Posted on 02/06/2006 9:01:41 AM PST by bikepacker67
Some officials suggested Wednesday that the confrontation between Texas law officers earlier this week was with drug smugglers, not Mexican soldiers assisting narcotics traffickers across the Rio Grande.
But a Border Patrol agent who spoke on condition of anonymity said continuous cover-ups by Mexican and U.S. officials have put many agents and American lives in danger.
"I think it shows how desperate the situation has become. I think it's insulting to expect Americans to believe what (Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael) Chertoff and the Mexican government are saying," the agent said Wednesday.
"Isn't it the most reasonable explanation that if men are dressed as soldiers, with military vehicles and mounted machine guns that these guys are soldiers - not some cartel trying to ruin diplomatic relations?"
Photos of what appeared to be Mexican troops in the United States during Monday's incident shocked many Americans, although Mexico officials denied the military was involved.
But to most Mexicans it just offered further proof that drug traffickers run rampant in the border area in military-style vehicles, wearing uniforms and, in some cases, using military firepower.
"It is known that these are drug traffickers using military uniforms and they were not even regulation military uniforms," said Mexican presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar.
T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, said that he was insulted by the U.S. government's lack of response to the serious nature of the incursions.
"I don't believe they are rogue elements because of the markings of the vehicles and because of the insignias on their uniforms and further we've caught them in the past," Bonner said.
"Mexico is being less than honest with us. I don't understand what the U.S. interest is in aiding and abetting what is going on at the border. I don't have faith that it will stop before some of our law enforcement officers are murdered in the line of duty."
A U.S. law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity said the FBI and other agencies found no evidence the uniformed men involved in Monday's incident were Mexican soldiers.
But Hardrick Crawford Jr., a former special agent who was in charge of the FBI's El Paso's office, said he covered numerous narcotics cases along the border and documented military incursions since the mid-'90s. He said he expected both governments to deny the incursions.
"It's an embarrassment to both countries for the truth of these incursions to come out," Crawford said.
"I was concerned about the incursions on the border when I first got to El Paso. I wanted agents to go interview every rancher and resident in the area and I wanted the military incursions to be documented. I thought this would be important information - but many people didn't do anything about these incursions."
Crawford added that investigations in Mexico were difficult to conduct because the honest Mexican residents didn't want to put their own lives in danger by giving law enforcement officials information on the drug cartels.
"The drug trade is too lucrative," Crawford said. "Mexican soldiers and police officials are paid little. So it's just too tempting. With the increased efficiency and effort along the border, narcotics traffickers can bring in whatever they want. And if you go against them they'll kill you."
This week's standoff comes at a time of rising anger over border security, with the United States considering extending a wall along its 2,000-mile-long frontier with Mexico - an idea Mexicans resent.
"We have communicated at the diplomatic level with the government of Mexico on the matter and requested that they investigate the matter - and that U.S. authorities are already investigating the incident," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement.
The Mexican government also cited its long-standing policy that its soldiers must stay away from the border unless they have special authorization.
Rick Glancey of the Texas Border Sheriffs' Coalition said the confrontation began 50 miles east of El Paso when state police tried to stop three sport utility vehicles on Interstate 10. The vehicles made a quick U-turn and headed south toward the border, a few miles away.
Crossing the border, one SUV got stuck crossing the Rio Grande, and men in a Humvee tried in vain to tow it out. Then a group of men in civilian clothes began unloading what appeared to be bundles of marijuana, and torched the SUV before fleeing.
The Mexican army press office said it had no information on Monday's incident.
Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said in a statement that the confrontation, in which shots were not fired, could have been staged to "damage the image of our armed forces and bilateral cooperation."
These Mexican army incursions prove more than anything else the absolute necessity for an effective border fence. The fact that the Bush administration covers up these violations of our sovereignty is an outrage.
If the Left had a brain in their head, this is what they'd be hammering GW on.
Go back to DU, troll!
/sarc
Will a border fence stop tunnels from being built/used?
El Presidente Jorge Arbusto loves cheap labor.
Where is W ? Where he has always been......promoting illegal immigration with every speech!
A good one would.
But the first requirement is not building something, it's getting leadership who cares more about our nation than some damned treasonous socialist mega-community.
What is the U.S. doing covering up for the Mexican Army?
"Will a border fence stop tunnels from being built/used?"
Were the Mexican Army incursions under discussion accomplished by tunnels?
I don't know the answer to the question, but I'll offer an opinion in the form of a question. Could it be money?
No media is going to attempt to find out. The answer would possibly get the whole family doing the 6 footer.
I don't know the answer to the question, but I'll offer an opinion in the form of a question. Could it be money?
No media is going to attempt to find out. The answer would possibly get the whole family doing the 6 footer.
It isn't difficult to not find what you're not looking for.
Not this discussion; I was referencing the one from last week. Seemed like a logical segue to me.
Good one.
No doubt drug smugglers, as recently evidenced, would be willing to expend a lot of money and effort to tunnel under a fence since they will tunnel even when there is no fence so as to avoid detection. I don't know how effective sensors placed along a fence would be in detecting tunneling. And I don't know how deep a concrete foundation would have to be to deter all but the most resourceful tunnelers. But I am convinced that an Israeli-type fence would greatly diminish walk-across the border illegal immigrants. I'm open to suggestions for impeding the drug smugglers. Right now, I am most interested in ending the invasion of millions of illegal aliens.
I am just happy the news of these intrusions is finally getting out to the general public. They have been happening for years and the violence is escalating. For a long time we could not get anyone to believe these incidents were happening at all. Even fairly recently here on FR, many just couldn't believe it. It all just sounds too far fetched and no one could imagine that our government would allow it to happen.
I have always believed if the truth of what happens on the border is told, that is the first step to forcing something to be done to fix it. Yes we need a real fence and I hope everyone realizes what ever it costs will be cheap in the long run.
That was good.
Mexican soldiers: doing the patrolling American soldiers haven't been ordered to do.
(But, but--aren't they supposed to stay in . . . . Mexico?)
The diplomacy really is going to hit the fan when a good citizen shoots a member of this invading army.
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