Print version was posted back on the 9th or 10th, but you can't beat video to drive a point home.
Where is Washington? /rhetoric
Posted on 04/12/2005 8:28:26 PM PDT by axes_of_weezles
Along the Arizona-Mexico border near Yuma, Marines train for air combat on a massive military installation., but the area also happens to be a hot-spot for illegal immigration.
On Thursday, the border patrol received a distress call from seven migrant crossers, who happened to be stranded on the military site.
"We talked to them and found out there were actually twenty more that were up in the mountains, waiting to be rescued," said Border Patrol agent Vincent Hampel.
Nothing new for the Border Patrol, whose BORSTAR team rescues hundreds of distressed migrants, all across the U.S.-Mexico border, every year.
But apparently, illegal migrants are nothing new on this particular military site either. Last year, 1,500 illegal immigrants were apprehended there.
Already in the first three months of this year, the number is over 1,100.
It's forced the training range to shut down more than 500 times in the last six months, for a total of 1,100 training hours lost. ,\
"Every moment that's lost, it means we accept more risk in a combat theatre that our people won't come home," says Marine Colonel James Cooney.
Crossings on military sites also increase the danger for the illegal immigrants themselves.
This video shows a pilot dropping a practice bomb during a training exercise. Seconds after the bomb lands, you can see illegal immigrants, highligthed here, running from the target.
"God that was a close call," Cooney notes.
Good video.
More news from AZ.
Tax dollars hard at work.
I voted for Pat Buchanan in 2000 largely on his "secure the borders" platform. I voted for George Bush in 2004, hoping that he would wise up to all the problems caused by illegal immigration. Apparently it will take another major terrorist attack to make the nation realize that this is a very real threat to our national security - more important than North Korea and Iran nuclear weapons.
We ought to make the REST of the border a bombing range, too. 500 yards deep--on the Mexican side. If the government of Iran encouraged its citizens to sneak into the U.S. the way Mexico does Mexicans, we'd have bombed it back into the Ottoman Empire by now. Mexico needs a whuppin' again.
Yuma County is starting their own Minuteman Project there, but the Goldwater bombing range is off limits to everybody. due to it's hazzards! Nobody knows how many illigals have died out there due to trainning that goes on. I was posted out there for 4 years 95-99, & would go back in a new york moment!
"Every moment that's lost, it means we accept more risk in a combat theatre that our people won't come home," says Marine Colonel James Cooney.Marine train as hard as they fight. Tell me if this one doesn't affect national security!!! SIGH...
Wow. I've been following this issue for the last month or so. I understand the Minutemen are in stance... What is Uncle's stance on this? Where is W's stance?
Print version was posted back on the 9th or 10th, but you can't beat video to drive a point home.
Where is Washington? /rhetoric
Uncle doesnt like it, rank and file that is.
W called the Minutemen vigilantes.
W is not correct.
The Minutemen are not vigilantes.
They are babysitters. They are supervising people who can't do their jobs, namely the Border Patrol.
U.S. Constitution Article 4 Section 4:
"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,
BTTT
The video is good, except for the continued use of the terms "immigrants" and "migrants".
The video also points out the training time lost because of the illegal aliens, and that lost training puts our troops in danger, as was clearly stated by the commander.
So, in effect, George W. Bush has chosen to permit a border situation that diminishes the security of US citizens, and allows illegals to interfere with the training of the military he is sending to Iraq, diminishing their safety both here and abroad.
If he was a Democrat we would be SCREAMING for his impeachment.
Well, Our congress critter Jim Kolbe, has a brother with a ranch on the border. He is less than helpful.
Kolbe (R-RINO-Rumpranger) is pushing getting gays in the military, instead of showing interest in the border. A special place in hell awaits him. These persons with no conscience will have to answer in the afterlife. Too many people let him get away with the here and now. Will definitely support any conservative that runs against him.
He has blown off (no pun intended) numerous town halls on the border issue
Time to fire up the emails to W and Cheney, maybe Rummy, but he's fighting a differering war on a larger front... maybe not so. (I've been out of pocket for a few days).
My friends, I could speak pages, but I would not like to bore you with my heritage and love for America and the Rule of Law.
In several of your posts you have denigrated the Border Patrol. I hope that in doing so you are refering to the top level that has policy dictated to them by the administration of GW. Because the rank and file border patrol agent is doing the very best that they can while being pressured by their supervisors and swamped in paperwork. They feel that their work is and of no importance to the politicians. They catch them, bring them in and they are released to try again and again. The government policies stink and it results in a tremendous turn over in agents, something like 15 to 20 percent per year.
Actually, I believe what this article is referring to is the Barry M. Goldwater Range. Here is a link:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/goldwater.htm
The article contains this short description of the range's size and location:
"This southwest Arizona military range is used by the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Marine Corps for aerial combat training (air-to-air and air-to-ground), as well as for land-based combat training operations. The Range is roughly 20 miles wide by 120 miles long, extending from Yuma to approximately 25 miles east of Gila Bend, Arizona, and from Interstate Highway 8 south to the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge and/or the U.S./Mexican border.
The Barry M. Goldwater Range encompasses about 1.7 million acres of withdrawn public land and Department of Defense owned land. P.L. 106-65, however, significantly reduced its area by excluding the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge (a part of the Range under previous withdrawals) from the withdrawal and providing for the eventual relinquishment of some parcels. When these parcels (totaling 112,179 acres) are relinquished, the Range will encompass about 1.6 million acres."
I spent some time in the western part of the range when I was assigned to 2nd LAAM Bn, a Marine Corps HAWK missile unit. We referred to it then as the Luke AFB Bombing Range. A number of old runways and building foundations left over from temporary training airbases established to train bomber and fighter crews during WWII. The battalion used to deploy to one of these and set up to shot missiles at drones. Real miserable this time of year; warm/hot in the daytime, still pretty cold at night. No water, rugged mountains, desolate stretches of road.
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