© 2010
Another Border Patrol agent on the Arizona border was shot and killed
by Mexican drug smugglers last Tuesday. Of the eight attackers, four
are in custody and a fifth is under surveillance by Border Patrol
Blackhawk helicopters as he tries to make his way back to the Mexican
border.
BP Agent Brian Terry was part of a BORTAC team (for border tactical
unit) tracking armed drug smugglers 15 miles northwest of Nogales,
Ariz., (and only three miles west of Interstate 19) when they were
attacked with automatic weapons fire. The area is well-known as a
major drug-smuggling corridor, and the smugglers are known to
frequently be armed with AK-47s and other long rifles.
Here's the part Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and
Border Patrol management are trying to hide: Border Patrol Agent Terry
and the BORTAC team were under standing orders to always use
("non-lethal") bean-bag rounds first before using live ammunition.
When the smugglers heard the first rounds, they returned fire with
real bullets, and Agent Terry was killed in that exchange. Real
bullets outperform bean bags every time.
The larger, ugly truth Napolitano and senior managers in the Border
Patrol want to hide is that the rules of engagement and inadequate
weaponry of the Border Patrol place the lives of all agents at grave
risk. The National Border Patrol Council, which represents over 15,000
field agents, believes the border is too dangerous for officers to
patrol without body armor, armored vehicles and automatic weapons.
Another aspect of this story that is not being reported is that the
site of the shooting, Peck Canyon, is inside the area Rep. Raul
Grijalva, D-Ariz., has proposed to designate as the Tumacacori
Highlands Wilderness reserve. If Grijalva's bill is enacted into law,
what is now a well-established drug smuggling corridor will become a
drug-smuggling superhighway, because the Border Patrol will be
prohibited from patrolling the region. Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah has
proposed legislation that will remove the restrictions on Border
Patrol jurisdiction on such public lands within 50 miles of the
border.
On Thursday, Secretary Napolitano and several aides flew to Tucson to
meet with local Border Patrol brass. The Obama administration
obviously has a mess on its hands, and Napolitano does not want it to
blow up before today's U.S. Senate vote on the Dream Act. They know
another murder on the southwest border will not help garner needed
votes for the Dream Act, because senators supporting that bill must be
able to say with a straight face, "The border is as secure as it has
ever been."
The BORTAC team encountered not one or two smugglers but a team of
eight. Four are in custody, one is under surveillance in the rugged
terrain of the Pajarita Wilderness area east of the small ranch town
of Ruby, and three others are missing. The captured smugglers had
AK-47s and backpacks filled with ammunition, food and radios. There
are rumors that three of the captured four are members of the Mexican
military, but that is unconfirmed. Yet, it would not be the first time
Mexican police and military have been apprehended smuggling drugs into
the United States.
It is not widely reported by our news media that the smugglers
maintain a dozen or more permanent lookout posts on desert hilltops
inside the U.S., and that those lookout posts are manned in week-long
shifts by individuals who commute not from Mexico but from Phoenix,
Tucson and other Arizona cities.
The allegation that the Sinaloa drug cartel obtained those AK-47s from
gun shops in the United States is nonsensical. That's a fairy tale
cooked up by the Obama administration and endorsed by the Mexican
government because they do not want to admit that the cartels get most
of their serious weaponry from the international black market and the
Mexican military itself.
The rules requiring first use of bean-bag ammunition is but one
example of the suicidal rules of engagement that govern Border Patrol
operations. The reason they have such insane rules? The politicians
who run the agency do not want the public to think the border is so
dangerous a place that Border Patrol agents fear for their lives. In
other words, the rules of engagement are based on a lie, a lie that
must be maintained for political purposes.
Secretary Napolitano should do two things on Monday morning. First,
she should order all Border Patrol agents to be issued weapons
adequate for both self-defense and apprehension of armed drug
smugglers. The second thing she should do Monday morning is resign
Another Border Patrol agent on the Arizona border was shot and killed
by Mexican drug smugglers last Tuesday. Of the eight attackers, four
are in custody and a fifth is under surveillance by Border Patrol
Blackhawk helicopters as he tries to make his way back to the Mexican
border.
BP Agent Brian Terry was part of a BORTAC team (for border tactical
unit) tracking armed drug smugglers 15 miles northwest of Nogales,
Ariz., (and only three miles west of Interstate 19) when they were
attacked with automatic weapons fire. The area is well-known as a
major drug-smuggling corridor, and the smugglers are known to
frequently be armed with AK-47s and other long rifles.
Here's the part Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and
Border Patrol management are trying to hide: Border Patrol Agent Terry
and the BORTAC team were under standing orders to always use
("non-lethal") bean-bag rounds first before using live ammunition.
When the smugglers heard the first rounds, they returned fire with
real bullets, and Agent Terry was killed in that exchange. Real
bullets outperform bean bags every time.
The larger, ugly truth Napolitano and senior managers in the Border
Patrol want to hide is that the rules of engagement and inadequate
weaponry of the Border Patrol place the lives of all agents at grave
risk. The National Border Patrol Council, which represents over 15,000
field agents, believes the border is too dangerous for officers to
patrol without body armor, armored vehicles and automatic weapons.
Another aspect of this story that is not being reported is that the
site of the shooting, Peck Canyon, is inside the area Rep. Raul
Grijalva, D-Ariz., has proposed to designate as the Tumacacori
Highlands Wilderness reserve. If Grijalva's bill is enacted into law,
what is now a well-established drug smuggling corridor will become a
drug-smuggling superhighway, because the Border Patrol will be
prohibited from patrolling the region. Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah has
proposed legislation that will remove the restrictions on Border
Patrol jurisdiction on such public lands within 50 miles of the
border.
On Thursday, Secretary Napolitano and several aides flew to Tucson to
meet with local Border Patrol brass. The Obama administration
obviously has a mess on its hands, and Napolitano does not want it to
blow up before today's U.S. Senate vote on the Dream Act. They know
another murder on the southwest border will not help garner needed
votes for the Dream Act, because senators supporting that bill must be
able to say with a straight face, "The border is as secure as it has
ever been."
The BORTAC team encountered not one or two smugglers but a team of
eight. Four are in custody, one is under surveillance in the rugged
terrain of the Pajarita Wilderness area east of the small ranch town
of Ruby, and three others are missing. The captured smugglers had
AK-47s and backpacks filled with ammunition, food and radios. There
are rumors that three of the captured four are members of the Mexican
military, but that is unconfirmed. Yet, it would not be the first time
Mexican police and military have been apprehended smuggling drugs into
the United States.
It is not widely reported by our news media that the smugglers
maintain a dozen or more permanent lookout posts on desert hilltops
inside the U.S., and that those lookout posts are manned in week-long
shifts by individuals who commute not from Mexico but from Phoenix,
Tucson and other Arizona cities.
The allegation that the Sinaloa drug cartel obtained those AK-47s from
gun shops in the United States is nonsensical. That's a fairy tale
cooked up by the Obama administration and endorsed by the Mexican
government because they do not want to admit that the cartels get most
of their serious weaponry from the international black market and the
Mexican military itself.
The rules requiring first use of bean-bag ammunition is but one
example of the suicidal rules of engagement that govern Border Patrol
operations. The reason they have such insane rules? The politicians
who run the agency do not want the public to think the border is so
dangerous a place that Border Patrol agents fear for their lives. In
other words, the rules of engagement are based on a lie, a lie that
must be maintained for political purposes.
Secretary Napolitano should do two things on Monday morning. First,
she should order all Border Patrol agents to be issued weapons
adequate for both self-defense and apprehension of armed drug
smugglers. The second thing she should do Monday morning is resign
