http://www.dailynews-record.com/opinion ... 85&CHID=36

Posted 2006-01-19

Mexican Incursions?


During the Korean War and for years afterward the American government, for diplomatic reasons, said the Soviet Union was not involved. Some fighter pilots and other military personnel knew this was a lie because, while monitoring the enemy, they heard pilots speak Russian to one another.

After the Cold War, historians found evidence that proved Russians served as pilots and military advisors to the North Koreans.

The story comes to mind due to a Washington Times report that quotes 27-year veteran Border Patrol agent T. J. Bonner: "(border) intrusions by the Mexican military to protect drug loads happen all the time and represent a significant threat to the agents."

The story by veteran reporter Jerry Seper, who writes often and accurately about national security matters, reports the U.S. Border Patrol has warned agents about such intrusions and ordered them to keep a "low profile" when such intrusions are spotted. Since 1996, 216 incursions have been documented, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

However, this week a Pentagon spokesman said she had no knowledge of such incursions.

Since many American officials want to ignore any problems on the southern border because of their politically incorrect nature, one must take the Pentagon response with a grain of salt.

Given that some in Congress are upset that our security agencies are actually listening in on phone calls by terrorists, shouldn’t the allegation of a border incursion to protect drug smugglers raise an eyebrow or two in Washington D.C.?

Perhaps Mr. Seper is mistaken in his story. Or perhaps the incidents are overblown. Maybe there’s been only one or two accidental incursions by the Mexican military. Sometimes, though, as in the Korean War, the veterans in the skies or, in this case, on the border, speak more honestly about a situation than the government does.

This allegation is so serious that Sens. George Allen and John Warner and the state’s congressional delegation should ask the Pentagon just what is going on along the nation’s southern border. Forget diplomacy. Our elected officials should demand the truth.