http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/ho ... ?id=765063

Date: February 26, 2007

FSM Contributing Editor Michael Cutler asks the incredible question: Who is a bigger threat to our border security, armed thugs or overzealous U.S. Attorneys who prosecute our own law enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents?



Border Patrol under Siege



By Michael Cutler



Last Friday, in an article titled “Smugglers Raise Stakes in Fight Over Border Rule,” Jerry Seper of The Washington Times reported a phenomenon that has been well known to U.S. citizens who live on the Mexican border. To state it succinctly, towns that are on smuggling routes are under siege by heavily armed drug and human smugglers.



These criminals have no respect for our laws and no fear of our police, Border Patrol or National Guard. Recently they confronted National Guard troops who were stationed along the border in accordance with the much ballyhooed field operation known as "Operation Jumpstart." The unarmed National Guard troops followed their rules of engagement and retreated in the face of the intruders whose identities, intentions and cargo will never be known.



We asked the administration for "boots on the ground;” instead we got running shoes. The thugs who chased our “National Guard” spit in the eyes of our military and got away with it. When our Guardsmen ran away, they proved to the criminals that there is no reason to fear crossing our borders. It was confirmed for them that it isn’t necessary to try to sneak in to the United States. Just bring some serious fire power and you will most likely be able to go wherever you want, and do whatever you want.



Meanwhile the administration keeps reminding us that we are waging a war against terrorists. Someone needs to remind the administration of that. If we are to protect our nation against terrorist attacks, the most sensible thing we can do is to try to keep the terrorists from entering our country and killing our citizens.



Clearly our military officials understand this basic principle. Border Patrol agents have been assigned to the Iraqi borders to help keep terrorists and insurgents out of that beleaguered country. But at home, all of Washington is still playing games with the security of our own nation.



The assignment of National Guard troops along our nation's borders to augment the outnumbered Border Patrol would have made good sense in the weeks and months after the attacks of 9/11, but back then the administration refused to do it. When Congress authorized the funds to hire additional special agents for ICE and the Border Patrol, the administration slashed the number of agents to be hired. The fact that a handful of National Guard troops have been assigned to our border more than five years after 9/11 takes the concept of "Too little- To late!" to a new level.



The administration is claiming that the National Guard troops will be removed once an adequate number of Border Patrol agents have been hired and deployed – hence the name “Operation Jumpstart.” We still need to hire thousands of Border Patrol agents and special agents for ICE, but the track record of this administration is not encouraging at all. And worse, it is highly likely the administration intends to remove troops if they ever manage to get the disastrous Guest Worker Amnesty program rammed through the Congress.



By now, most Americans are well aware of the outrageous persecution of Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, along with a number of other Border Patrol agents and local sheriffs who took their oaths of office seriously and attempted to interdict smugglers entering the United States illegally. Simple physical altercations with criminal aliens who resisted arrest have resulted in the prosecution of law enforcement officers, while criminal aliens have been awarded for testifying against them. As is clear from the Washington Times article, the bad guys are becoming emboldened to violate our borders, engage in shootouts and attack our law enforcement officers.



Jerry Seper reported this final and frightening fact:



MS-13 members also reportedly have accepted contracts to assassinate Border Patrol agents to intimidate and frighten agents away from the border.



This brings to mind the question: Who poses a greater threat to the well-being of our Border Patrol, National Guards and law enforcement officials? Armed smugglers…or federal prosecutors such as Johnny Sutton, the United States Attorney who was behind the prosecution of Ramos and Compean? Who is more likely to intimidate our guards?



And what has our country come to that I would even ask these questions?



Lead, follow or get out of the way!