France, after losing 1.7 million of their citizens in World War I, finally emerged victorious but traumatized. They were scared to death the Germans would some day re-militarize and attack again. To prepare for this eventuality they built a 450-mile-long, 15-mile deep series of interconnected fortifications, known as the Maginot Line, with its fixed-in-place guns pointed toward Germany. It stopped short of the Ardennes forest as that was considered an impenetrable natural obstacle. Their only unguarded eastern border was with Belgium, where the French planned to mass their forces if the Germans were to ever attack via that route. They were feeling pretty secure.
While the Maginot Line looked formidable, a few enlightened military leaders of the time, among them Charles de Gaulle, thought differently. They preferred a more mobile defense centered around tanks and airplanes. They knew if the Germans should break through at any one point, they could react and respond quickly. Their view did not prevail.
On May 10, 1940 France's worst fear came true, in spades. The Germans attacked, but not directly toward the Maginot Line, which the French were prepared for, or through Belgium, where the French had troops poised to defend, but through the supposedly natural barrier of the Ardennes forest. The Germans punched through, then swung north to outflank the French and British Expeditionary Force (did you see the movie Dunkirk?), and south where they came in BEHIND the Maginot Line with its immovable guns pointed in the wrong direction. Game, set, match. The French defenses folded like a card table.
Fast forward 78 years and now it's the United States concerned about its southern border, and rightly so. Drug smugglers, gun runners, human traffickers, and others have their eyes on us. They want in. The border security system we have now is only marginally effective. Those who say we need something more are completely correct. But as history should have taught us, those who say we need a massive, enormously expensive, fixed-in-place structure are completely wrong.
The Maginot Line didn't work for the French in 1940, and a Trump Wall won't work for the US in 2018. What we need is security that is maneuverable, strong, and fast reacting. Imagine, for example, a sizeable fleet of small manned patrol aircraft, and many more drones than we have now, too, backed up with the ability to very rapidly bring in overwhelming manpower anywhere along our border to deal with any intruders.
Our adversaries are smart. State-of-the-art security measures that might work today will likely prove to be laughable just a few years from now. That's how fast technology is changing. The Maginot Line became a metaphor for expensive efforts that offer a false sense of security. Let's not make that same mistake all over again with a tall, low-tech wall. Let's be smart for once.
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I always say if you really want to make a statement mine the whole border. Bury explosives to make tunneling more difficult. Leave the corpses to rot and be food for carrion. That'd scare them straight.
ReplyDeleteWall, drones, cameras, sensors, personnel...I picture border security as a combination of these and other technologies. I think mines and leaving corpses is a horrible idea, it is inhumane and would probably in the long run make us less safe.
ReplyDeleteAgree Joe. But Trump seems stuck on a physical, 30'(?) tall concrete/steal reinforced solid wall. That's insane. We could afford all those other things with change to spare, and we could afford to update it regularly to stay ahead of the bad guys. I wish he would come to his senses.
DeleteI'm unclear about these masses of invaders that are just waiting, poised to pour across the border....The Canadians are much more technologically able, have greater resources, etc. Shouldn't we be more worried about our norther border? I mean, I'm imagining plaid shirt clad hordes coming down I15, bringing in illegal Tim Horton's coffee, etc.
ReplyDeleteSeems just a tad paranoid, comparing Mexico and Central America to Nazi Germany....
But Canadians speak English. No problem, mon. Haha! And I was not comparing Mexico to Nazi Germany. I was just pointing out how borders can be crossed, even in the face of massive fixed-in-place defenses, and the German invasion of France in 1940 proves my point. Seriously, human trafficking and drugs coming in are real problems that better border security could stem. Which gave me a thought: To enter the US and avoid The Wall, why couldn't someone visit Canada legally, then go a few miles outside town and walk through the woods and cross our imaginary border? Is this possible? Why haven't they done this already? It just goes to show there are many ways to sneak in, and a wall will do nothing to change that.
DeleteLived up here many decades, been going up to Canada since I was a kid in the 50's. There are dirt roads all across central Washington, Montana, particularly central and west Montana, that wander back and forth across the border, no signs, nothing. There are a couple ranches up by Havre that part of their land in across the border, and the Native American reservations and tribes pay no attention to the border at all, fishing, hunting both sides.
DeleteTo me a border is an artifical invention of humans.....such as the phrase "I love America"....ok, so does that love of the land stop at the rocky mountains on the other side of the border? On the other side of the Rio Grande? I mean, I know places I love, certain meadows, lakes and rivers, here and around the world. Where they are means nothing to me. I love the land of Central British Columbia as much as the Cascades of Oregon, where I grew up. Love of country means nothing to me. I have the bona fides I imagine, that quailfy. Worked, contributed, helped people in need of health issues, fought in a war. I guess I can love or not in whatever manner I want. Patriotism is just a word, usually draped over meanness or ill-intent.
Hmmm...maybe we shouldn't spend all that money to build a wall, but instead spend money on efforts to make Mexicans more like Canadians?
ReplyDeleteYes!
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