Spot The Difference

Jan Brewer's (Governor of Arizona) Letter to Barack Obama

Request for help from Jan Brewer:

Mr. President, the need for action to secure Arizona’s border could not be clearer. Recently, my office received a number of calls from constituents concerned at reports of new sign postings in interior counties of Arizona warning residents not to access federal lands due to criminal activity associated with the border. These warnings signal to some that we have handed over portions of our border areas to illegal immigrants and drug traffickers. This is unacceptable. Instead of warning Americans to stay out of parts of our own country, we ought to be warning international lawbreakers that they will be detained and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We ought to be establishing measures to ensure that illegal traffic of any sort is kept to an absolute minimum, and that Americans are safe and secure within our own borders.

When we visited, you committed to present details, within two weeks of our meeting, regarding your plans to commit National Guard troops to the Arizona border and expend $500 million in additional funds on border security matters. You also discussed sending members of your senior staff to Arizona to discuss your plans. While I am pleased the 28th has been set for a meeting time and we have reviewed a copy of the Department of Homeland Security’s “Southwest Border Next Steps” Press Release, I am still awaiting details on National Guard deployments and how the proposed additional border security funding will specifically affect Arizona (and the other Border States). As I mentioned to you on June 3rd, it is very difficult to have much of a dialogue without specific details regarding your proposals. I strongly urge you to request your staff provide us with missing details of your proposals prior to the meeting on the 28th.

While we await the specific details of your border security plans, I wanted to take the time to reemphasize some of what I shared with you and respond further to some of what we discussed. In essence, I have proposed a four-point Border Surge strategy, as outlined in my recent letter to Senator Charles Schumer, summarized as follows:

National Guard Personnel and Aviation

I believe a significant number of troops operating with a legitimate mission set is an essential part of any strategy to secure the border. I appreciate your commitment of 1,200 troops and the promise that Arizona would receive the largest contingent. I am concerned, however, that more is required, such as the deployment of 6,000 personnel proposed by Senators Jon Kyl and John McCain for the entire southwestern border.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzDlN7VLmXQ&feature=player_embedded

Obama's Response:

Senate Passes Border Security Bill



Los Angeles Times (08/13/10) Mascaro, Lisa

The U.S. House and Senate on Thursday passed a border security bill that supporters hope will be the first step on the path towards comprehensive immigration reform. The bill provides $600 million to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, money that will be used to deploy 1,000 new Border Patrol agents, 250 new Customs and Border Protection Officers, and 250 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. In addition, two unmanned surveillance planes would be deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), a supporter of the bill, said Thursday that he hopes the legislation will break the deadlock in Congress over immigration and allow bipartisan negotiations on immigration reform to resume. The bill is expected to be signed into law by President Obama on Friday.

Obama's Priorities:

-  50,000 (was 150,000) troops in Iraq and 7,000 private security contractors lined up to take over from late August/early September.  According to the Whitehouse, this figure will start to decrease from September, with a complete withdrawal during 2012.

- 98,000 troops on Afghanistani soil too.

So, Mr. Obama can provide close to 200,000 army personnel to protect the people of Afghanistan and Iraq, but cannot scrape the remaining 4,500 trained guards for his own southern border.

 - British foreign policy must be driven by one guiding principle alone – to serve British interests above all else. This iron principle will be strictly enforced by a British National Party government. In reality, this means that Britain’s foreign relations should be determined by the protection of our own national interests — and not by our like or dislike of other nations’ internal politics. Britain has no right to dictate the internal politics or social configuration of any other nation. We would also expect all other nations to grant this same right to Britain. We would have no quarrel with any nation that does not threaten British interests. -

Update on Security Contractors:

News came from the President of Afghanistan today, to make the 52 Serving Security Guard companies aware that he has just signed a decree which gives them four months to pull out of his country. He has notified the companies of his plan, and will only allow the guards that are working on contracts at the U.S Embassy or on Non-Government organisations to continue their operations.  All Afghanistani paramilitaries have been told that they have to disband their security companies and/or join the Afghanistani Police Force.

This obviously throws a wrench in the works, now that 1,000's of U.S troops have crossed the Kuwaiti border to head home to their friends and families .