DHS Funds Terror Town U.S.A.

It’s being dubbed Terror Town U.S.A: a former mining town on the edge of New Mexico's economically depressed Hidalgo County is about to become the first U.S. community wholly devoted to the war on terror, as the Department of Homeland Security has helped a subcontractor take over the town for counterterrorism training.

In an article in The Washington Times, writer Maxim Kniazkov says the DHS helped the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology buy the town of Playas for $5 million to convert it to a "fully integrated counterterrorism training center."

According to Kniazkov, the Institute is planning to use the town to stage mock bombings, hostage takings, water supply poisonings and anthrax and chemical-weapons attacks. The first exercise " simulating suicide bombings " is set to take place tomorrow, December 2.

The town of Playas, 40 miles north of the Mexican border, was originally built by the Phelps Dodge Mining Co. in the 1970s. Kniazkov says that at one point, the town had 1,000 residents, but since the smelter operation closed in 1999, the town’s population has dwindled to slightly more than 50 people. Those people, Kniazkov says, are looking forward to the mock terrorist attacks, because it means federal dollars for the community and could translate into jobs.

To read the full article, click here: http://washingtontimes.com/national/20041126-121744-9402r.htm