Mexican border incursions redux: In 1916, Wilson sent in the Army

1 posted on 01/27/2006 12:17:40 PM PST by tbird5

"Wilson sent in the Army"

Bush surrenders, offers Amnesty.

2 posted on 01/27/2006 12:21:03 PM PST by VU4G10 (Have You Forgotten?)

And how did that work out?

3 posted on 01/27/2006 12:21:03 PM PST by sono (Ted Kennedy's naming his dog Splash is like Jack Abramoff naming his dog Bribe.)

Yet in 1916, when Pancho Villa's bandits raided Columbus, N.M., a Democratic president didn't hesitate.

Ouch. That's gotta hurt.

4 posted on 01/27/2006 12:23:59 PM PST by grobdriver (Let the embeds check the bodies!)

Bush will do something soon, as soon as Fox tells him what!!!

5 posted on 01/27/2006 12:24:22 PM PST by Dewy (1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;)

Let's just give them back California and let them pay us reparations for taking care of that state for the past 150 years. . .

6 posted on 01/27/2006 12:27:02 PM PST by CondorFlight

These guys dealt with the Mexican army pretty well at about that time, too.

7 posted on 01/27/2006 12:27:14 PM PST by ClearCase_guy

The bottom line is Jorge is "concern about the reports", not that criminals are actually crossing into America unthwarted. Too many reports and he might have to address the problem - not actually do anything about it, but his poll numbers might drop if he didn't speak out on it.

8 posted on 01/27/2006 12:29:25 PM PST by mtbopfuyn (Legality does not dictate morality... Lavin)

To: ClearCase_guy

April 21, 1836 was another good day.

9 posted on 01/27/2006 12:31:10 PM PST by mtbopfuyn (Legality does not dictate morality... Lavin)

10 posted on 01/27/2006 12:33:04 PM PST by Cannoneer No. 4 (‘If I drove a truck off a cliff and survived, I’d probably go back to driving a truck again.’)

Bush surrenders, offers Amnesty.

I sense a bit of aggravation your post.

Perhaps enlightening all of us to a viable alternative to your source of aggravation would be a reasonable request.

11 posted on 01/27/2006 12:33:38 PM PST by EGPWS

12 posted on 01/27/2006 12:38:47 PM PST by lesser_satan

13 posted on 01/27/2006 12:41:07 PM PST by Cannoneer No. 4 (‘If I drove a truck off a cliff and survived, I’d probably go back to driving a truck again.’)

To: ClearCase_guy

14 posted on 01/27/2006 12:42:45 PM PST by Publius

Best movie ever made.

15 posted on 01/27/2006 12:44:50 PM PST by ClearCase_guy

16 posted on 01/27/2006 12:45:02 PM PST by Cannoneer No. 4 (‘If I drove a truck off a cliff and survived, I’d probably go back to driving a truck again.’)

Time for history to repeat itself.

17 posted on 01/27/2006 12:45:39 PM PST by Buffettfan

To: Cannoneer No. 4

A young George Patton managed to wangle his way onto Gen. Pershing's staff back in 1916. He later led a raid in an early armored car that netted a few dead bandits. He brought them back to HQ strapped across the hood of his car...can you imagine what CNN would do with THOSE pictures today?

18 posted on 01/27/2006 12:45:44 PM PST by Tallguy (When it's a bet between reality and delusion, bet on reality -- Mark Steyn)

To: ClearCase_guy

They all died. The Outlaw Josey Wales was still kicking, though dripping, at the end of the flick.

19 posted on 01/27/2006 12:46:57 PM PST by Cannoneer No. 4 (‘If I drove a truck off a cliff and survived, I’d probably go back to driving a truck again.’)

Villa staged the Columbus attack out of desperation. The Carranzistas had decively smashed his army at the Battle of Celya in April 1915. As his forces melted awy and the federal forces relentlessly closed in Villa in desperation perpetrated the Columbus raid and an earlier atrocity when his forces executed a party of American mining engineers and technicians brought to Mexico by the federalistas to try and restart the vital copper mining industry. The purpose of both of these actions, beyond blind revenge on Americans who Villa blamed for his defeats was to try to embroil the US in a war with Mexico. If war came, Villa reasoned, he would become a de facto ally of the Carranza government and as such would be able to rebuild his power base in Chihuahua.

It didn't work out that way. While US forces came near to sparking a war as the Carranza government attempted to hamper and block movement of US forces in Mexico and two armed clashes resulted the Wilson administration carefully steered a course that kept US forces in Mexico hunting Villa without succumbing to strong domestic pressure for a general attack on all Mexican forces in the area of operation.

Whether through deliberate Carranzista leaks of information or through intel sources that were never disclosed, Pershing's forces had good enough intel about the Villistas that significant pieces of his dwindling forces were destroyed or dispersed in several engagements. Villa himself had the humiliating experience of being reduced to moving like a fugitive about what had been his personal stamping grounds and on on occasion was forced to hide is a cave for a day as US forces scoured the area he was in.

Villa never recovered from Celaya and he didn't get his war to jump-start his fortunes. The Wilson administration, frequently, and justifiably taken to task for making policy based on wishful thinking in the Punitive Expedition demonstrated a sophisticated grasp of political realities. The goal was to punish Villa and his bandit army not a war with Mexico to distract the US as a confrontation with Germany was looming.

The following site has a very detailed look at the Battle of Celaya and its victor Alfredo Obregon, who was if anyone could be described as such the greatest figure to come out of the Mexican Civil War:

http://europeanhistory.about.com/library/prm/blbloodandsilverprm1.htm

The best book on the US Army and the Punitive Expedition is 'Blood on the Border' by the late Clarence Clendenning.

20 posted on 01/27/2006 12:46:59 PM PST by robowombat

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