[rdb3]

There is no reason why we can't have our military on the border instead of Iraq...

Stop right there. I want a vigorously enlarged Border Patrol. What we have now is a joke.

Soldiers are soldiers, and as a vet, I'm adamantly against placing our troops on the borders.

[Solamente]

Bob Grant WOR AM Radio 710 NYC had a good idea last week; land mines, preceded by ample warning signs.

[pageonetoo]

...as a vet, I'm adamantly against placing our troops on the borders.

Why? Isn't it important enough? I'm a Navy vet, from '66-'68, have all the appropriate ribbons, and a couple extra. I may be wrong, but I think defending our own border is why we have a standing Army (Navy, and AF). I see nothing about stationing troops in foreign lands, within our Constitution...

Did I miss something? Where is the mandate for a "border patrol"?

[ConsentofGoverned]

"I'm adamantly against placing our troops on the borders." even as a short term answer to the problem??

who do you think would help the border patrol better??

Whats your answer to increase funding to an Border patrol that has failed and is riddled with corruption??

[ExcursionGuy84]

Say, Wait a minute:

Don't we have us some 'ole B-52's and other payload-droppers out in the Mojave???

Why not restore them to airworthiness (just enough to stay aloft & maneuver), fill'em with fuel & bombs and pilot them right out over the masses coming in???

Who knows? We might even get to take out one or more of those Commando's bases of ops.

[umgud]

If we didn't have an illegal immigration problem, the threat of terror still demands we protect our borders.

[Dante3]

No one wants to do away with the Border Patrol. But they are unable to stop the invasion of this country. We are facing a new type of war.

[ZULU]

I respect your opinion, but disagree,

What is going on now on the Mexican border is not a simple issue of illegal immigrants.

Its a case of an active conspiracy by a foreign power, i.e. Mexico, to violate our borders by encouraging their citizens, directing them, and providing them with active assistance to elude our border guards.

What Mexico is involved with is in effect an act of war against the United States.

Bush has got to wise up, stop his love affair with Vicente Fox, and take whatever measures are necessary to impress upon the Mexican government the negative consequences of this insufferable situation.

[Iscool]

you are against our military defending our country by protecting the borders...But somehow I suspect you are gleeful about our border patrol agents AND our military defending Iraq's borders...

Would be the perfect job and training for our National Guard, land and air...

But when one considers we have an official WAR on drugs and terror, you have to wonder why our gov't, who's job it is to defend the citizens of our country, refuses to defend it...

When something doesn't make sense, usually there's a buck in it...And in this case, it's a very big buck...Maybe MENA wasn't just a rumor after all...

[Dat Mon]

YOU SAID..."I want a vigorously enlarged Border Patrol. What we have now is a joke.

Soldiers are soldiers, and as a vet, I'm adamantly against placing our troops on the borders."

My responses...Emphatically YES and YES and NO.

No question the Border Patrol is undermanned...with outdated equipment. Beyond that...there is no infrastructure, including processing and detention facilities, biometric IDs, and computer databases to make for an efficient system of Border Security.

The new HSA guy Chertoff has said he wants to address these issues with sweeping reform of the already bureaucratic morass of HSA...but it remains to be seen what he can do and when he can do it.

The fact remains that in addition to manpower...which I agree doesn't need to be infantry troops on the ground...there are intelligence and surveillance assets needed...which act as force multipliers.

I believe that the best way to run these operations is to have highly trained teams of personnel...some of whom will have top clearances....man sensor and surveillance equipment. In addition...working with the military teams will be some of 'those' kind of guys...counter terrorism sorts...all hard core.

The Border Patrol guys can go out and make the actual collars in most cases....exceptions are cases such as this where the bad guys are paramilitary, OR where the bad guys are ME sponsored terrorists sneaking a WMD device across the border.

That IMHO is a bit too hard core for the straight Border Patrol.

[garybob]

Soldiers are soldiers, and as a vet, I'm adamantly against placing our troops on the borders.

As a vet, when I read "Their assailants were dressed in black commando-type clothing, used high-powered weapons and hand-held radios to point out the agents' location, and withdrew from the area using military-style cover and concealment tactics to escape back into Mexico." I think of SEALs or Army Rangers blocking their retreat into Mexico.

Time to take out the trash