But Were The Leaf Blowers Loaded?

When I saw the headline Troops Flee From Border Outpost, I immediately assumed it was yet another sign of the deteriorating security situation in Iraq.

Boy, was I wrong!

Turns out this incident occurred in freakin' Arizona, in the good ol' US of A!!! Yes, it's true: An observation post used by National Guard troops near Sasabe, Arizona was overrun by armed men. It should be noted, however, that the Guardsmen were unarmed and acting strictly as observers. So when the bad guys with guns crossed the border from Mexico, the Americans had no choice but to hightail it.

Okay, that's just plain embarrassing. Possibly even MORE embarrassing than invading the wrong country.

This all goes back to last year when the Bush administration announced with much much fanfare that it was deploying National Guard troops to assist the Border Patrol. What did NOT get a whole lot of press, however, was the part where the troops would be acting strictly as unarmed observers. And if they were to actually see illegals crossing the border, the soldiers were to call armed Border Patrol agents.

Even worse, in some cases Border patrol agents were pulled from watching the border and assigned to guard the soldiers.