December 20, 2006

Publisher's Note:

As many readers of the Big Bend Sentinel know, the publisher and the editor take several weeks off during the holidays. This is a very sane and traditional practice and we will, more or less, join them.

Electronic publishing, however is different in that the assembly of advertisers, reporters, printers and distribution points is less onerous. We publish easily on the World Wide Web and there it is. It is a miracle.

So we are going to slack off and enjoy the holidays as we see fit. Which may involve some publishing from December 20 to January 11 — or maybe not.

This would be a good time for our readers to give us a tough critique — so email us all complaints.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Jack & Bonnie

Adios 2006
By Jack D. McNamara

This has been a year of change. A Democrat has not represented Big Bend counties since 1979 when Robert Krueger of New Braunfels left his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives to run for the U.S. Senate.

As this tumultuous year ends no citizen of this nation can fail to notice that the November 7 election has fueled an unusually vigorous debate about the Iraq misadventure. Opinions previously withheld for reasons of patriotism, loyalty to parties or people, and respect for constitutional authority are now spilling into the public forum. And war debates take precedence over all others in a democratic society.

The American people have overwhelmingly rejected the leadership of an incumbent President and his Republican Party. As often occurs, however, Americans did not indicate what they are for so much as they have clearly shown what they are against. This 2006 therefore joins 1932, 1952, 1968, 1974 and 1994 — political rebukes to those in power but rebukes which include a certain ambiguity.

At least two thirds of the American body politic now rejects the Bush Administration’s policy in Iraq. But what are we for?

Americans in similar circumstances in 1968 rejected the policies of President Lyndon Baines Johnson and the Vietnam War. Our history records that decision as “anti-war” and the Left claimed credit for the deposition of LBJ. But the substantial opposition to LBJ was not a body of unitary opinion. About one third of Americans were satisfied with a “stay the course” policy, and about a third were for an immediate termination and withdrawal. But another third favored a precipitous increase in force, an all out war once and for all to obliterate our Communist enemies.

We did it the all-out way before, against Germany and Japan.

The circumstances are never the same in these retrospective historical comparisons. We might have bombed Hanoi more in 1969 but who do we bomb now? It is a similar war involving an insurgency but the insurgency is different in several aspects.

However Iraq turns out in the end, we are told incessantly that it is important. Is it important because President George Bush made a mistake in invading the damn place or is it important in and of itself? We will be answering the question for a long time.

So what does the Iraq mistake have to do with our year, our borderlands 2006?

We finally got their attention. By that I mean the national and international political agenda was forced to include the situation on the Texas-Mexico border. We don’t know the result of this attention — just as we don’t know yet the result of the Iraq mess — but the questions of smuggling, illegal immigration and border violence are on the table. And we ought to remember why.

The hardy “militia” protesters who posted themselves along the border to demonstrate the ineptitude of U.S. border security policy receive the credit for stimulating the debate. Ridiculed and mocked, they put us in the national spotlight.

After billions of dollars and 20 years’ trying we are if anything in worse condition now than when Congress and the Reagan Administration last took the initiative in 1986.

Last week we came across a story in the excellent news coverage of the El Paso Times which demonstrates our predicament (“Man seen in smugglers, police Rio standoff video slain” by Louie Gilot, El Paso Times online 12/15/2006).

On Tuesday a Mexican, César Alonso Gándara Reyes, 30, was injured in a traffic altercation near the Zaragoza Bridge. Men with guns chased Gándara Reyes but he escaped and was taken to the Clinica Zaragoza. While he was on a gurney being treated for his wounds, several men in police uniforms found him and shot him 10 times. His family said he was a farmer but the Times reported that his picture was on the web site of the Mexican Embassy.

The deceased Gándara Reyes was identified on the web site as one of the men in an incident at Neely’s Crossing on January 23 (see “A Border Standoff,” February 2, Archives, www.nimbynews.com). That was the incident which escalated into congressional hearings and reports and strained relations between the U.S. and Mexico with claims by U.S. law enforcement that the Mexican Army was involved in narcotics smuggling.

The newly installed Mexican government of Felipe Calderon is sending several thousand troops to subdue the dissidents in Michoacan. But we have no news of Mexican troop deployments on our border.

The Texas Legislature is headed to Austin and news reports already proclaim their fearless dedication for “border security.” This coming year should be a good one for sheriffs. Governor Rick Perry is solidly positioned for federal dollars to support Operation Rio Grande, direct grants to state and local law enforcement. If we are to have a secure border, perhaps we should depend on our states.

During 2006 and preceding years since 1994 the Republicans in Congress have bankrupted the nation. The war in Iraq will require much more money whatever course we pursue. 2007 will be a new day for accounting purposes at least. Local governments other than law enforcement should consider some belt-tightening. If the Democrats restore honesty to the fiscal process we shall all be fiscally more constrained even if we are morally triumphant.

Our local pols have lost their connection to the boodle pot. Former U.S. Representative Henry Bonilla is retired and his earmarks go with him. The negligence of the 109th Congress has “about broken” the U.S. Army. The word “broken” has been used by former Secretary of State General Colin Powell, USA (ret) and the current Army Chief of Staff, General Peter Schoomaker.

This is a disgrace and it must be fixed. •

(Also published by the Big Bend Sentinel of Marfa, Texas December 20, 2006.)