Posted on 05/19/2006 7:50:15 PM PDT by new yorker 77
President Bush's planned deployment of National Guard troops to the Mexican border would last at least two years with no clear end date, according to a Pentagon memo obtained Friday by The Associated Press.
The one-page "initial guidance" memo to National Guard leaders in border states does not address the estimated cost of the mission or when soldiers would be deployed. But high-ranking officials in the California National Guard said they were told Friday that deployments would not begin before early June.
While the military document makes clear the troops would remain under the command of their governors, it also indicates a high degree of federal control over operations. It states that the National Guard Bureau's Army and Air Directories "will serve as the states' focal points for force-planning, training, organizing and equipping their forces."
Guardsmen in "all other states, territories and the District of Columbia" will serve a supportive role, according to the memo.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has not yet decided whether to commit troops to the mission, led a conference call with the governors of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to discuss the memo.
"There still remains a lot of unanswered questions that the governor is concerned about," Adam Mandelsohn, Schwarzenegger's communications director. "Most specifically, the outstanding funding issues and whether there is a commitment to the two-year time frame," he said.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano said they would support the deployment of National Guard troops to the border, while New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat, has been more critical of the plan.
A spokeswoman for Perry said the governors agreed to send a letter asking the Bush administration to clarify issues such as funding, rotation and troop levels that would be stationed in each of the states.
The president outlined the plan Monday night as part of a national address on curbing illegal immigration, pledging to gain control of the border and give up to 12 million illegal immigrants a chance at citizenship.
He proposed deploying 6,000 troops at a time to the border in two-week rotations. The deployments would be temporary, he said, until enough Border Patrol agents were hired to secure the mission. He asked Congress to add 6,000 more Border Patrol agents by the end of his presidency.
The White House also said the troops would be financed with part of the $1.9 billion requested from Congress this year to supplement border enforcement.
The memo sent Friday to Guard leaders went further, stating that units would remain in a "federally funded" mission for "up to one year, with a force reduction to 3,000 during the second year."
The document described an "end date" for the mission when the U.S. Border Patrol operation "gains independent operational control of the (southwest border) and National Guard forces are no longer required for this mission."
The memo said the Guard units' missions will focus on "surveillance, reconnaissance, aviation, intelligence, engineering, training, vehicle dismantling, linguistics ... transportation and logistics."
They will not be asked to perform law-enforcement functions, but rather provide "vetted and pre-coordinated support to law enforcement."
___
Associated Press Writers Paul Davenport in Phoenix and Sheila Flynn in Dallas contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
Fair enough.
Gee hon, it's how these things go. Get a grip.
LOL! That's priceless. You also neglected to mention how we are acting unilaterally, rushing to protect the border!
Fishtalk said: "Republicans. They only know a public relations opportunity when it smacks them in the face. Every Republican in the House and Senate should be out and about cackling about Harry Reid's assertion that making English our language is discrimination."
They should also be "cackling" about the 32+/- Democrats who voted against making English the US's official language (including Biden, Hillary, Kerry, Kennedy, Bayh, etc)
And minus a sovereign nation? No sweat!
FOTFLOL!
You have it nailed!
Instead, the Republicans are running around like the Keystone Kops.
Even Rush was saying today -- they have no leadership; they show no leadership.
Why send them back? Maybe it will take a Speaker Pelosi and a Majority Leader Reid to wake them up. Nothing else seems to work. They sure are ignoring their constituents on the illegal immigration issue.
Look at the number of issues the WH has flopped around like a dying mackeral just since the last election--Social Security, Miers, Dubai DPW, amnesty for illegals, English as the National language....
First thing, the AP gets its hands on an actual memorandum. Not a mid of night phone call. An actual memo. Second, the memo is from the pentagon. Now I know there's leakers everywhere but this is a whole lot for it not to be intentional.
Also, this memo was distributed to a whole bunch of states so I guess it's probably not a leak at all when you think about it. Probably Joe Blow in Outpost 12 faxed a copy to the AP.
The thing to keep in mind here, this is a rather obvious attempt to put this two year thing into our collective heads. Because many of us doubt this administration's (specifically the Senate's) sincerity on this matter.
But what does a memo mean? So they send out a memo stating the rotation term could be two years. It's not like they're putting us in a time machine and thrusting us forward two years to see if there are still guards at the border.
It's like the whole middle class in this country, those who carry this country on their backs, has crossed its arms on this matter and doesn't believe a word those in the political class are telling us.
And why the hell should we? WE...meaning us silly folk who are tired of paying for welfare, health care costs, on and on, for these illegals. WE...who were killed on the attacks of 9-11...not a soldier died, not one politician. WE who want not just anybody la-di-da to just traipse across our borders. WE...who have the common sense and they call it that for a readon.
I am perfectly and very serious about this putting aside silly arguments.
I do not believe a sniff of the smoke they are blowing in our face.
How can we win the peace around here???
Can we find a exit strategy for every thread turning negative????
Depends on the per diem.
Dang. I might be guard bumming around again. This sounds good.
/johnny
God will know his own.
And I'm all atwitchin at the though of helping some haji reach his goal.
Clear, load, rack, mash.
It isn't rocket science. except for the earplugs.
/johnny
Given the two week deployment criteria, that means up to 150,000 Guardsmen will eventually be sent to the border.
Absolutely correct. I am sure there was no MSM complaining about "no clear end date" in the Balkans.
"Instead, the Republicans are running around like the Keystone Kops."
...and once again, they can't admit it, but instead bitch about him...
"Congress makes and changes laws. "
Actually more "law" is created by the administrative branch of the U.S. government. That is solidly controlled by democratic plants.
quagmire !!!!!!!!!
heh
ditto on the good btw
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.