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GUEST: Laura Carlsen, Director of the International Relations Center Americas Program, based in Mexico City

On Monday May 15th, President Bush announced his plan to deploy 6000 National Guards to the US-Mexico border to “assist the Border Patrol by operating surveillance systems, analyzing intelligence, installing fences and vehicle barriers, building patrol roads, and providing training.” Mexicans were offended at a what they perceived as a “militarization” more appropriate for the border between openly hostile countries and feared that troops could become a permanent presence redefining the U.S.-Mexico relationship. There is a historical precedent – when the U.S. Army invaded Mexico in 1916 New Mexico National Guard units were ordered to the border to back up US troops. Mexican President Vicente Fox called Bush the day after Bush’s speech to express his concerns about the call for guards.

Read Laura’s articles at www.americaspolicy.org.

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day:

Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him … to make war at pleasure. If today, he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada, to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may say to him, ‘I see no probability of the British invading us’ but he will say to you, ‘Be silent; I see it, if you don’t.'” — Abraham Lincoln