ustxtxb_obs_2002_06_07_50_00013-00000_000.pdf

asphalt, fuel, and other substances. The proposal was sent to the Marine Corps in 1997, but only recently passed on to the National Academy is how the Sunshine Project became aware of its existence. The group also obtained two other proposals for offensive bio-weapons, including one from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and one from Idaho National Laboratories, both of which had also been sent to the NAS by the Marines. All three proposals discovered by the Project are for anti-material, not anti-personnel weapons. Yet such weapons would still clearly be illegal under the Biological Weapons AntiTerrorism Act of 1989, which implemented the Biological and Toxin international treaty signed by the United States \(which officially renounced biological warfare as far prohibits production of biological agents that cause deterioration of food, water, equipment, supplies, or material of any kind. On May 24, the Sunshine Project sent copies of all three proposals to Johnny Sutton, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, who has the authority to enforce the 1989 law. According to the Sunshine Project’s Edward Hammond, the Pentagon has apparently taken an interest in the flap, and the Marine Corps has officially directed the NAS not to release any more related documents. Hammond said it was unclear exactly what the existence of these three proposals \(and presumably more in the possession of good from any angle. “There are two possibilities,” he said. “Either there has been a huge institutional failure to implement the law, or people in the Pentagon are trying to undermine it:’ EVIL DOO-DOO IN LAJITAS Last time we checked, terrorists were using visas to get into this country, not ,rowboats. But if, after regrouping in the lawless badlands of Western Pakistan, Al Qaeda does switch to the rowboat method, the Marfa Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol will be ready. On May 10, a sizeable contingent of agents, accompanied by a helicopter, swept down on the unofficial border crossing at Lajitas, the Rio Grande resort town just outside the western entrance of Big Bend National Park. According to the Big Bend Sentinel, the raid netted 21 persons attempting illegal entry, one ferryman, and one rowboat. Border Patrol Spokesman Pablo Caballero told the Sentinel that the agency was acting on “recent intelligence information” about illegal crossings. Hope they didn’t pay too much for that inside info, since the Lajitas crossing has been operational for as long as anyone can remember. That goes for any number of unofficial crossings, including two in the National Park itself, which are so well established that Park Rangers keep an eye on the cars of American tourists while they goof off in Old Mexico. Most people who cross the river from Paso Lajitas, Mexico, to Lajitas are coming across to work for the to the grocery store for supplies. A legal crossing to Lajitas, Texas about 500 yards from their houses would require a 50-mile drive to the bridge in Presidio \(and 50 miles morning. Or to get a pack of smokes, for that matter. They’d better get used to it post-September 11, according to Caballero, who predicted that such raids would become “routine” in the future. And in fact, just before press time word came that a second raid had been conducted at Lajitas, and that the two crossings in the national park are now officially closed. This will be a blow to the residents of Boquillas, Mexico, many of whom do their shopping at a campground convenience store just across the river. 0/7/02 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 13