Wednesday, June 13, 2007

The Strange Case Of Ramos & Compean

Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean are featured in Ann Coulter's column this week. Have been talked about on virtually every Conservative talk show since their trials and incarceration. And I'm going to need some help with this.

The men broke at least half a dozen laws in crossing the border to shoot Osvaldo Davila, and forget for a moment that these "laws" were chickenshit. They were caught trying to cover-up their incursion by policing spent shell casings from the scene, were offered a plea bargain of 18 months but decided to go to trail, and at the end of the day no one is offering that they did NOT break the law, but that the laws were stupid to begin with.

Well sure they are. All but the part about them trying to make like it never happened. We seriously need to change these laws, but Mexico made a stink...Mexico gives good stink...and the US Attorney's Office was given the go ahead to prosecute, prosecute they did, and won. Aside from the little case of hiding the evidence, Ramos and Compean did what most if not all of US would have done, or did they? We want law enforcement to play by the rules, don't we? Can we have them making them up as they go along? Should Bush bite the bullet and simply pardon the both of them? Do we need MORE Ramos and Compean's, who take it upon themselves to interdict when the law says not to?

If I'm President, and doesn't that scare the holy shit out of you, I know I can't make or break the existing laws, not by my lonesome, so I push for Congress to do the right thing, and for the Border Patrol to do the right thing in changing it's standard operating procedure, and push for Mexico to understand that we're invading whenever we need to maintain a hot pursuit. That's a mouthful. A choke-able mouthful at that. Congress is going to raise 40 kinds of hell about the mere thought of sending armed men into a sovereign nation, so what if we stop at the border and say, okay, Ramos and Compean crossed the line but it was for a good cause so let's pardon them. This time. They claim Davila was armed and even though I know full well that such claims are offered every day when a cop is trying to justify a shoot, I'm going to believe them. Stalwart citizens and exemplary agents before this began, and in the heat of battle not everything gets done via the Marquis of Queensbury.

A sorry-about-that to Mexico, and a promise that our guys will toe the line until we change the laws. That need changing.

Amnesty to Ramos and Compean? Full pardon along with immediate parole?

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