Feds ignore pleas not to end 'surge'
Jun. 22, 2008 12:00 AM

The status quo wasn't acceptable. Diplomatic efforts to solve the problem had failed. Our sovereignty and security were being threatened. So the Bush administration, with the blessing of Congress and the states, decided to initiate a military "surge."

Only this time, just as the strategy is working, the government wants to pull the plug.

The surge may not have stabilized the foreign country whose citizens are considered by many Americans to be an invading army. And the government of the intruders still has not gotten its act together.

But sending in thousands of troops to the area does seem to have put a dent in the criminal mayhem and tragic deaths that had been so prevalent before the surge.

Even so, at a time when the administration in Washington has insured that troop levels in Iraq will remain relatively stable and that no deadline for withdrawal will be implemented, it is about to do just the opposite with the surge on the Mexican border.

Operation Jump Start sent National Guard troops to states like Arizona beginning in June 2006. The idea was to assist the Border Patrol while the government hired and trained thousands of additional agents and while we built hundreds of miles of border fence.

Each of those things has happened to a degree, but not at a level that officials had hoped, which is why Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, along with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, have asked the federal government to extend the mission beyond its original deadline of next month.

They have been turned down.

I wondered how the governor felt about that.

"With Jump Start, we've finally seen improvement," Napolitano said via e-mail. "But I doubt you could convince anyone in Arizona that the border problems have suddenly been solved. Until Congress overhauls immigration law, giving us a full set of workable tools to deal with illegal immigration, it makes absolutely no sense to end Operation Jump Start."

Particularly in the summer, when the danger of succumbing to the heat is greatest.

In July 2005, 68 people died while trying to cross the border, seven in one day. The National Guard presence, along with improvements that include fencing and vehicle barriers, have helped.

But the hi-tech border security that the federal government has promised to construct is years away from completion.

Napolitano discussed her reasons for wanting to extend Operation Jump Start in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff back in March. Speaking of the "virtual fence" and other issues, Napolitano wrote:

"Your office has announced the system cannot be operational before 2011 . . . Real solutions to fix our broken border cannot wait that long. Human and drug smuggling rings continue to thrive in Arizona, crossing our border and using our cities and major hubs to transport crossers throughout the county . . . I have always believed that drawing down Operation Jump Start would be a mistake. Now that promised improvements in border security measure will not come to pass anytime soon, the federal government has no excuse to scale back the program. Common sense dictates that the drawdown should stop, and that a continued high National Guard presence should be maintained."

The governor's reasoning is solid and the facts may be on her side, but she makes an assumption that has never been true when it comes to federal policy on border issues.

Did you spot the flaw in her argument?

"Common sense dictates . . . " she wrote.

Really?

Since when?
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