Wednesday, January 10, 2007
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New Majority
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Posted by:
Mary Katharine Ham at
1:47 PM
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Same "symbolic votes."
Kinda like "symbolic" national security, which we can also expect from the Dems. Or, "symbolic" ethics reform:
Democratic leaders said Tuesday that they intended to hold symbolic votes in the House and Senate on President Bush’s plan to send more troops to Baghdad, forcing Republicans to take a stand on the proposal and seeking to isolate the president politically over his handling of the war.
Senate Democrats decided to schedule a vote on the resolution after a closed-door meeting on a day when Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts introduced legislation to require Mr. Bush to gain Congressional approval before sending more troops to Iraq.
The Senate vote is expected as early as next week, after an initial round of committee hearings on the plan Mr. Bush will lay out for the nation Wednesday night in a televised address delivered from the White House library, a setting chosen because it will provide a fresh backdrop for a presidential message.
The office of Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House, followed with an announcement that the House would also take up a resolution in opposition to a troop increase. House Democrats were scheduled to meet Wednesday morning to consider whether to interrupt their carefully choreographed 100-hour, two-week-long rollout of their domestic agenda this month to address the Iraq war.
They won't actually go the extra mile, completely abandon the troops on principle, and yank the pursestrings, but they'll be very "symbolically" outraged at the new plan while taking partial credit for any progress that comes of the surge. Nevermind that they're the ones who've insisted that Bush's rigidity and adherence to the old plan was the problem all along. Now, that he's flexible? "New plan bad. Only retreat will do." Of course, they never wanted a new plan, and we all knew that. They're all about "symbolism."
Update: Fellow Dems who have insisted on limiting funding in the past (ahem, Durbin) are now abandoning their colleague, Mr. Kennedy for fear of being caricatured as anti-G.I. The nutroots faction is dipleased at the half-measure. When they want a war lost, they want it lost all-out.
Kennedy may find more allies on the House side. On Sunday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi hinted that Democrats might cut off funding for the troop increase when Bush makes his supplemental budget request to keep the war going. John Murtha, who chairs the defense appropriations committee, where the supplemental would be debated, is planning to hold hearings within a week to pick apart the president's plan and perhaps put forward his own surge-killing legislation to limit funding and troop levels. (The White House no doubt regrets treating Murtha so roughly when he suggested a troop redeployment.)
Democratic leader Reid says the funds-limiting option is still on the table and could come after the bipartisan resolution. Democrats are also noodling other options, including a measure floated by Robert Byrd to rewrite the October 2002 authorization-of-force resolution that opened the door for the Iraq invasion of 2003.
Time matters if Democrats want to take forceful action. Going after the supplemental funding bill will take too long. That request from the administration isn't likely to arrive until early February. By then, troops could be on their way and the question would flip from being about a future action to one already under way. "The horse will be out of the barn by the time we get there," says Kennedy. "And then we'll be asked, are we going to deny the body armor to the young men and women that are over there?"
I'm pretty sure I saw that Slate piece linked somewhere yesterday, so if I forgot to hat-tip someone, my apologies.
Update: Blackfive: It ain't just a surge.
Update: Gateway Pundit: Iraq won't be Vietnam unless we let Democrats lose it.
Update: CYA-ing with Joe Biden.
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I think it is a safe bet that the Dems have every intention to sabre rattle about pulling funding and to try legislating their way into a sort of military mini-commander-in-chiefdom role as well.
But........
We should all feel safe for two reasons:
1) Have you ever seen a modern day democrat use a sabre? They just have a habit of shaking it loudly at you then putting it away quickly when the times get tough.
2) The 2008 Presidential election: They aren't willing to risk either responsibility for decisions about tactics or staffing(other than surrender) because then the "blame Bush" doctrine would collapse. They also cant risk being revealed as having an anti-troops disposition like Kerry got after his "stuk in Iraq" comment. They are weak and live to appease but they do love the power....
If they did decide to cut funding I would hope there would be an ad development team in a 527 somewhere that could take some of the beheading video from the web and impose a GI's helmet on the beheaded guy and impose the Dem leadership faces on the Muslim headcutters to show how the Dem's slit our throat in the war on terror in Iraq. (just an idea)
BTW.....We should all be calling and supporting our President for having the courage to go after these guys in Somalia with Congress breathing down his neck over Iraq. He needs to see and hear our support and get a big pat on the back for showing courage and leadership. |
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Congress STILL doesn't get it, the Democrats think they won the Election because of the War. The Republicans think they lost because they didn't "get out the vote"!
Both Parties are dead wrong,,, the Democrats did not win because of war issues, they won by default, their was nobody else to vote for. The Republicans lost because they displeased and disguted their base, on issues such as follows.
Invasion,,,, the FIRST Duty of Government is to Defend the Borders and protect its Citizens! Hummmm
Meanwhile our Politically Correct, New Congress is debating Social Security Privileges and Amnesty for those who have taken our Laws, trashed them, and flout them openly.
What a bunch of Weaklings we have become, maybe we deserve to loose this Country!
WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Mexican Gunmen Involved in Arizona Border Incident Actually A Uniformed Mexican Force
Written by Heidi
8 January 2007
Trackback URL
The incursion into U.S. territory last week by “Mexican gunmen” was not a chance confrontation between the Arizona National Guard and untrained illegal immigrants, but a deliberate “perimeter probe” by an infantry-trained, uniformed Mexican force, officials say.
Euphoric Reality has learned in exclusive interviews with high-ranking sources within both the Arizona National Guard and the U.S. Border Patrol that the incident the mainstream media calls a “standoff” was in reality a military-style operation, carried out by a unit of Mexican men dressed in military uniforms, flak jackets, and armed with AK-47s in an apparent operation to probe the border defenses and test the limits of the National Guard troops. Using easily recognizable infantry movement tactics (such as arm and hand signals and flanking maneuvers), the Mexican unit deliberately moved in a military formation across the border from Mexico, while under surveillance by the National Guard and Border Patrol.
As the hostile force moved north over several hours, deeper into Arizona, National Guardsmen wearing night vision goggles were able to ascertain that the approaching gunmen were indeed uniformed (including PAGST helmets) and heavily armed. When the Mexican unit came within approximately 100 yards of the EIT site, the Guardsmen repositioned themselves in order to maintain surveillance and tactical advantage. They observed the Mexican unit sweep through the EIT site, and then rapidly withdraw back into Mexico. No shots were fired by either the Mexican gunmen or the Guardsmen. Border Patrol was on the scene within minutes of the Mexican unit’s withdrawal.
The Guardsmen, through an Arizona Border Patrol official, confirmed that the incident appeared to be an intelligence-gathering exercise designed to ascertain what the National Guard’s response would be to certain tactics. It is not an isolated incident, and many such probes have been reported by the Guardsmen assigned to the area. Though no shots were fired during this particular incident, shots have been fired near and in the vicinity of the soldiers at the EIT site in other situations, though not at the soldiers themselves. It is not clear from the uniforms if the Mexican soldiers were official Mexican federales or mercenaries hired by the drug cartels.
Since then, follow-on news reports have included statements from the Border Patrol that no shots were fired. This was confirmed today by Major Paul Aguirre, a Public Affairs Officer (PAO) for the Arizona National Guard. Rumors have circulated that the Guardsmen were not armed, and thus unable to defend themselves - and that is not the case. Both Major Aguirre and Rob Daniels, a Public Information Officer (PIO) for the Arizona Border Patrol, state that all Guardsmen assigned to EITs are armed, specifically with M16s and sometimes a sidearm. As well, there have been some contradictory news reports that stated the gunmen came “within yards” of the Guardsmen, while other reports state that the gunmen were approximately 100 yards away. Mr. Daniels clarified that the gunmen came as close as 100 yards to the Guardsmen. He also stated that the Guardsmen did not “retreat” but tactically repositioned themselves to maintain surveillance of the group of armed men while simultaneously radioing for Border Patrol agents. He asserted that the Guardsmen had followed their protocols perfectly, and that their services were invaluable to the Border Patrol agents.
The Myth of Troops Bringing Law Enforcement to the Border
National Guard soldiers on the border are volunteers deployed by the federal government for Operation Jump Start. They are not mandated to perform law enforcement activities and, in fact, are prohibited from doing so under a misinterpretation of the Posse Comitatus Act while federally deployed. They are assigned to the border mission for the sole purpose of supporting the Border Patrol - mostly performing administrative, engineering, and maintenance duties that free up Border Patrol agents for border enforcement.
The ramifications of this incident hitting the public awareness are significant. There are incidents on the record of specially-trained military commandos attacking Border Patrol agents, and videos in existence of uniformed Mexicans, deep in American territory, angrily confronting Arizona Minutemen volunteers. Hundreds of armed incursions have been documented by the Border Patrol. In one year, June 2005 until June 2006, over 250 armed assaults have been reported by Border Patrol agents, and several agents have been killed.
Michael Chertoff, head of Homeland Security, has gone on the record to dismiss reports of armed incursions by a uniformed military force as “navigational mistakes”, claiming that the Mexican soldiers were “lost.” However, Chertoff offered no explanation as to why these “lost troops” fired on American agents. The Mexican government claims that uniformed military soldiers coming from Mexico are actually American soldiers disguised as Mexican soldiers. Furthermore, when confronted with the possibility that Mexican commandos called Los Zetas, trained by U.S. Special Forces at Fort Bragg to support the Drug War, have defected from the military and now work as mercenaries for the drug cartels, Mexican officials have worked very hard to debunk such evidence. In an official report presented to the U.S. on behalf of the Mexican Office of Inter-Intelligence Affairs, Mexico claimed that “the Zeta army, or syndicate, is no more real than the [mystical] crying lady of Puebla.”
Yet, contrary to Mexican denials, Los Zetas do exist, and the U.S. Border Patrol is very familiar with them. In a June 2006 investigative news piece by News Channel 5 in Texas, Zetas discussed their training and murderous missions. They also issued a warning:
“These two members of the Zeta army also have a warning for American law enforcement: They are here, with cells operating in Roma, Rio Grande City and Mission - and more are coming. ‘It is not a lie,’ Zeta-2 said. ‘They need to check good, because it is true.’”
Los Zetas: Guns Gone Bad
During the 1990s, U.S. Army Special Forces trained a number of Mexican federal agents and army units in special warfare tactics as part of an effort to aid the struggling Mexican government in the Drug War involving the violent drug cartels of northern Mexico. It’s been said that “the training was remedial in nature, and did not exceed international peace time law of NATO forces training foreign combat forces in tactical warfare.” Lest we worry about the operational proficiency of such mercenaries, Wikipedia has this un-attributed entry:
“The training lasted a mere three months in the sweltering North Carolina heat. In total, 300 Mexican agents and army officers participated in the summer long exercise. Years later, unsealed documents revealed that the training proved to be no more than an extended boot camp. “It was more a media and propaganda effort then it was for actual tactical training that could be used in combat,” one of the US Special Forces Officers that participated in the effort stated. “They brought them [sic] boys here, and most of them could fire a gun already, so we just showed them a lot of video of Special Forces training from the early 70’s. We were not about to teach or display tactics that make Special Forces what they are. That’s why when I read that these boys that are ‘Zetas’ were Special Forces trained, I almost wet myself with laughter.’”
What the Zetas may lack in professional specialized training, they make up for in ruthless and savage violence. Last year, Times Magazine exposed much of the brutality in an article called Brutal New Drug Gangs Are Terrorizing The U.S.-Mexico Border, and added further information about the identity of Los Zetas.
“According to Mexican officials, Lazcano was a clean-cut Mexican army recruit from the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz when he was picked a decade ago to be part of the highly trained Airborne Special Forces Group. The unit was sent to the eastern border to battle drug trafficking. But in the late 1990s, Lazcano and more than 30 other members of the special forces began working for drug lord Osiel Cardenas, head of the Matamoros-based Gulf cartel, which at the time controlled almost one-third of the Mexican drug trade.”
Official Mexican propaganda notwithstanding, it can be safely assumed that the Zetas are a paramilitary force that has made regular incursions over our border in sometimes heavily-armed assaults. Whether they are actual Mexican federales or uniformed mercenaries in the employ of the drug cartels remains to be seen. Perhaps a small clue to the uniforms is found in last year’s News Channel Five investigative report:
“‘The municipal police, the state police, the ministerial police, the police of the state,’ Zeta-1 said. ‘The soldiers and the federal preventive police. The military on the border. They are bought by the Zetas.’ The Zeta’s tools even include uniforms given by the police themselves.”
Regardless of who the uniformed soldiers are, or who commands them, what is paramount is that our southern border security is breached by foreign troops on an increasingly aggressive basis. While our National Guard troops are effectively hamstrung by political restrictions, foreign military soldiers press the advantage. Border Patrol agents have already given their lives in a heroic effort to guard our border, and it is only a matter of time before we lose American soldiers. Is that what it will take for our government to finally take the matter of border security seriously? This is no longer a matter of local civilian law enforcement; it is a matter of national security. For politicians, no matter their affiliation, to play partisan games with our national safety and security, is a betrayal of their constituents’ trust, and the constitutional duties of their office.
Kit Jarrell also contributed to this report.
Mexican Gunmen Attack National Guard At Border
Written by Heidi
5 January 2007
Trackback URL
I’ve written plenty about “incursions” (a euphemyism for invasions) of Mexican soldiers over our Southern border - and there have been hundreds. Our Border Patrol has already been repeatedly attacked. Our government has even betrayed private American citizens - the Minutemen - to the Mexican military.
But now our National Guard troops have been attacked by heavily armed Mexicans, on our own land, and you likely won’t hear anything about it in the media! Many thanks to Romeocat for finding this news at United Conservative:
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. [Because our stupid government would prosecute any NG troops that dared to defend our border, just as they did the Border Patrol agents last year.]
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.
Here’s video of the news report: National Guard unit stormed while patroling the border
Here’s more video: Border attack raises security concerns [Huh. Ya think?!]
In this second video clip, a spokesman from Governor Lopez’s office admits that the NG troops have protocols in place in the event of an attack and they are under orders to “call for back up and retreat”. That’s great. Heaven forbid we put troops on the border to actually protect the border. That would make too much sense and be entirely too effective.
The report in Click2Houston notes that the California National Guard helicopters that were deployed to help patrol the border were grounded when one of their choppers crashed in the mountains. Two NG soldiers and three BP agents were injured in the crash and are still hospitalized. I doubt we’ll do anything about it.
If this blatant attack was a probe of our non-existent defenses, and a test to see how much they could get away with, those bastards have their answer. We will do nothing.
In one year, from June 2005 to June 2006, 250 Border Patrol agents have been assaulted while on duty on the border. Some have been killed. We do nothing.
Our National Guard troops get attacked by a group of gunmen. We will do nothing.
Our Border Patrol agents try to stop a drug criminal and lightly wound him in the process - oh WAIT, then we’ll do something. We’ll give a free pass and immunity to that Mexican criminal so that he can help our government prosecute those two BP agents and toss them into prison.
Why will we do nothing, you might ask? Because these people are just looking for work…oh - and doing jobs that Americans won’t do… like attacking our National Guard troops and Border Patrol agents. I have to say, that’s one job I, as an American, am not willing to do.
Our government has gone mad!
Armed Mexican Military Breaches Our Border - Again, and Again, and Again…
You are viewing an article from the ER Archives. Please visit Euphoric Reality at its new location (http://euphoricreality.com) for timely news and editorial commentary.
The Washington Post has an article reporting on hostile Mexican military incursions over our borders in the past decade. As criticially important as this issue is, it hasn’t gotten any play in the press until now. I posted on this exact subject last November, and as you can tell from my language, I was irate when I wrote that post. I’m relieved that this information is getting out into the mainstream, though I have little hope that our governement will actually do its job and secure our borders. I hate to say it, but it’s almost like our government has abandoned our borders.
“I strongly deny any incursions by the Mexican military as inaccurate allegations,” Mr. Laveaga [spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in D.C.] said. “The Mexican military is a well-respected institution with strict rules on how to control Northern Mexico. It maintains a protocol of not going within a mile of the border, and those who would trespass would be severely punished.”
Huh. That’s a freakin’ laugh! A well-respected institution?? Hardly. The federales in Mexico are a public JOKE and for the most part, petty thugs. They have lucrative little entrepreneurial businesses on the side like poaching, escorting drug shipments, blackmail, white slavery, etc. Well, except for Mexico’s “elite troops”, which deserted a long time ago to join the hard-core Mexican drug cartel, the Zetas.
Mr. Laveaga said some drug smugglers headed “both north and south” wear uniforms and drive military-type vehicles, and might have “confused” U.S. authorities.
“Give me a break,” said T.J. Bonner, a 27-year Border Patrol veteran who heads the National Border Patrol Council. “Intrusions by the Mexican military to protect drug loads happen all the time and represent a significant threat to the agents.
“Why else would they be in the area, firing at federal agents in the United States? There is no other explanation,” said Mr. Bonner, whose organization represents all 10,000 of the nonsupervisory Border Patrol agents.
He also challenged reports that Mexican military units had crossed mistakenly into the United States, saying, “Every country’s military has a [global positioning system] nowadays, including the Mexicans.
“If the border is so poorly marked, why don’t the thousands of Border Patrol agents working 24/7 along it ever seem to get lost, and none of us have been issued a GPS,” he said.
So tell us again about that “well-respected military institution”, Mr. Laveaga? Face it, your military is either entirely corrupt, or entirely stupid. Neither of which qualifies it as a “well-respected institution”.
A total of 216 incursions by suspected Mexican military units have been documented since 1996 — 75 in California, 63 in Arizona and 78 in Texas, according to a Department of Homeland Security report.
The key word is “documented”. How many “undocumented” incursions have there been? Well, let’s see…We know that only 1 in 4 border jumpers are caught. What if, for kicks, we applied a similar ratio to illegal military incursions? I’d consider it a safe bet that the total number of Mexican military incursions onto American soil in the past decade is closer to 864, on the low end.
Attacks on Border Patrol agents in the past few years have been attributed to current or former Mexican military personnel. U.S. law-enforcement officials have long thought that current and former Mexican soldiers are being paid to protect drug shipments bound for the United States.
Several agents said the attacks have escalated in the past two years as U.S. security efforts on the border have increased — including the July shooting of two agents in an ambush near Nogales, Ariz., by assailants in black commando-type clothing, who fired more than 50 rounds. Authorities said the gunmen used military-style cover-and-concealment tactics to escape back into Mexico. No one has been arrested.
No one arrested. Of course not. American citizens, doing their jobs on American soil, are attacked by foreign troops and our government does nothing. In any nation, state, tribe, or clan, at any time in history, such attacks were an act of war.
Several former Mexican soldiers trained in the U.S. as anti-drug commandos are now part of a well-armed gang known as the “Zetas,” which has been linked to hundreds of killings and kidnappings on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border in southeastern Texas.
Many of the gang members have been identified as ex-members of an elite, anti-drug paratroop and intelligence battalion called the Special Air Mobile Force Group, who deserted in 1991.
Ahhh, there ya go - that’s where Mexico’s “elite troops” went - over to the Dark Side.
So now mainstream American will know that, in addition to al-Qaeda terrorists crossing into Texas by the dozens, we now have commando-style heavily-armed foreign soldiers regularly violating our border and attacking our citizens. When will our government say enough is enough? How many American deaths will it take? Our sovereignty is violated on a regular basis. It is appalling and beyond negligent - I’d call it a severe dereliction of duty - for President Bush to ignore our border crisis.
H/T: The Maryhunter
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it'll still serve the propaganda purposes of the terrorists, just like Cronkite on the Tet offensive. That'll help a lot to make Iraq into Vietnam. Which may be the Dem's real reason for going this way. |
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