Is the Chinese Army Probing Our Southern Flank?

YOWUSA.COM, 01-December-00
Janice Manning

Bill O'Reilly of Fox News seams to be the only media heavyweight with an interest in the unprovoked attacks on INS agents, by Mexican forces from across the border. What O'Reilly has not been able to report is that some of those "Mexican" soldiers are, according to multiple eyewitnesses, Chinese soldiers dressed in Mexican Army uniforms.

Given that the Panama Canal is now under the control of Beijing operatives working in conjunction with corrupt Panamanian officials, the Clinton-Gore administration has worked feverishly to suppress these many repeated incidents.  But these are not incidents in the political sense.  Rather, they are more likely, carefully planned and executed military probes of our border defenses by the People Liberation Army of Communist China.   

Mexican Authorities Attack U.S. Border Patrol Officers

As recently as last October 24, Mexican authorities were reported to have fired upon United States Border Patrol officers.  That in itself is not uncommon. 

The following is the transcript of an interview conducted on the Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor."  The guest being interviewed is National Border Patrol Council President, T.J. Bonner.

O'REILLY: In the "Back of the Book" segment tonight: THE FACTOR continues its investigation of violence along the Mexican border.  We've already documented two occasions where Mexican authorities shot at American federal agents.  In the first incident, Mexican troops actually crashed through a fence in Texas, came on to American soil and shot at two border agents who were on horseback.  Now comes word that in California more shots have been fired at American agents, and the story is being kept under wraps.

Joining us now from San Diego is the president of the National Border Patrol Council, T.J. Bonner.  So tell us, Mr. Bonner, what happened? 

T.J. BONNER, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL BORDER PATROL COUNCIL: On October 24, at just after noon, a U.S. Border Patrol helicopter clearly marked dropped off two agents close to the border, obviously on our side of the border.  Shortly after that, these agents came under fire; at least eight shots were fired at them by 10 Mexican military troops.  The agents clearly identified themselves as Border Patrol agents and told the troops that they were in the United States.  The troops nonetheless advanced into the United States, telling the agents to come out of the brush.  The agents again identified themselves, told the Mexican troops that they were in the United States and they needed to go back to Mexico.  When reinforcements started to arrive from the Border Patrol, the Mexican military got into a minivan; at least some of them did, and drove off.

O'REILLY: All right, so how many shots were fired at the U.S. agents? 

BONNER: At least eight. 

O'REILLY: And nobody was hurt, obviously, right? 

BONNER: No, nobody was hurt, thank God. 

O'REILLY: OK, investigation, subsequent investigation revealed what? 

BONNER: Well, the U.S. Border Patrol claims they did an investigation, although we have it on good authority that there never was an investigation, that the matter was just swept under the carpet. 

O'REILLY: So this is the — this is what happens on most of these things, they don't want any international incidents, so when this stuff happens, they just let it go, right? 

BONNER: Right. 

O'REILLY: Is that orders from the Justice Department? 

BONNER: I'm not sure where it's coming from. It could be Justice.  It could be State.  It could be coming from as high as the White House. 

O'REILLY: Now, the two guys who were — are they angry, the two guys who were in the brush getting shot at by the Mexican troops? 

BONNER: They're not the only ones who are angry.  All Border Patrol agents are angry, we're angry with the Mexican government for allowing this to happen, for letting their troops take potshots at our agents.  We're angry with the U.S. government for trying to sweep this under the carpet. 

O'REILLY: Now, when you hear about reports like this, what do you, yourself, do as a president of the union?  What do you do? 

BONNER: Well, in the last incident, the one in New Mexico, we wrote to just about everybody that we could think of asking for a full and complete investigation.  We got back a letter from the president of the United States that addressed some water boundary issue; it wasn't even the right issue.  We got back a letter from the head of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the commissioner, responding on behalf of the attorney general some four months after the fact telling us that it was all right, that this would never happen again, and here we are.  It happened again.

O'REILLY: All right, so basically, the situation we have down there from Brownsville to San Diego is you have U.S. Border Patrol agents on our side being shot at by Mexican military.  Now, we've heard accusations that the military assists drug runners across the border and, you know, is actively involved in the smuggling of narcotics into the United States.  Do you believe that this was what this was about in this incident? 

BONNER: It's hard to say, because we'll never know.  Mexico denies that their troops shot at our people.  Moreover, amazingly, the U.S. Border Patrol says that the reason they dropped the investigation is that the question of he said/she said.  However, we have four U.S. Border Patrol agents swearing that these are the facts.  Then we have Mexico denying.  Somehow, in their eyes, this makes for a he said/she said.  We can't sort this out. 

O'REILLY: Well, I know who I believe, Mr. Bonner.  In addition, I think know who the millions of people watching THE FACTOR right now believe.  They believe the border agents.  We know this is going on.  You know the tragedy of this: The elite media won't report on it.  You didn't get any national publicity on this at all, did you?

BONNER: No, we didn't. 

O'REILLY: Well, it's a shame.  Now, you let us know when this happens again, or what — you investigate it yourself.  You let us know every step of the way what happens, and we'll report it to the folks. OK? 

BONNER: Great.  I appreciate it. 

O'REILLY: All right, Mr. Bonner.  We'll do everything we can to help you guys out down there.

The Mexican Authorities May Not Have Been Alone

In the assault at San Ysidro, CA, the Mexicans allegedly had some assistance.  Scott Gulbransen, a writer for an Internet-based publication, The Strategic Jungle Syndicate, reported that men of Asian origin were witnessed among the attackers.  Furthermore, his report indicated the presence of non-English speaking Caucasian males.  

A skirmish between U.S. Border Patrol agents and armed soldiers in Mexico has raised several disturbing questions related to the security of America's borders.  

The incident, which occurred on October 24 near the Otay Mesa border-crossing southeast of San Diego, has received little attention in the mainstream media but local law enforcement circles are a buzz at reports that Mexican soldiers were not the only ones in the area.

Several eyewitness accounts stated soldiers of Asian and Caucasian origin were also firing from Mexico on the Border Patrol agents in the unprovoked attack.

A Border Patrol agent, speaking to the Strategic Jungle Syndicate on the condition of anonymity, stated the attack was more than Mexican soldiers firing upon what they thought might be drug dealers.  "Everything happened so fast but I know not all of them were Mexican nationals," the agent said.  "More than two of us saw what appeared to be an Asian soldier.  I didn't get a real clean look at his eyes but he certainly looked Asian to me.  The bottom line here is this was planned and not some random event.  The government might not want to admit that but it's the damn truth."

The agent also stated several Mexican nationals, attempting to cross the border illegally, also told of "chinos," a slang term in Spanish for Chinese, soldiers dressed in fatigues.  "There were a few people in the brush trying to get into the United States and after the shooting ended, they were apprehended and being processed to return to Mexico," the Border Patrol agent said.  "Two or three of them were close enough and said they heard men speaking what they described as Chinese.  They were scared and said they had seen the men before, including some white men driving military type vehicles."

Local law enforcement officials have also confirmed the movement of unidentified military vehicles.  A deputy with the San Diego County Sheriff's office confirmed officers have encountered unknown vehicles in and near the border area.  "We're all law enforcement officers and we talk a lot about what we see," the deputy with nine years in the department said. "There's been strange things going on.  Even homeowners have been calling about automatic weapons fire in the canyons near Otay Mesa.  I know my friends with the San Diego Police Department also hear about it.  There's something going on and most of us feel like we're not being told everything."

Increased activity along the U.S.-Mexican border has yielded strange events over the past three months.  In addition to the powerful Mexican drug cartels, and the ever-profitable smuggling of illegal immigrants to better working wages in California, many in border towns report strange activity.

"You know, I've lived here for many years," said Domingo Sanez of San Ysidro, "but never have I heard so many strange noises and lots of traffic.  I always say it must be a war because I hear trucks all the time and they wake me and my wife."

Sanez works as a parking lot attendant near the border crossing at San Ysidro and lives on the eastern outskirts of Tijuana.  He said many believe there are things going on in the night but he believes drug cartels are the culprit.

"There is so much money and they are so powerful," he said.  "I think they are getting ready to go to war with the Americans.  I don't know why but people want those drugs and it's big money."  Still others feel more international forces may be working within Mexico.  "You have to sit there and ask yourself why are there Chinese soldiers in Mexico and why have people reported seeing other blond soldiers not speaking English," the Border Patrol agent said.  "It scares me to think some enemy army may be closer than we think.  People out there need to demand the truth and find out what our government knows."

Keith Weeks, president of NBPCL 1613, said he's not sure why the Border Patrol has side stepped the issue and watered down it's story on the incident.  "What the agents told us directly and what the Border Patrol said in their statement don't match completely," Weeks said Wednesday.  "For whatever reason they're more concerned about keeping it quiet and we don't know why."

Weeks said his organization had contacted Congressman Duncan Hunter about the agent's concerns and that the congressman was supportive of their concerns.  "Maybe this has something to do with the election next week," Weeks said. "I can tell you when the agency called me they told me they were very disappointed we issued our press release. That's not right."  Weeks also questioned why highly skilled military personnel would be stationed on the border directly in violation of current treaties with the United States.

Weeks was not aware of the eyewitness reports related to Asian soldiers being part of the group that fired on his fellow agents.  "I'm going to check again with the agents but I have not heard that yet," he said.

The only official word concerning the incident came three days after the skirmish from National Border Patrol Council Local 1613 who called for an investigation by the U.S. and Mexican governments.  The union represents Border Patrol agents and is a division of the American Federation Of Government Employees.

NBPCL 1613 stated the incident was the second confirmed incident this year in which Border Patrol Agents have been shot at by what they believe to be Mexican military.  The other occurred on March 14 in Santa Teresa, New Mexico.

The press release stated not only stray soldiers had fired upon the agents, but also that two of them had taken sniper positions as well.  The agents identified themselves in Spanish but the soldiers kept on firing and pursuing the Americans.

"I don't think they understood Spanish," the Border Patrol agent speaking to the Strategic Jungle Syndicate said.  "A few did and they moved more into a rear position while the others fired.  The rest were in a van near the western most part of the canyon."

Both law enforcement officials are disappointed, the media, in particular, hasn't noticed the story.  "Can you imagine if a bunch of soldiers fired on police officers in downtown San Diego what coverage that would get," the Border Patrol agent said.  "We were involved in an international incident and there's not a damn thing anyone is doing about it."

The questions remain and no answers appear to be in sight.