E-MAIL THIS LINK
To: 

Officials: Wire across road could have decapitated Border Patrol agents
I filed this under WOT. Please move it if it's in the wrong place, but it seems pretty close to a good fit to me.
It's non-WoT for now unless al-Qaeda did it. Common thuggery on our border is a stretch for WoT.
U.S. border officers found a wire between two fences along the U.S.-Mexican border that, when stretched taut, could have seriously harmed or even decapitated Border Patrol agents, Congress was told Wednesday.

"It was configured in a way so that, if it was pulled, it would take off the head of a Border Patrol agent riding in an open car," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said at a House budget hearing.

The wire was discovered Saturday when authorities monitoring a surveillance camera saw two people on the north side of the border east of the San Ysidro Port of Entry, in the San Diego sector. Border Patrol agents sent to the area found a thick metal wire tied to a secondary fence. The wire stretched across the border road and led into Mexico through a hole in the primary fence, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Would US BP agents have any legitimate reason to ride through here?
When pulled tight, the wire would be about 4 feet high -- about neck level for an agent riding on an all-terrain vehicle, CBP said.

Officials said they suspected that drug or illegal immigrant smugglers were involved. No arrests were made on either side of the border. The wire was removed, and no injuries or damage took place, CBP said.
No harm, no foul. Right? Seems to me a fence would make this kind of thing a non-issue. Or landmines.
Posted by: gorb 2008-02-14
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=226217