Was There a Plot to Kill Obama? | Newsweek Politics: Conventions

INTERNATIONAL
Bloodshed On the Border
11/29/2008 12:00:00 AM
Late one night in January, an ambulance escorted by five unmarked squad cars pulled up to Thomason Hospital in El Paso, Texas. Out leaped more than a dozen armed federal agents to protect the patient—Fernando Lozano Sandoval, a commander with the Chihuahua State Investigations Agency. He'd been pumped full of bullets just across the Mexican border in Ciudad Juárez by gunmen believed to have been hired by a drug cartel. Lozano Sandoval's sole hope of survival was the medical team at Thomason, the only level-one trauma center for nearly 300 miles. U.S. authorities took no chances; in Mexico, assassins regularly raid hospitals to finish off their prey. Throughout Lozano Sandoval's three-week treatment at Thomason (which proved successful), the Americans funneled visitors through metal detectors, posted guards outside the commander's room and deployed SWAT teams armed with assault rifles around the hospital's perimeter. Officers "were ready for war if it should go that route," says El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen.
CHAPTER 5
Center Stage
Evan Thomas 11/6/2008 12:00:00 AM
In midsummer, the Obama campaign's computers were attacked by a virus. The campaign's tech experts spotted it and took standard precautions, such as putting in a firewall. At first, the campaign figured it was a routine "phishing" attack, using common methods. Or so it seemed. In fact, the campaign had been the target of sophisticated foreign cyber-espionage.
Fears for Obama
Mark Hosenball 10/29/2008 12:00:00 AM
With the presidential election only days away, federal officials are looking closely for any uptick in threats to presidential candidates from white supremacist or other extremist groups. But in contrast to the pre-election atmosphere of four years ago, U.S. agencies have picked up little "chatter" about looming Islamic terror plots—and scant indications of any imminent pre-election messages from Al Qaeda leaders like Osama bin Laden.
DENVER CONVENTION
A Racial Plot?
Mark Hosenball 8/27/2008 12:00:00 AM
Three men now under arrest in Denver on federal and local gun and drug charges spent last Saturday night discussing their hatred for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, according to documents made public by the government late Tuesday. One of the suspects allegedly talked about killing Obama on the "day of his Inauguration" using a .22-250 caliber sniper rifle and high-powered scope--the same model rifle that was found in one of the suspect's possession by police during a routine traffic stop last weekend.
Morality Tale: A Pastor's Fall From Grace
A New Menace On The Rez
Andrew Murr
It didn't take Navajo police-woman Fayetta Dale long to realize there was something drastically wrong with Mervyn Nelson when Dale responded to a domestic-disturbance call on the reservation last fall. Highly agitated, Nelson, a 20-year-old gang member, ran away at first, then started punching her when she caught him and tried to throw on the handcuffs. After Dale doused him with pepper spray, Nelson slammed down on her left arm until he broke it. She tried to subdue him with her baton, but "it didn't have any effect," she recalls. Then Nelson started choking her. Fearing for her life, the officer drew her pistol and shot him in the chest. The autopsy gave a clue to his violent behavior: the dead man, according to Navajo investigators, had methamphetamine in his bloodstream.