National Guard Runs Away At Border
01/05/2007
A+
|
a-
Print Friendly and PDF

Armed Mexican gunmen advanced to "within yards" of a National Guard observation post on the U.S. Mexican border. The Guardsmen ran away.

Guardsmen overrun at the Border Channel 12 News, Arizon Jan. 4, 2007 02:44 PM

A U.S. Border Patrol entry Identification Team site was overrun Wednesday night along Arizona's border with Mexico.

According to the Border Patrol, an unknown number of gunmen attacked the site in the state's West Desert Region around 11 p.m. The site is manned by National Guardsmen. Those guardsmen were forced to retreat.

The Border Patrol will not say whether shots were fired. However, no Guardsmen were injured in the incident.

The Border Patrol says the incident occurred somewhere along the 120 mile section of the border between Nogales and Lukeville. The area is known as a drug corridor. Last year, 124-thousand pounds of illegal drugs were confiscated in this area.

The Border patrol says the attackers quickly retreated back into Mexico.

The Guardsmen were not "forced to retreat," they were ordered to retreat. Video linked to that story includes an interview with Marco Lopez Jr. of Governor Napolitano's staff, (he also sits on the Arizona-Mexico Commission and has been a US Citizen since 1994) said that the Guardsmen were obeying a pre-set protocol, and that "They did what we thought—what was said that they should do."Which is run away.

A Border Patrolman is quoted as saying "Once the determination was made they vacated the site, for safety reasons."

Arizona Newsman Kevin Kennedy said that the armed crossers may have been trying to find out what the National Guard would do if attacked by armed men. Well, now they know, don't they? The Guardsmen will run away.

In really worrisome note, a National Guard Major refers to "the need for our personnnel to be armed." Does this mean they were unarmed? Or without ammunition? The US Armed Forces have an ugly history of putting men in positions of danger without ammunition to avoid accidental discharges, and what they think of as "an incident."

Lopez says that Governor Napolitano's position in favor of troops on the border hasn't changed, and the Governor's office says that the Guardsmen did "exactly what they were supposed to."

Which, I'll remind you one more time, was run away. From armed invaders.

Thanks, Mr. Lopez! Thanks, Governor Napolitano! Thanks, Mr. Bush!

We all feel much safer now.

Print Friendly and PDF