Invasion

No this isn't a post about tonight's episode of ABC's sci-fi drama. Rather it about this, via the Washington Times:

U.S. law-enforcement authorities confronted several men in Mexican military uniforms and a camouflaged Humvee with .50-caliber machine guns who had crossed into Texas with suspected drug smugglers 50 miles southeast of El Paso, forcing an armed standoff along the Rio Grande, says a Texas sheriff.

For one nation to send its military forces across the border into another nation without permission is an act of war. Even if no actual damage is done by the invading army it is still an act of war.

Hudspeth County, Texas, Sheriff Arvin West said the incident began at 2:19 p.m. Monday when his deputies -- working as part of an anti-drug smuggling enforcement initiative known as "Operation Linebacker" -- pursued three SUVs spotted driving north from a border area along the Rio Grande near Interstate 10. . . As the southbound chase continued for the other two SUVs, he said the deputies and at least two Texas Department of Public Safety troopers who had joined in the pursuit encountered several men on the U.S. side of the border dressed in what he described as battle dress uniforms (BDUs). He said they "appeared to be soldiers, in a Humvee vehicle with what appeared to the officers as being .50-caliber machine guns."

Clearly our law enforcement personnel (state and federal) in the border regions are out gunned by regular army forces with heavy machine guns. What is needed is both a radical upgrading of our Border Patrol manpower and equipment and the stationing of US military forces in the areas which are likely to see this kind of Mexican army incursion. There are no legal issues here regarding the use of military assets. Protecting our home soil from foreign military invasion is the first duty of our armed forces.

What is the response of our government?

Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff dismissed reports of possible Mexican military incursions into the United States as "overblown" and "scare tactics." He said those involved in the crossings may have been dressed in military uniforms, "but they are just criminals, they are not military but they are wearing camouflage so someone may assume they are military." Mr. Chertoff also said a significant number of 216 confirmed incursions since 1996 were "innocent," noting that police and military units in Mexico pursuing criminals "may step across the border because they do not know exactly where the line is."

Mr. Chertoff, the border is clearly defined. It is this thing called the Rio Grande. You know that big river that you have to wade across to get from Mexico to the USA.

When a foreign army invades US territory for the purpose of aiding smugglers of drugs or illegal aliens our own military must meet them and destroy them utterly. It must do this even if it means pursuing them back into Mexican territory and destroying them on Mexican soil.