Palestinian Style Terrorist Tactics Now on American Southern Border

Starting about a decade ago I tried to inform people that the terrorist groups which were often targeting Israel were now allied with the human and drug traffickers on the United States Mexico border. My comments often were in response to queries by friends and acquaintances asking when and why the level of violence in the border areas between Mexico and the United States had ramped up so severely. My response was always that the terrorists, in particular Hezballah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) among others, who had earned their teeth committing terror attacks against Israel were now also taking aim at the United States and have allied themselves with the drug cartels and traffickers of drugs and human beings operating in northern Mexico and have been training their enforcers in terror tactics, infiltration techniques and other martial activities. When a few years later these same people were horrified and wanted to understand where and how decapitation came to be used in northern Mexico and even across the border in the United States originally once every few months but eventually more frequently I repeated that this was a direct result of Middle Eastern terrorist forces training the enforcers and were now so completely allied and intertwined with the Mexican drug and human traffickers and cartels giving them training in terror techniques in exchange for access to the drug and human smuggling tunnels in order to insert supplies and operatives in order to have terror and other assets stationed within the United States. Throughout these exchanges I was normally waved off as having lost my mind in order to discount what I was telling them as such a dire situation was far too shocking and frightful for them to accept, so the messenger had to be invalidated.

 

Well, the final nail is in the coffin and the argument against the presence of terrorist trainers working with the drug and human traders has hit the news as the Border Patrol is currently working to establish protocols to guide their agents under which situations they will be permitted to use lethal force against rock throwers. The new standards were released late last week in an effort to reduce drastically the instances of agents shooting at moving vehicles or at migrants throwing rocks by reversing their former policy that resulted in the death of more perpetrators than the agency was comfortable with. Some of the earth-shaking and brilliant innovative rules include that agents have been advised not to place themselves in the path of fleeing vehicles and are advising them to simply allow the suspected perpetrators to flee when they are utilizing a vehicle and to no longer shoot at occupied vehicles. This directive makes one ponder how many unoccupied vehicles the border agents face fleeing their stations. The agents have also been advised to take cover in instances where they come under rock throwing attacks, preferably some variety which also provides shelter from thrown projectiles, only shoot when facing “imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the agent or another person.” These new guidelines were released in a four-page memorandum covering the use of lethal force by border agents on the borders of the United States, both Mexico and Canada, by a special commission that investigated the use of firearms in response to a study by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights which protested the fact that a minimum of twenty-eight illegal migrants had been shot and killed on the Mexico-United States border since 2010.

 

These advisories make for some interesting comparisons with the similar circumstances faced by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) in dealing with rock throwing, fleeing vehicles and other confrontations with Hamas, Fatah, Hezballah, Islamic Jihad, al-Qaeda in Gaza and the rest of the alphabet soup of terrorist forces which act against Israel and her citizens. Obviously these guidelines being implemented by the United States is designed to reduce the level of violence or any possibility for a deadly cycle of violence and to protect the perpetrators in order to minimize the condemnation and repercussions of bad media coverage when confrontations result in casualties and especially those casualties which result in fatalities. Much of these guidelines appear extremely familiar with anybody who has studied the standing orders and the situations faced weekly by IDF soldiers who are often challenged not solely by Arab terrorists but often organized and well trained agitators from Europe who come regularly into Israel for the expressed mission of forcing a confrontation with IDF soldiers just to get damning videos which are made through selective editing which omit every threat, instigation and intimidation to only show any response which can be utilized to demonize the Israeli youths in uniform who are the victims of these mob tactics. This has led to standing IDF orders which attempt to minimize any possibility of a violent response from any IDF personnel who are restricted beyond reason and must only use force when their lives are critically endangered. One of the more infamous cases concerned Lt. Colonel Eisner who struck a European anarchist who had repeatedly challenged Lt. Colonel Eisner breaking one of his fingers. Remarkably, the video released on YouTube and on several European news outlets did not show the instigator striking and kicking the Israeli officer or the antics and violent assaults perpetrated against Lt. Colonel Eisner and his troops but showed repeatedly and even in slow motion the one violent act from Lt. Colonel Eisner when after the provocations, pain and threat to his men he momentarily lost control and struck the leader of the instigation with the butt of his rifle. That video led to an onslaught of demands that Lt. Colonel Eisner be removed from service. The worst and most offensive part of this particular incident was the participation of numerous Israeli leftists and agitators who demonstrated in a successful fabrication, pushing the point until, in order to defend against the publicity that were causing difficulties for command, Lt. Colonel Eisner was tried for using excessive violence and was drummed from service. Lt. Colonel Eisner had been an excellent and superb commander and officer who was pilloried for reacting after taking insult and provocation that would have tried the patience and faith of Job and was drummed from service in the name of political correctness. There was nothing correct about his termination of service and there will be similar events in the future for some unfortunate border officer when he reacts what will be determined to be incorrectly to some instigation. There is a reason that Israel and the United States are the two nations which take such extreme positions and so restrict their forces from using lethal force to protect themselves from terrorists and professional instigators and provocateurs resulting in sacrificing men of honor who are well trained simply for one momentary loss of discipline, they value human life above virtually anything else. Too bad their enemies use this form of honor against them. Furthermore, they should be given great credit for their values and expectations of super-human efforts and disciplines from every last one of their men and women in uniform. They never will, but they deserve such almost hourly but minimally daily.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

US Trained Forces Threaten American Safety

No, this is not about the troops the United States trained in Iraq, or in Afghanistan, or even the Palestinian part time terrorist Security Forces. Even before we trained any of these potential threats, we trained forces in Mexico to, in theory, assist the Mexican government in their war with the drug cartels. These forces were called the Zetas. No sooner had these American trained forces marched in review and had all the pomp and circumstance receiving their decorations than were they then purchased by the drug cartels that offered much better pay to fight against other drug families and the Mexican government forces. Now, resulting from the tumult of heavy armed fighting near the border, the University of Texas Brownsville Campus has had to be closed due to rounds impacting across the campus from over the Mexican border. This has gone far enough.

It is ironic how much things today reflect another time in our nation’s history. At times, I have asked in conversations with friends, “Where is today’s Black Jack Pershing?” For those who are historically challenged, General Black Jack Pershing was a commander back during the World War I era. Much of his well-earned reputation was made in fights outside of the World War. He commanded our troops that brought order to the Philippines when the Moro, who were Muslims, rebelled against American occupation forces after the Spanish American War. Pershing also led American troops in what was called the Mexican Expedition when violence from Mexican criminal elements under Pancho Villa spilled over onto the American side of the border. Considering the conflicts we face today, things on a superficial level appear to have similar definition of our adversaries as we did during the times of General Black Jack Pershing. Unfortunately, I doubt if many of his reputed tactics would be allowed, or even appreciated, in our current political realities.

Despite the appearances that our federal government does not appear to be willing to take definitive actions to squelch the violence spilling across our borders, some action seems necessary as things seem to be spinning further and further out of control. Up to this point, the Governors of the affected States have thus far been sitting on their hands waiting for federal actions. Somebody needs to remind these leaders that the States have their own forces that can be called upon to enforce order. They need to call out the National Guard and take whatever steps are necessary to safeguard their citizens from cross border violence. When lives of American citizens are on the line, our leaders need to take action, not make excuses or speeches. When people are threatened on our side of the border and we have to close a major campus of a State University for safety reasons, it is past time for excuses and definitely time for taking actionable measures. Where is today’s Black Jack Pershing?

Beyond the Cusp