Whoa-hoo, I'm Out On the Border

President Bush is set to send National Guard troops to help the Border Patrol stop illegal immigrants along the U.S.'s border with Mexico. On the one hand, well, this is one of the thing's a military's for, innit? To protect the country's borders? On the other hand, a number of questions spring to mind:

(1) Does this mean he's going to pull some of them out of Iraq?
(2) You think Dubbya might not have had to do this had he not cut the number of new Border Patrol agents from almost 10,000 to 200?
(3) Is border inderdiction really what these guys are trained for? Is this the right tool for this job? I mean you can use a screwdriver to hammer nails if you really need to, but wouldn't you be better off buying a new and better hammer in the first place?
(4) Despite Dubbya's soothing words to Mexican President Vincente Fox, doesn't any national leader have a right to express concern at the prospect of a military force massing on his border?

Of course, we can expect anyone who question Bush's cockeyed methods to be accused of opposing the worthy goal of protecting the border in the first place. But wouldn't fully funding the border security proposal by the 9/11 Commission, including hiring and training more Border Patrolmen, have made more sense?

It seems as if immigration has only suddenly become a priority for the Bush Adminsitration and, caught unprepared, they're rushing to a military solution.