Article

2007-01-17 Home Front: WoT

I dunno. Because they didn't want to go to prison for 20 years?

Questions still linger about what really happened two weeks ago when a National Guard observation team was forced by four armed men to retreat from its post east of Sasabe. Federal lawmakers have joined their state counterparts in demanding answers about the Jan. 3 incident. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff asking what the agency has learned and how it will handle future hostile confrontations.

Last week, Arizona lawmakers asked for an explanation as to why National Guard troops fled their observation post. Rep. Warde Nichols, R-Gilbert, who chairs the House Committee on Property Rights and Homeland Security, has scheduled a Jan. 29 meeting at which the committee will question Maj. Gen. David Rataczak, the state Guard commander. "I've heard two or three different stories of what happened at the border," Nichols said . "We want to get to the bottom of what happened and not stay in the realm of 'he said, she said.' "

Among the questions that loom is whether the Guard troops had ammunition in their rifles, who the armed men were and what the Guard is allowed to do when confronted, he said. Border Patrol officials have scoffed at reports that the troops didn't have ammunition in their rifles. The only National Guard troops without loaded weapons are those working in administrative positions and helping with construction of fences and vehicle barriers, and repairing roads, said Gustavo Soto, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman. "They've had rifles and ammunition since day one," Soto said.

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Reports that the National Guard Entrance Identification Team was forced to flee or abandon its post don't accurately describe the incident, Soto said. Some of the confusion can be traced to the agency's own statements in the days after the incident. On Jan. 4, the next day, a Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman said the National Guard team was forced to flee its post after it had been compromised and deemed the episode a significant incident.

The following day, Tucson Sector spokesmen were forwarding all inquiries to headquarters in Washington.

Border Patrol headquarters spokesman Mario Martinez said troops moved to a safer location after an armed group came within 100 yards of their post, and notified Border Patrol agents. When agents arrived minutes later, the armed individuals were gone, but the agents tracked their footprints to the U.S.-Mexican border, he said. "The entrance-identification team acted appropriately and did what they were expected to do," Martinez said.

Officials in the Tucson Sector say there will be no changes in protocol and that the observation posts are staffed and operational. Both headquarters and sector spokesmen said Guard troops have the green light to use their weapons if necessary. "If they see armed individuals coming toward them, they are going to move to a safer position and defend themselves," Soto said. "If they were fired upon, they would return fire."

There are dozens of National Guard entrance-identification teams along the Mexican border, including east and west of both Nogales and Sasabe and on the Tohono O'odham Nation. The troops stand post on hilltops next to army-green tents and serve as extra eyes and ears for the Border Patrol.

Thompson's letter, also signed by Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Mex,~~for whom non-citizens represented the margin of victory in her first election~~ requests information on how many illegal entries involved armed suspects in 2006, how sightings of armed entrants are handled, and the rules of engagement and force for the National Guard. "This situation highlights a potential operational gap between the National Guard and the Border Patrol that must be filled immediately to ensure that this type of incident is not repeated," Thompson said in an e-mail Tuesday.

Nichols remains dissatisfied with the answers. Nichols has received calls from National Guard members who say the troops didn't have ammunition in their rifles, he said. He plans to question Rataczak about that in the hearing. His greatest concern is that the armed men who many believe could have been drug smugglers were testing the Guard troops to find out what they could do in future showdowns. "I believe that those people in the National Guard are more at risk today than they were two weeks ago because if those illegals are testing them, now they know that when they come across with weapons that we are going to retreat," Nichols said.

As it becomes more difficult for smugglers to get their goods across the border, frustration will increase, Soto said.

Violence is a constant companion for any agent or officer working the border, but no more so now than it was a month ago, national Border Patrol spokesman Martinez said. "The Border Patrol isn't just out there watching the sunset and the sunrise," Martinez said. "There are criminals out there committing criminal acts and there is an inherent level of risk."

The incident took place in the busiest stretch of the Tucson Sector for marijuana seizures. From Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, seizures were up 28 percent over the same time the previous fiscal year. Marijuana seizures are up 26 percent across the Southwest border. Apprehensions, meanwhile, are down by 8 percent in the Tucson Sector and by 26 percent across the Southwest border. The incident and murky details about what happened have raised concerns and questions ~~on Rantburg~~ among those who follow military or border issues in Tucson, said Bill Langeman, a business consultant in Tucson.

He contacted the offices of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. He heard back only from Kyl's office ~~since the other two are in favor of illegal invasion~~, where someone read him the official statement on the incident. He has heard secondhand that National Guard members had guns but no bullets. "I'm furious that this happened and I can't get a straight answer about how it happened," said Langeman, 53. "This just sounds like the usual federal cover-up."

The Border Patrol continues to investigate the confrontation and has asked Mexican authorities to do the same, Martinez said. "I can tell you we are going to be monitoring that area a lot closer," Martinez said.

Posted by Jackal 2007-01-17 08:08|| || Front Page|| [11133 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 The Border Patrol continues to investigate the confrontation and has asked Mexican authorities to do the same, Martinez said.

The Mexican authorities that arent involved in Narcotics smuggling, human trafficking, or gang warfare should be a big help in getting to the bottom of all this. Of course, locating those individuals may take some time.

Posted by DepotGuy 2007-01-17 09:09|| 2007-01-17 09:09|| Front Page Top

#2 In fact they may have to be dug up, literally.

Posted by Procopius2k 2007-01-17 09:34|| 2007-01-17 09:34|| Front Page Top

#3 "the usual federal cover-up" Indeed.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2007-01-17 11:45|| 2007-01-17 11:45|| Front Page Top

#4 I've seen proposed elsewhere that this is a good example of why States need to create true militias independent of the National Guard. Members of such a militia could not, in peacetime, be NG members or Reservists, so they could not be put on active duty or otherwise seized by the federal government or on order of the President.

This would guarantee individual States a reaction force against natural disasters, the ability to (armed) patrol that State's international border, and through deputization to the State Police, the ability of the militia to both arrest, and to use firearms to prevent criminal activities with the same protections as those given to the State Police.

A militia of that sort would be paramilitary, but not equipped or trained by US military rules, making it even more difficult for them to be co-opted by the feds.

Their Commander in Chief would be the governor, and their funding would come exclusively from the State legislature.

Before, when State budgets were small, this was not cost effective. However today, most States could easily afford such a security force.

Posted by Anonymoose 2007-01-17 13:41|| 2007-01-17 13:41|| Front Page Top

#5 Because they didn't want to go to prison for 20 years?
EGGzactly! If GW ever wants to regain my confidence on his handling of the immigration/border security issue, he'll pardon the two border guards immediately. If not, we can expect more of this from the guards on the border.

Posted by GK 2007-01-17 14:29|| 2007-01-17 14:29|| Front Page Top

#6 A very sad statement about our justice system.

Posted by Cyber Sarge 2007-01-17 17:15|| 2007-01-17 17:15|| Front Page Top

#7 No pardon is necessary iff their standing orders included option of retreat, usually becuz ROE's > another Agency [non-USDOD-Guard]calls the ball.
* "Sad state of our justice system" - Amer legal system > Case-by-Case basis = the Innocent have thier day in court, NOT POLITIX-PCorrectness. WOT/9-11 > even "PC" has reached a "critical mass/event horizon" as much as Amer's enemies tolerance of Americana's continuing success and upwardly expansion. E.G. THE VIEW > the ladies there have all but officially announced or verified that contemporary Leftism = Left-based ideos stands for nuthin' except SELFISH POWER, BENEFITS FOR A FEW = NEPOTISM/SPEC INTERESTS, + SUBSTITUTION OF RULING ELITES, and BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY. The Rights and Interests of "the People/Masses" exists now only as a feel-good elex-time "Talking Point(s)", "...full of sound and fury signifying nothing" to those whom argue for same.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2007-01-17 20:28|| 2007-01-17 20:28|| Front Page Top

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