center estimates that Mexican and Colombian drug traffickers generate and launder as much as $39 billion in wholesale profits annually, much of which is smuggled out of the United States along the Mexican border.

Over the years, South Carolina has emerged as a key distribution point in this narcotics pipeline, serving as a smuggling route for drugs from California, Florida, Georgia, New York, Texas and Mexico. South Carolina’s location along Interstates 95 and 85, between New York and Florida, makes it ideal for drug runners shipping marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin along the Eastern Seaboard, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

“Project 9496″

The pilot program would target this stealthy underworld of drugs and money. The new unit is shrouded in secrecy, with scant details of its origin, funding and status. The Pentagon refers to the program as “Project 9496.”

Col. Pete Brooks, director of public affairs for the S.C. National Guard, said it’s too early to talk about the effort in detail. “We are not even out of the blocks yet. This whole new mission is at the ‘good idea’ stage and is not funded.”

But a Jan. 14 letter from Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard J. Douglas to the National Guard Bureau indicates the pilot program already is approved. The letter states that the South Carolina Counter Narco-Terrorism Pilot Program is to be run and funded separately from an existing network of states’ National Guard counter-drug units.

Brooks said the pilot program would expand the South Carolina Guard’s anti-drug unit, which employs 40 full-time employees and hires about a dozen temporary workers each summer to help destroy marijuana crops.

The program receives about $1.6 million in federal money each year in support of the drug eradication efforts of SLED and local police agencies. How the two agencies would partner under the pilot program is unclear because SLED considers it only “an idea at this point,” according to a statement the agency issued in response to questions from the newspaper. Exactly how much the program would cost also remains unclear.

The letters of support from Brown and Wilson suggest that Gov. Mark Sanford also is pushing for the new mission. But Sanford’s press secretary, Joel Sawyer, said the governor was unaware of the proposal until The Post and Courier inquired about it.

After discussing the plans with state Guard officials, however, Sanford thinks the program is “an intriguing idea,” Sawyer said.

Still, the program’s status and future remains unclear. The National Guard Bureau said federal seed money was set aside only to study the program’s feasibility. The agency couldn’t provide a figure.

Tracking the money

Efforts to choke off terrorist financing began in earnest after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, with then President George W. Bush announcing two weeks later a “major thrust of our war on terrorism … a strike on the financial foundation of the global terror network.”

Within months, the U.S. government froze the assets of dozens of alleged terrorists, banks and nonprofit groups.

Investigators learned that al-Qaida financiers used everything from electronic transfers to camels to move money and fund their operations. Making matters even more challenging was the existence of the hawala system, a centuries-old money loan and transfer system that is based on the honor system among brokers across the world.

Unlike traditional banking systems, which leave trails of paper and records, hawalas typically don’t keep records of individual transactions.

But financing experts and government officials have said tracking down terrorism financiers has suffered in recent years. A report last year by the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force said international efforts have had limited success and that the United States and other countries need to create new counter-terrorism techniques.

Reports by the Government Accountability Office in the past two years have said the nation needs an “integrated strategy to coordinate the delivery of counter-terrorism financing training.” A Pentagon report in 2007 called for “one over-arching organization” devoted to international terrorism financing.

John Cassara, a former CIA officer and U.S. Treasury Department agent, said the military in recent years has become more focused on narco-terrorists and their paymasters. He said that this emphasis is a natural outgrowth of the military’s efforts in Afghanistan, where most of the world’s opium is produced.

“We’ve seen over the years how the Taliban has used it to bankroll their operations,” said Cassara, author of “Hide & Seek - Intelligence, Law Enforcement and the Stalled War on Terror Finance.” “The classic line is that if you take away the money, there’s no terrorism. The military realizes this.”

But Cassara said he hasn’t seen any solid evidence showing connections between Latin American gangs and Central Asian and Middle Eastern terrorism. “Could it happen? Absolutely. Does it happen? Frankly I don’t know,” he said, adding that organized criminal gangs are “opportunists, and they will naturally reach out to organizations that can facilitate their operations.”

A recent assessment from the National Drug Intelligence Center reached a similar conclusion, saying such connections are possible but not supported by evidence. The report identified U.S. prison gangs that have spread outside the bars as having the most potential for relationships with terrorists.

While government officials know of no concrete connection between gangs selling drugs in the United States and Middle East terrorist groups, authorities have long known that terrorist organizations in South America, especially in Colombia, fuel much of their activity with drug money. And authorities say they have watched with growing concern as Nigerian criminal groups increasingly have brought drugs, some of it from the Middle East, into this country, including the Southeast.

Motorcyclist treks across state to push tax change
By James Shea
Times-News Staff Writer

Published: Saturday, February 7, 2009 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, February 6, 2009 at 10:23 p.m.

Mike McLean is riding for a cause. The Henderson County resident, along
with a few other motorcycle enthusiasts, is riding from Horse Shoe to
Cornelius today, hoping to raise awareness for the fair tax proposal.

The fair tax would eliminate the income tax, including Medicare and
Social Security, and replace it with a single sales tax. The idea is to
get away from the complicated tax structure and the Internal Revenue
Service and focus all tax on consumption.

“It is a fair tax, because you are in control of the amount of tax you
pay based on spending,” McLean said.

The sales tax rate would have to be 23 percent to replace the revenue to
the federal government, McLean said.

The tax has gained some momentum in recent years. Locally, former
Republican 11th Congressional District candidate Carl Mumpower of
Asheville supported the proposal, and McLean says 72 current members of
Congress support the fair tax.

A fair tax bill has been introduced into the Senate and House. In the
House, the bill is sponsored by Georgia Rep. John Linder and has 44
co-sponsors. The Senate version is sponsored by Georgia Sen. Saxby
Chambliss and has three co-sponsors.

“It does not change how government is run, but how taxes are collected,”
McLean said.

Others, however, are not convinced. Some economists argue that the tax
would radically transform the American economy. People would spend less
money, knowing a tax was collected each time something is purchased.

McLean has heard the argument but is not convinced. The fair tax, he
said, eliminates political influence on tax policy. Special interest
groups cannot influence who pays taxes and how much they pay because
taxes are only based on buying items.

“If you study it, there is no better alternative,” McLean said.

Saturday’s ride starts at Pigeon River Rustics in Horse Shoe at 9 a.m.
Motorcycle riders pay $15 to ride, and the money goes to support the
fair tax cause. The ride ends at a rally in Cornelius.

“It’s an educational event,” McLean said.

Saturday’s event begins a series of rides to promote the fair tax in
2008. Seven rides of varying distances are planned. The next event is
April 15 and starts in Horse Shoe and riders travel to Columbia, S.C,,
where former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is
scheduled to speak.

“Our whole idea is to move it to the grassroots level,” McLean said.

For more information, visit grassrootsfreedomride.com.