U.S. officers will fire back"

Hi Gang:
Today’s commentary is predicated on a news report that appeared on the “My San Antonio” website this past Friday, June 10th and reported on an exchange of gunfire between Mexican drug smugglers and law enforcement officers of the United States.
I was extremely happy to read that apparently none of our law enforcement officers were injured.
I also commend these law enforcement officers for a job well done, and their leaders for having their heads screwed on straight!   They did not wring their hands and look to see if they could find fault with their officers for defending themselves against the deadly assault launched by the alleged drug smugglers.  They stood behind these gallant law enforcement officers and made it clear that they acted in the best tradition of law enforcement- defending themselves and the residents of the community in which the shootout took place!
Think about the spot on quote by Sean Connery when he played Jim Malone in the excellent film, “The Untouchables:”

                                                                                            http://seanconneryday.com/quotes/film-tv/untouchables-film-quotes/

 Connery as Jim Malone in The Untouchables (1987)


Malone:
“You just fulfilled the first rule of law enforcement: make sure
when your shift is over you go home alive.” 

As I read the report I was reminded of a slogan I have often seen when I have been to the “Lone Star State.”  That slogan is elegant in its simplicity and clarity:
“Don’t mess with Texas!”
Four words that sums it all up as concisely as possible!
Here is an excerpt, with sentences of particular importance having been highlighted, from the news report that I have provided to you below:
                                                                                                               *******************************

He (Steve McGraw, the Director of the Department of Public Safety) said a single shot against a U.S. law enforcement officer is “one too many.”

We
are going to use overwhelming force. We’re going to use tactics. …
You shoot a law enforcement officer, you’re going to get return
fire,” he said.

At least three alleged Gulf Cartel operatives were wounded in the Thursday morning shootout and McCraw said it was possible one or more of the drug runners died. He said Mexico was investigating on its end, with officials on the U.S. side considering the incident “an attempted capital murder of both Texas police officers and Border Patrol agents.”

McCraw,
leading a news conference attended by dozens of high-level state and
federal law enforcement officials, praised the officers’ response. He
said Texas has a “zero tolerance” policy regarding attacks
against U.S. law enforcement.

The bad guys fired first, McCraw said, recounting an incident that began at 6:18 a.m., when three Texas Parks and Wildlife boats and one Border Patrol boat approached a red Dodge Durango waiting on U.S. riverbanks near Mission.

Officers then saw the raft full of drugs, he said. As they approached the raft, large, jagged rocks flew from the Mexican side of the river, wounding two game wardens. The rocks were followed by four to six gunshots.

Texas Rangers, state game wardens and U.S. Border Patrol agents, operating a unified “Ranger Reconnaissance” mission, fired back big time, spraying some 300 rounds.

They
encountered force, and we will appropriately respond to that force,
and we will go home at the end of the day, and we will protect
ourselves, and we will protect our citizens,” TPW Col. 
Peter
Flores
 said.
“That’s not negotiable.”

                                                                                                               *******************************
Before we go further with the events along the US / Mexican border, I want to ask you a couple of questions that I asked one of my sons earlier today before I saw this news report.
Why does our nation have a military?
The short answer is that nations have armies to defend our nation and our citizens.
War is not supposed to be a “fair fight!”
Our country is one of a number of nations that has invested mega bucks in creating stealth aircraft and weapons systems that the enemy cannot detect until the bombs have been dropped or their airplanes have been shot down!
Nuclear powered submarines are arguably the ultimate “stealth” weapon- these undersea warships come in a variety of configurations that enable them to carry out various missions including the launching of nuclear tipped missiles, the deployment of Navy SEAL teams and the destruction of enemy warships while hidden from view and detection by operating for long periods of time and even often carry out their missions without ever surfacing!
Our nation is unique in that it has a number of huge nuclear aircraft carriers that are capable of projecting America’s military might virtually anywhere in the world.
The United States of America spends more money on its military than does any other country on the planet.
On September 11, 2001 all of the money, manpower, gallantry of our forces and technology did not make a bit of difference to our enemies, the terrorists who attacked our nation by gaming the visa-issuing process and then by gaming the immigration benefits program that enabled them to conceal their intentions in the United States as they managed to hide in plain sight.
These terrorists did not even need to bring any weapons into the United States, they only needed to bring themselves into the United States!
They used civilian airliners as a form of deadly cruise missile to bring down the World Trade Center and to cause serious damage to the heart of the military of the United States, the Pentagon.  That fourth airliner that crashed in the fields of Pennsylvania was likely heading to the White House or the Capitol to inflict still more damage and slaughter still more innocent victims.
Our military was of no value to this nation to prevent the attacks and defend our nation on September 11, 2001.
Does that mean that it is pointless for our nation to have an effective military?  Of course not!  our military must remain strong and well equipped to protect our nation, however, unless our leaders understand that the survival of our nation is threatened when we don’t secure our nation’s borders and make certain that the system by which aliens are accorded lawful immigrant status and United States citizenship, then no matter how strong our military is- no matter how gallant our men and women in uniform in all branches of the military service are, then our survival is in jeopardy!
I have never been in the military but I know from my friends and former colleagues in the law enforcement community who had served in the military that one of the most important and dangerous mission is recon.  This is where soldiers make their way behind enemy lines to conduct surveillance and reconnaissance to determine worthwhile targets to be attacked by the army that they are part of.  Sometimes such missions require that such recon soldiers are dropped behind enemy lines by parachute in the dead of night.  Sometimes it requires that operatives such as SEAL teams go assure after being brought close to shore by a submarine so that they can carry out a reconnaissance mission or even destroy a military target to kill or capture an enemy combatant.  In other words, the mission of recon units and of our intelligence officers, is to surreptitiously enter countries that pose a threat to our well being to carry out their missions.
While it is certainly true that the great majority of illegal aliens who enter our country are only attempting to get a job and send money back home, the problem is that, especially in this day and age, it does not take many terrorists or cartel members to wreck havoc on our nation.  Think what just 19 terrorists did to the United States of America on September 11, 2001.
Well organized transnational criminal organizations such as the Mexican cartels have established themselves in more than 230 cities of the United States.  They are, at this very moment, setting up shops across our nation to be able to sell the narcotics that provides them with virtually unlimited wealth and in order to further their criminal objectives they resort to extreme violence.  Just consider how many people have been killed in Mexico since Felipe Calderon took office in Mexico just a few years ago.  
The billions of dollars that enrich the coffers of the cartels and other transnational criminal organizations and gangs makes them stronger and increases their abilities to purchase more weapons including relatively crude submarines and other assets and resources to further their pernicious goals in our country.  Those large sums of money also buy corruption on a scale that has never been seen before!  In Mexico it is said that the cartels provide people including members of the Mexican military and Mexican law enforcement, along with high-ranking politicians, judges and prosecutors with two choices, “Silver or Lead!”
As you probably know this refers to money (bribe) or a bullet!
Mexico teeters on the abyss of becoming a failed state.
Our politicians who make light of the demands of Americans who understand how serious this threat is, actually provide the leaders of the cartels with encouragement to send more of their illegal drugs and more of their thugs to the United States.  
As I have often noted, “A country without secure borders can no more stand than can a house without walls!”
Clearly the leadership exhibited by the true leaders of Texas, who were quoted in the news report should be the norm for our nation in dealing with our nation’s borders and with the way that the federal government should perceive the clear and present danger presented by unknown millions of illegal aliens whose mere presence in our country represents not only a violation of our laws and our borders but represents an extremely serious threat to the security of our nation and the survival of our citizens.
All of the efforts and gallantry of our men and women in the branches of our military and all of our nation’s expenditures to fund our military will be for naught until and unless our leaders in Washington are willing to wake up to the reality of the peril our all but nonexistent borders pose to our nation and our citizens, until our leaders in Washington understand that what is “broken” when discussing the failures to secure our borders and create an immigration system that his integrity, is not the laws but the lack of leadership, lack of resources, lack of commonsense, lack of integrity, lack of understanding and lack of spine to protect our nation from aliens whose presence in our country represents a threat to the well being of our nation and our citizens of all religions, ethnicities and religions.
First and foremost, secure borders are a major component of national security- although the ongoing failures to secure our borders and create an immigration system that has real integrity also hammer virtually every other serious threat and challenge that confronts our nation today.
Fixing what is broken does not require sweeping new laws or providing a pathway to United States citizenship to law violators whose true identities, backgrounds, intentions and possible affiliation with criminal and/or terrorist organizations.
In fact, I would suggest that our nation’s leaders in Washington check out what the leaders of Texas had to say about this incident and take their cues from them!  It is clear that the leaders in Texas truly “get it!”
The federal government must get involved- not just by mouthing words and issuing press releases but by doing whatever is necessary to, in reality, secure our nation’s borders and enforce our nation’s immigration laws.  The many failures of the federal government have clearly emboldened the narcoterrorists.  Consider this excerpt from the news report:

                                                                                                               *******************************


Gov. Rick Perry touts the Ranger Recon missions as adding state resources to federal ones along the Texas-Mexico border.

McCraw said it was the first time state law enforcement had taken fire on the river, though not Border Patrol, who were shot at as recently as September.

He
said the attack showed the increasing brazenness of the cartels, who
routinely conduct sophisticated “splash down” smuggling
operations involving retrieval teams, blocking vehicles, road spikes,
and safe havens on the Mexican side.

McCraw said there had been at least 44 high-speed chases over the past 18 months, most ending with the drug runners splashing back to safety on the other side.

Interdiction of two similar rafts on Wednesday netted U.S. officials 1,200 pounds of drugs.

“They will not comply, they can’t be arrested, they really scoff at what we do,” McCraw said. “They’re out manning us.”

                                                                                                               *******************************
When you read the statement above as to how the cartels have become more brazen and have become more confrontational with law enforcement officers in the United States you realize that it is obvious that our borders are nowhere near secure even though Janet Napolitano may make her absurd and baseless assertions that the borders are more secure than ever!  Clearly the DHS, the organization under her command needs to be renamed the Department of Homeland Surrender!
The first step in solving problems is to acknowledge that there is a problem!  
If Napolitano, the President and other political “leaders” are unable or unwilling to even admit that there is a problem then it becomes apparent that nothing will change and our nation will continue to remain in grave danger!
If Napolitano is so blind or so foolish as to not understand the realities where our borders and immigration laws are concerned, then she needs to be removed!  American lives hang in the balance!  If a doctor can lose his license for being found guilty of malpractice or a law enforcement officer can be fired and prosecuted for excessive force or other evidence of nonfeasance, misfeasance or malfeasance, how can the person in charge of securing our nation’s borders and enforcing our nation’s immigration laws be permitted to continue in her job when so much is at stake?
It is a betrayal of our Constitution and a betrayal of our citizens when political leaders stand before the cameras and declare that they are eager to reward illegal aliens with a “pathway to United States citizenship” and mock citizens who are rightfully angered and frustrated over the multitude of failures of our government!
The effective enforcement and administration of our nation’s immigration laws are, arguably, among the most important of all missions that are supposed to be carried out by our federal government.  
Nothing less than the security of our nation and safety of our citizens hang in the balance!

I

our country is to survive and if our children and their children are to get their share of the “American Dream” the citizens of this nation must take their citizenship seriously!

We the People must be the best citizens we can be, citizens who are worthy of the gallantry demonstrated by our valiant men and women in the military, law enforcement and firefighters, who routinely go in harm’s way in defense of this nation and our citizens.  
My goal in writing this and other commentaries is to point out our nations many failings before more victims pay the ultimate price for the incompetence and ineptitude of our government.
If you find yourself to be in agreement with this commentary, I ask that you forward it to as many of your friends and family members as possible and encourage them to do the same.  We need to create a “Bucket Brigade of Truth!”

The practice of good citizenship does not end in the voting booth, it only begins there.

The large scale apathy demonstrated by citizens of this nation has emboldened elected representatives to all but ignore the needs of the average American citizen in a quest for massive campaign funds and the promises of votes to be ostensibly delivered by special interest groups. There is much that we cannot do but there is one thing that We the People absolutely must do- we must stop sitting on the sidelines!


The collective failure of We the People to get involved in make our concerns known to our politicians have nearly made the concerns of the great majority of the citizens of this nation all but irrelevant to the politicians.  I implore you to get involved!
I believe our nation’s is greatly benefited by the rich diversity of our people which is why I could never imagine living anywhere except New York City, arguably the most diverse city in our nation if not, in fact, the world.  However, my idea of diversity most certainly does not include members of MS-13, the Mexican drug cartels or members of other transnational gangs or members of al-Qaeda!

If this situation concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call your Senators and Congressional “Representative. This is not only your right- it is your obligation! 

All I ask is that you make it clear to our politicians that we are not as dumb as they hope we are!

We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance.

This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!

You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!

Democracy is not a spectator sport!

Lead, follow or get out of the way!

-michael cutler- 


Please check out my website:

McCraw to drug runners: U.S. officers will fire back
Updated 06:38 p.m., Friday, June 10, 2011

WESLACO — Answering a smattering of gunshots with a 300-round barrage should show drug runners — their inflatable rafts full of illegal contraband — that Texas law enforcement officers aren’t messing around, authorities said.

“You shoot a police officer, you’re going to be shot back at,” said Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw, dismissing on Friday any notion that the U.S. response to an early morning shootout Thursday with Mexican drug runners on the Rio Grande was over the top.

An initial DPS news release said the U.S. officials came under “heavy gun fire.”

At a news conference, McCraw said the drug runners first threw rocks at U.S. law enforcement officers, followed by four to six gunshots.

He said a single shot against a U.S. law enforcement officer is “one too many.”

“We are going to use overwhelming force. We’re going to use tactics. … You shoot a law enforcement officer, you’re going to get return fire,” he said.

At least three alleged Gulf Cartel operatives were wounded in the Thursday morning shootout and McCraw said it was possible one or more of the drug runners died. He said Mexico was investigating on its end, with officials on the U.S. side considering the incident “an attempted capital murder of both Texas police officers and Border Patrol agents.”

McCraw, leading a news conference attended by dozens of high-level state and federal law enforcement officials, praised the officers’ response. He said Texas has a “zero tolerance” policy regarding attacks against U.S. law enforcement.

The bad guys fired first, McCraw said, recounting an incident that began at 6:18 a.m., when three Texas Parks and Wildlife boats and one Border Patrol boat approached a red Dodge Durango waiting on U.S. riverbanks near Mission.

Officers then saw the raft full of drugs, he said. As they approached the raft, large, jagged rocks flew from the Mexican side of the river, wounding two game wardens. The rocks were followed by four to six gunshots.

Texas Rangers, state game wardens and U.S. Border Patrol agents, operating a unified “Ranger Reconnaissance” mission, fired back big time, spraying some 300 rounds.

“They encountered force, and we will appropriately respond to that force, and we will go home at the end of the day, and we will protect ourselves, and we will protect our citizens,” TPW Col. Peter Flores said. “That’s not negotiable.”

Mexican military, arriving some three hours after the exchange, seized the inflatable raft with its load of about 400 pounds of marijuana. No arrests were made.

Gov. Rick Perry touts the Ranger Recon missions as adding state resources to federal ones along the Texas-Mexico border.

McCraw said it was the first time state law enforcement had taken fire on the river, though not Border Patrol, who were shot at as recently as September.

He said the attack showed the increasing brazenness of the cartels, who routinely conduct sophisticated “splash down” smuggling operations involving retrieval teams, blocking vehicles, road spikes, and safe havens on the Mexican side.

McCraw said there had been at least 44 high-speed chases over the past 18 months, most ending with the drug runners splashing back to safety on the other side.

Interdiction of two similar rafts on Wednesday netted U.S. officials 1,200 pounds of drugs.

“They will not comply, they can’t be arrested, they really scoff at what we do,” McCraw said. “They’re out manning us.”

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