The Fortress-like Southern Border

Via War on Guns and Blogonomicon, from WND:

U.S. Border Patrol agents were backed down this week by armed men, dressed in what appeared to be Mexican military uniforms and carrying military weapons, who seized a captured dump truck filled with marijuana from the U.S. agents and dragged it across the border into Mexico with a bulldozer.

The border incident occurred Thursday evening when Border Patrol agents attempted to pull over a dump truck on Interstate 10 in Hudspeth County, Texas. The driver fled from the agents, exiting the freeway and driving toward the Rio Grande which runs within 2 miles of the interstate in this portion of West Texas.

The driver abandoned the truck after it became stuck in the river bed, escaping into Mexico.

Agents called for reinforcement from the Texas state troopers and Hudspeth County sheriff and began unloading the haul – estimated to have been nearly 3 tons – when everything changed.

Officers "started to retrieve the bundles when the armed subjects appeared," said Agent Ramiro Cordero, Border Patrol spokesman.

According to Hudspeth County Chief Deputy Mike Doyal, the dump truck driver returned with armed men, some of whom drove "official looking vehicles with overhead lights." Some of those armed, Doyal told the El Paso Times, appeared to be Mexican soldiers in uniform with military weapons.

"It's a very serious incident," Doyal said. "We are very fortunate ... no one got hurt. Everyone had the presence of mind not to cause an international incident, or start shooting."

As WorldNetDaily has reported, there are widespread reports of U.S.-trained Mexican commandos, called the Zetas, making cross-border runs into U.S. territory in military-style vehicles, armed with automatic weapons.

So yeah. The Minutemen are the armed thugs, and these are the harmless people they were watching for.

This is being reported as an "international incident." Incident? It was an invasion of our sovereign soil by an armed force of another country. They committed multiply felonies in the act, but they committed an act of war first and foremost.

The Border Patrol is very fortunate no one was hurt. That's great. I'm not so fortunate that the agency tasked with securing our borders is powerless in the face of menace. It's bad enough that our border leaks like a sieve, but compound that with inability to effectively deal with people or respond to situations where they are asked to actually do their job.

This Doyal guy also said we are fortunate not to have started an international incident or start shooting. First, we didn't start the "incident," so we have next to no accountability with the next steps. An armed force accosted federal agents in the US - you're screwed, Pablo. Hope you got good running shoes. Second, had the agents started shooting, they would hardly have started an incident - they would have been doing their jobs in defending the border. the two things are seperate. We didn't have to worry about causing an "incident" since it was already caused by the mexicans.

The only thing we could do is shoot or not shoot. In this case, they may have made the correct decision regarding tactics, but the strategy is flawed. Now, our border agents will be seen as weaker and more powerless than before, and that is not a good thing.

New SOP regarding seized drug shipments, were it up to me - three or four thermite grenades in the haul and everyone stands back to watch the show. Someone tries to salvage the narcotics - shoot them. Someone tries to attack US forces - declare war on Mexico. Pillage and plunder until every mini guitar, velvet Elvis and Tweety Bird statue belong to the US. Repeat as necessary.