Unmanned Spy Planes To Patrol U.S. Border
WASHINGTON — The Predator unmanned spy plane, usually seen in the skies above Afghanistan, will soon be deployed over the America-Mexico border, Governor Perry of Texas said yesterday.
A squadron of 16 Predator I–Bs will be based in Texas's Ellington Air Force Base starting sometime next year, the governor said. As commander in chief of the Texas Air National Guard, of which the Predators will be a part, Mr. Perry will exercise some control over the deployment of the U.S. Air Force-owned planes.
The Predators will fly over the 16 Texas counties that line Mexican border, as well as patrol the Houston ship channel and the petrochemical plants that line the Lone Star State's Gulf Coast. The governor emphasized that the primary cruising ground for the planes will be the stretches of desert along the border.
Mr. Perry said he is certain the drone planes will enhance border security.
While flying unseen and unheard thousands of feet overhead, the Predator can accurately read a license plate or scan the faces of people in a moving vehicle.
The deployment is the latest phase of a stepped-up border enforcement plan the governor undertook last year. Spending $25 million of his own budget — as opposed to the much-larger state budget controlled by the Legislature — Mr. Perry has initiated dozens of "border surges" using local police and sheriffs alongside state police and park personnel from across Texas and the U.S. Border Patrol. The enforcement campaigns, lasting weeks at selected sites between El Paso and Brownsville, Texas, have cut incidences of violent crime by 60% compared to the same month in 2005, Mr. Perry said.
Mr. Perry said he sees border security as a crime-fighting issue and not an effort to punish economic migrants. Until the border crackdown, 12 of the predominantly Hispanic border counties were suffering a rapid increase in violent crimes: murders, rapes, drug trafficking, gang attacks, and even a rash of daylight kidnappings of American women taken to Mexico for ransom.
The original purpose of placing the Predators in Texas is to train U.S. Air Force pilots to operate the unmanned aerial vehicles remotely over safe ground. After training, the Predator pilots will guide the planes from American bases over Afghanistan, Iraq, and other countries.
Hellfire missiles from Predator planes have been credited with killing Mohammed Atef, then the chief of Al Qaeda's military wing, in Afghanistan in November 2001, as well as other top terrorists and Taliban officials over the past five years.
The Predators will fly unarmed over Texas.
Moving to the congressional elections less than a week away, the Republican governor made a surprising prediction yesterday.
Senator Kerry's contentious remarks about American soldiers in Iraq could cost Democrats one or two congressional seats in Texas, Mr. Perry said.
Internal party polls, as well as public opinion surveys published in the Houston Chronicle, show that the race for Republican Tom DeLay's congressional seat is now "50–50," he said. The Massachusetts Democrat's remarks, he said, will depress Democratic turnout by a "point or two" in that one-time Republican stronghold.
Democratic Party campaign leaders, as well as an oft-quoted campaign watcher, Charlie Cook, have said Democrats would pick up Mr. DeLay's former seat.
Mr. Perry also said Mr. Kerry's remarks could help Republicans in Texas's 17th Congressional District, a seat long held by Democrat Rep. Chet Edwards. Many political observers expect Democrats to hold that seat.
But Mr. Perry said Mr. Edwards's district is home to tens of thousands of active and retired military service personnel — and that it hosts one of the largest U.S. Army bases in the world.
"It is [still] the hardest race in Texas" for Republicans, the governor said, however, and added that he will call on the Republican candidate, Van Taylor, to attack Mr. Kerry's remarks on all the radio stations in the district.
