The drug related violence on the US southern border far exceeds the violence in Syria, but I don't see any media coverage calling for military action in Mexico.I am not sure what I think of this, except I note it as an interesting development worthy of blog discussion.
Texas unveiled the second of six new 'interceptor' gunboats on Thursday, similar to Navy swift boats that plied the rivers of Vietnam during the Vietnam War, to patrol the waterways of the Mexico border.The Texas Department of Public Safety, which oversees the Texas Highway Patrol and the Texas Rangers, said the 34-foot shallow water crafts would be deployed on the Rio Grande and the Intercoastal Waterway, which separates the Texas mainland from Padre Island.
"They have night vision capabilities, they have ballistic shielding, and the first couple of boats have fully automatic machine guns," department spokesman Tom Vinger told Reuters.
Texas Governor Rick Perry has repeatedly called on the Obama administration to send National Guard troops to boost security on the Texas-Mexico border, which is heavily trafficked by often gun-toting drug smugglers from Mexico.
Vinger said the boats would mainly patrol the Rio Grande, and would be geared toward stopping smugglers of drugs, weapons and illegal immigrants.
Someone educate me, does the National Guard have this type of capability? What exactly are the capabilities of the US Naval militia today?
While this is a traditional naval mission, I do believe the Constitution would disallow the US Navy from conducting this type of activity within US territorial borders unless the nation was at a state of war with Mexico - which we are not. I could be wrong on that though, I am not an Constitutional expert nor did I sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
