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| Review of last week's AZ NG Cut'n'run operation |
| 2007-01-13 |
| Six to eight men wearing body armor and carrying automatic weapons crossed the border and four of them approached an observation point manned by four Tennessee guardsmen. The gunmen, in military dress, split in two to surround the post, with one coming within 20 yards. The guardsmen, armed with loaded M-16s, slowly backed away to avoid a confrontation. They then got into their Humvee and drove about 200 yards away while alerting the Border Patrol, which arrived within minutes. By that time, the gunmen had fled back across the border. Neither group pointed their weapons at each other. No shots were fired. On any given day, there are up to 2,400 guard troops on Arizona's border, there to play a support role to the Border Patrol until new agents can be trained and put into place. Major Paul Aguirre, a spokesman for the Arizona Guard, told me the guardsmen acted appropriately and would have been authorized to shoot, had they felt threatened. "We don't apprehend, we don't arrest, we don't detain," he said. "We're in support of the Border Patrol. Our primary job at these EIT (Entry Identification Team) sites is to call the Border Patrol and they respond." Aguirre told me it's not unusual for armed men to cross the border. "That happens on a daily basis," he said. What is unusual, according to both Aguirre and Mario Martinez, spokesman for the Border Patrol, is for them to come so close to our guys. "If their purpose is to run, then let's re-evaluate and ask ourselves why they're even there," said [AZ state Rep. Warde] Nichols, who has asked the commander of the Arizona Guard to appear before his Homeland Security and Property Rights Committee. Jeanine L'Ecuyer, spokeswoman for Gov. Janet Napolitano, dismisses Nichols' comments as politics. She said Nichols et al have long known the Guard was there in a backup role. They're not trained to enforce immigration laws, she said, and can't legally act as law enforcement agents. "This sudden 'Oh my God' on the part of legislators is pretty disingenuous," she said. I don't know. I have a bit of an 'Oh my God' reaction as well. I understand that the Guard is not there to enforce the law, given the mission agreed to by the feds and border governors. I understand concerns about militarizing the border. As Aguirre said, "We are not at war with Mexico. They're our friends." That's true. But it seems some of our friends are armed with automatic weapons and coming into Arizona, apparently on a daily basis. Does it seem odd that we would send in the National Guard with orders not to stop them? |
| Posted by:Anguper Hupomosing9418 |
| #7 Sgt. Mom you got any of them sorry-ass Johnsons in your book? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-01-13 17:48 |
| #6 SO35, Armed Mexicans in body armor and they let them get within 20 meeters??? WTF?? Oh ya, and they let them flank them on two sides????? What were they doing, sleeping? Who was in charge, Gomer Pile? Just what is the ROE for the guard there? We are going to have a few NG troops shot up or taken hostage before someone grows the balls to sign off on and support an ROE that protects them! Jesus! Six to eight men in body armor and carrying weapons flank me like that in Kentucky, I would be justified in shooting them. This is starting to remind me of the reports from Somalia. Not good. (rant off) |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2007-01-13 17:34 |
| #5 I am currently writing and researching a novel set in the Texas Hill Country during the 19th Century, so I have been reading up... and I was just purely amazed at how long this sort of thing has been going on; border incursions back and forth, armed parties and banditry, smuggling and refugees taking cover across the boarder from wars on both sides; Santa Anna, Cortina's War and Pancho Villa and all. It's been a war zone more often than not, for the past 150+ years: this is just more of the same. |
| Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2007-01-13 13:33 |
| #4 We are not at war with Mexico. They're our friends Self delusion there boy. While many Mexicans may be friends, the 40 or so family cabals that own and operate Mexico are no friends of the United States or the Gringo. Just read their xenophobic Constitution and you'll understand you are nothing more than, as the communist phrased it, a useful idiot. The Mexican ruling class is dumping their problem on the US so they can avoid real reform and the resultant dissipation of their power. They will not reform. If that means destabilizing the US, they don't care one chili's worth of beans. That ruling class is the enemy of the US as amply demonstrated by their hostility to respecting the sovereignty of the United States. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-01-13 12:56 |
| #3 Good thing I wasn't there. I would have felt very threatened. I would have been on full auto. Would have chewed thru 6 clips in less time than it takes to powder your nose. |
| Posted by: SpecOp35 2007-01-13 12:55 |
| #2 This is an excellent opportunity for a major incident where hopefully, a bunch of heavily armed Mexican army uniformed men would be shot to death, then numerous pictures taken and posted all over the Internet. Pictures clearly indicating they died well within the United States. At this point, I even doubt that the federal government would respond to an incursion resulting in the deaths of dozens of US citizens, calling it "a local law-enforcement matter." However, dead Mexican soldiers on US soil are another thing. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-01-13 12:50 |
| #1 Aguirre told me it's not unusual for armed men to cross the border. "That happens on a daily basis," he said. Oh. Well. I guess it's okay then, right, Major? Wouldn't want to do anything about it if it happens everyday, would we? Unfuckinbelievable... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-01-13 12:07 |