Strange Incident on the Border

According to the Washington Times, armed men attacked a National Guard post on the Mexican border, causing the troops, who apparently were unarmed, to flee:

Several Border Patrol agents in the area told The Washington Times yesterday the armed men might have been trying to find out what the Guard troops would do if they were confronted by drug or alien smugglers. They said the increased presence of troops and additional Border Patrol agents in recent months had frustrated many of the area's drug and alien smugglers.

"I guess they got their answer," said one veteran agent. "When in doubt, the troops will run."

Earlier this year, several Border Patrol agents said they had been assigned to guard National Guard personnel, given standing orders to be within five minutes of the troops deployed along the border. The agents, who referred to the assignment as "the nanny patrol," said most of the Guard troops are not allowed to carry loaded weapons, despite a significant increase in violence directed at Border Patrol agents during the past year.

Border Patrol Chief David V. Aguilar disputed the assertions, saying only that "a small percentage" of his agents were working as "force protection" for the Guard members. He said those agents also were performing their traditional border-enforcement functions.

The fecklessness of our government on this basic national security issue seems to have no bounds.