Message Mismanagement
Jun 3rd, 2006 | By Michel Marizco | Category: General News, Immigration, Organized Crime, Politics
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THE BORDER REPORT
I don't like repeating myself and wasting your time, but again, exactly how many National Guard troops are we looking at for the U.S.-Mexico border and what precisely are they going to be doing? Media reports are coming in fast and furious but few agree on any details: The Salt Lake Tribune: "Now, just weeks after President Bush told the nation he would send National Guard troops to help enforce anti-illegal immigration patrols along the U.S.-Mexico border, a group of combat-tested engineers from Utah has been called south. The Utah soldiers will be among the first to serve in what is being called Operation Jump Start." From Associated Press: "A small detachment of Connecticut National Guard soldiers will arrive here today to help with security on the U.S.-Mexican border but not as part of a 6,000-troop deployment scheduled to help the U.S. Border Patrol. Nor are about 50 Utah National Guard soldiers who will arrive today in Yuma." This isn't unusual; in the rush for the scoop comes many screw-ups, but what I find disturbing is that both stories cite official sources: National Guard Bureau spokeswoman Nakatu McFadden in Utah and Lt. Col. John Whitford, communications director for the Connecticut Guard. Meanwhile, the southern Utah paper, The Spectrum wrote their own brief story, saying: "Originally conceived as simply a cooperative effort between the Utah and Arizona National Guards, the mission is now considered part of Operation Jump Start, the effort called for by President George W. Bush to send National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in a supporting role to federal authorities." So, are they or aren't they and why the big secret? I know that part of the big hush-hush on all this is for the upcoming dog and pony show, but I'm also wondering if there's really a plan? These are battle-tested National Guard troops after all. They've already done work in places like Iraq and Nicaragua. I'm certain that governors Schwarzenneger, Napolitano, Richardson and Perry, want to drag out the show as long as they can. I wouldn't be surprised if there were old school send-offs from the troops' states of origin as they come to southern Arizona to take over Border Patrol duties. But, keeping in mind that up to three days ago, none of these governors was particularly anxious to pay for the troops, I wonder if a plan has actually been developed. We've seen this kind of message mismanagement before of course. Last year, part of the $1.5 million "border emergency" Napolitano declared was used to chop down weeds in Yuma County. Just the fact that the governor declared an emergency was enough to generate front page news. Nobody seemed to care what the emergency status really meant. It kicked loose emergency money from the reserve to help with the emergency. And part of the was the aforementioned weeds. We're seeing it again, receiving a lot of fluffy information (they're here to help the Border Patrol) and very little real facts (how many and how long will they be here?)
