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Resident Finds Backpack
With Arabic Notebook
From Free Republic.com
By Bill Hess
The Sierra Vista Herald-Review
2-12-3

HEREFORD, AZ -- It is not unusual to find backpacks near their home, but a
local man and his wife were surprised to find one that contained a diary written
in Arabic.

Click Pic For Larger Image

Walter Kolbe said he was chasing some javelinas away from his home
Thursday when he stumbled upon the backpack. He said he brought it home
and didn't think much about the find.

He and his wife, May, went away for the weekend. When they returned
Sunday, his wife's curiosity led her to look into the backpack. That's when she
discovered the diary.

A path used by illegal immigrants is on their property, which is on the east side

of the San Pedro River, Walter said.

"I found it (the backpack) about a hundred yards from the house, near a
barbed-wire fence," he said. "I was just going to throw it in the trash."

After his wife went through the backpack, which included dirty clothing, they
decided not to discard the material because of the diary.

Most of the writing was in Arabic, though there was some Spanish writing in it
as well, May Kolbe said.

Looking through the small book, she noticed two names and telephone
numbers -- one listing in Canada and the other Iran -- and confirmed the
beginning numbers were the international codes for those two countries.

Walter Kolbe called the FBI on Monday morning and agreed to bring the diary
by the local office the next time he was in Sierra Vista. The FBI representative
also told him that if the agent with responsibility for terrorism investigation
thought the diary was important they would make arrangements to pick it up.

Such turned out to be the case. An agent called Tuesday and said they would
show up to pick up the material, which they did that morning.

The Kolbes said they wonder how many Middle Eastern people are coming
into the United States illegally.

Rob Daniels, a spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson Sector, said he
is not allowed to talk about the number of non-Mexicans his agency detains.

"We can't get into specifics about the number," Daniels said.

Mario Villarreal, (sic) a spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol headquarters in
Washington, D.C., said 99.4 percent of the 955,310 people apprehended by the
agency from Oct. 1, 2001, through Sept. 30, 2002, were from the Americas,
which includes Canada, Mexico and other Central and South American
nations. The remainder comes from 140 countries, he said.

"Because of 9-11 (the terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001)
there has ben restrictions and guidelines when talking about special interest
countries," he said.

The decision not to be specific about how many people come from the Middle
East is a directive of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, he said.

However, the Border Patrol continues to seek information about illegal
immigrants and individuals are encouraged to call [phone].