[El Gato]

Arming them might be the first order of business.

They were armed, but chose to retreat, since they aren't supposed to "confront" any invaders. It's the ROE that's a problem, not the equipment.

[Wallace T.]

The fate of several Marines in Iraq who have been accused of shooting enemy combatants and will be subjected to Star Chamber type proceedings by military courts may well be a factor in the actions of National Guardsmen on our southern border. Additionally, the 20 year sentences imposed on Border Patrol agents recently for actions against drug runners must also be considered. If fighting back will subject military and police officers to court martial and/or long prison terms, it is understandable that they will back down from confrontations.

Unless the conservatives in Congress and talk radio holler loud enough and forcefully enough on the hamstringing of the military and the Border Patrol, in both the Middle East and the border with Mexico, we will lose our influence overseas and maybe even American control of the Southwestern states in the long term. Limited war and measured responses failed in Korea and Vietnam. The elder President Bush restrained General Schwarzkopf from taking Baghdad at a time when our military capacity was greater than it is now, due to the Reagan buildup in 1991. Bush's reward for his restraint was an assassination attempt in 1993 sponsored by Saddam Hussein.

There is no substitute for victory.