Posted on 04/14/2005 8:42:25 AM PDT by churchillbuff
What would you call it if a neighboring country used its military forces to escort illegal border crossers, including drug-runners, to border areas known to be less secure?
I'd call it an act of war.
And that's what the Mexican government stands accused of doing this week – not just by the Minuteman Project President Bush derides as a "vigilante" movement, but by Border Patrol officers and elected U.S. officials.
President Bush still has a little time to save face – though it is slipping away quickly.
He can change directions, admit that the Mexican border poses the No. 1 national security threat to the United States and take definitive action to secure it, or he can face the almost certain risk of a major terrorist attack on this country with the border providing the entry point.
There are simply no other choices for Bush.
The "cheap labor" argument no longer holds water – not when we are squandering billions on ineffectual homeland security provisions that are rendered meaningless by the openness of the border.
Members of the president's own party in Congress are the whistleblowers on this latest outrage. He can't blame partisan politics. The president's support on every other issue of importance to his administration depends on a quick reversal of his misguided border policies.
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., and chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, had some harsh but appropriate words for Bush's blindness to the border threat:
The president of Mexico is threatening to sue any member of the Minuteman who have contact with a Mexican national, threatening to take the U.S. into the International Court of Justice at the Hague over the passage of Prop 200 in Arizona, and is providing transportation to Mexican nationals trying to sneak into the U.S. ... One could say he is acting in the best interest of his nation. Isn't it unfortunate we cannot say the same thing about President Bush?
Border Patrol sources say the Mexican army recently moved about 1,000 troops to the Agua Prieta region, just south of where the Minutemen are. These troops, the sources say, are diverting all of the illegal alien and drug-smuggling traffic away from the Minutemen.
Only dramatic action by Bush can save his presidency from disgrace.
He needs to place troops on the border to supplement Border Patrol agents. He needs to support congressional efforts to hire 10,000 more Border Patrol agents over the next five years. And he needs to work with Congress on a bill to seal the entire Mexican border with a security fence.
Those should be the minimal conditions Congress requires even for discussion of the president's misguided call for a "guest-worker" amnesty program.
Even if the nation were not facing an imminent threat from cross-border terrorism, this would be the only responsible course of action. But today, after what Americans witnessed Sept. 11, 2001, we all recognize the next attack could be far worse.
It's time for Bush to admit he was wrong – that he made a mistake, that he miscalculated the threat the open border represents.
Yes, he will open himself to criticism by those who will never support him. But he can still win back the tens of millions of responsible Americans who only want what is best for this country.
Time is running out for the Bush administration and the future of his party.
If Republicans don't provide Americans with an alternative and responsible immigration and border policy, the party will go the way of the Whigs and the Bull Moose Party.
The clock is ticking and the bomb that will doom the Republicans and destroy the Bush legacy and kill untold numbers of Americans could go off at any moment.
One thing you need to know, that gets lost over time, jveritas was not born in America nor is he a Citizen.
In case you haven't heard, the republicans have been split by Tancredo and don't have the votes to pass anything.
"And his(Bush's) guest worker plan is badly flawed"
Bush's guest worker plan is a few broad statements to which Congress would add detail. This has not been done. There are no details. There is no Bush bill in Congress. Explain to me how you can describe these details if they don't exist.
Let's say the Bush plan eventually(not likely) gets transformed into a bill. Do you think its composition in regard to "teeth to insure compliance" would be much different from any of the other guest worker reform bills in Congress. Do you know what is in any of these other reform bill?
Mexico is fast becoming our Palestinian problem. Vincente Arafat makes big promises about stopping the illegal crossers and goes to the south/central american summit meetings and says they're taking America back while he helps illegal crossers.
By "Spanish", I mean Spanish people who settled in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. They were the first European settlers in this part of the country, other than some trappers and other traders. They were here before there was a USA or Mexico. Please study up a bit.
Yep just before President Reagan was sworn in, and then all hell let loose after that! Are we sure that this is a conservative Republican web site.
Good pontification! Nothing wrong, imho, with your progression of thinking. I was at that point in 1988 when I felt I had to pull the lever for GB I. What I saw then has gotten worse since: we're relapsing toward Nixonism; a weak, big-government loving, inside-the-beltway, country-club, principles compromising, self-agrandizing approach to government. In many ways, it's the antithesis of RR conservatism.
If the GOP isn't made to stop soon, the decline of the party toward the left may be irreversible. I refuse to be an enabler anymore.
The Airport Check point cartoon says it all. I was leaving Washington DC and I saw this scene play out with an older gentleman. I was P.O. and fit to be tied. Pearl Harbor will pale in comparison to what this army of illegals will do when they are in place and ordered to strike.
"Please study up a bit."
You said, "Spanish", which fits many ,many people. So, before you go making educational insults, try being more specific. I suggest you study literature and writing a bit more to understand the concept of being succinct.
"One thing you need to know, that gets lost over time, jveritas was not born in America nor is he a Citizen.
"
I was getting that impression. Interesting that the founding fathers knew enough about subversion that they demanded citizenship for representatives and birth rights for President.
So if they're biased towards stopping the destruction of this country from some illegal aliens who come to rob, rape, murder, deal drugs, commit welfare fraud, etc. you have a problem with that?......cause that's what many come here to do and that's an "unbiased fact"
W's problem, admitted by Fox and the other top Mexicans: They have been using us as the safety valve and cash cow for their joke operation. The Mexican oligarchy are postponing their inevitable crash. So's W. The High Kahunas of the GOP think they can buy time, or something, because as we all know, when (no way "IF") this outhouse to the South explodes, there's no way we'll avoid getting a whole lot of their effluvium all over us. You guys think you have seen illegal immigration? Wait until this happens ... we'll all have 10 Mexicans under the bed!
IMHO, Mexico simply CANNOT develop because the legal, financial, governmental, and mental infrastructure is just not there. If an American were to judge by the slick downtown 10 blocks of the 5 major cities, one might never guess. But if one were to drive 3 miles in any direction, the true desperate condition of this country becomes apparent. Exactly what we can do about this is a mystery to me, and apparently everyone else.
It ain't about the money. It's about that there's just nowhere and no way to PUT any money where it will do some good. Fire in the hole!
I'm not going to argue with you. I grew up in northern New Mexico and have lived in Mexico. I know, understand and appreciate the culture. "Spanish" is a proud term the "Spanish" people use to this day. There are blond, blue-eyed "Spanish" people. They are decendents of people who came directly from Spain to the New World. Most "Mexicans" are a mix of Indian and Spanish, among others. The Spanish people of our South-west were here before much of our east coast was fully settled.
Y hablo espanol, tambien. Gracias.
I've been a pretty strong Bush supporter throughout his tenure as president and will continue to be, but for the life of me, I cannot understand how he thinks with regard to the border with Mexico. It's really incomprehensible to me.
He's so serious about the war on terror, but our southern border is - for all intents and purposes - completely insecure. Seems like a no-brainer to me. I just don't get it.
Republicans are awash in profit from illegal labor. They're not enforcing the law because it would mean arresting themselves. Seems like a good time for a tea party. Anyone have some biscuits.
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