The Discerning Texan
All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke
Wednesday, July 25, 2007

They are CUTTING the number of National Guardsmen on the Border?

How to commit political suicide, on behalf of your party; and just when his numbers are starting to improve... Good God, how are they going to spin this one? I feel bad for Tony Snow--with all he is going through--to have to defend this insanity:
The number of National Guard troops along the Arizona-Mexico border will be trimmed in half by the end of next month.

As the presidentially mandated Operation Jumpstart mission begins its second year in support of the U.S. Border Patrol, the number of troops is being reduced as planned. It will be trimmed from 6,000 to 3,000 nationally and from 2,400 to 1,200 in Arizona, said National Guard Capt. Kristine Munn. The pullout began July 1 and is scheduled to be completed by Sept. 1.

[...]

The downsizing of the National Guard forces will be detrimental to the Border Patrol's efforts to slow illegal immigration, said agency officials, the local union and a former agency supervisor.

"If they are going to reduce the number of National Guard on the line it means there are fewer bodies out there to deter and observe and report intrusions," said Dave Stoddard, a former Border Patrol supervisor who retired in 1996 after 27 years with the agency, and lives in Bisbee. "It's going to hurt, but how much we really don't know yet."

Labels: ,

DiscerningTexan, 7/25/2007 10:19:00 PM |