Crossing The Border, More Mideast Troubles, Soldier Survivor, Virginia Tech Report, Honor Killings, And Chinese Immersion (Wednesday's Second Hour)
Hi everybody. Have I confused my regular readers by having the first hour up earlier than normal for Wednesday's show? I worked from home today, so I was able to bang it out last night before bed. Anyhoo, we're kicking it off this hour with an Ed Lavandera piece on those three National Guard soldiers that helped smuggle Mexicans into the country. It seems they've done this on eight different occasions. So far there is no evidence that they were recruited by a cartel, but apparently that's something that happens on occasion. And the corruption investigations seem to be rising. Last year there were 66 and so far this year there's already been 52. I'm not sure how we're suppose to secure the borders when the guys doing the securing are so easily bought.
Keeping with immigration, we have a Jeanne Meserve piece that tells us a tale of two crossings. In the first story, a Mexican family crosses the Rio Grande and are caught by Border Control. However, instead of following procedure, one of the family members claims the border agents forced them all back into the water, resulting in three drownings. Border Patrol found no evidence of misconduct, though it is curious that the government settled when the family sued. For a different view of Border Control, Jeanne next brings us the story of Border Patrol Agent Daryl Lee. When Lee approached some illegal immigrants that he had seen on his camera, they fled back into the water and one of them started drowning. Lee then jumped in the river and saved his life, which we get to see on Border Control video. Today's lesson is that Border Control agents have the capacity to be good and bad. Illuminating.
Transitioning now to a Ben Wedeman piece that comes at us from the West Bank. So it's not a happy one folks. All hell is breaking lose between Fatah and Hamas and I'm just going to move on because things have already changed a lot. After the piece we're joined by Ben, Brett Sadler in Beirut, and Hala Gorani in Baghdad. Ben tells us the Palestinian authority is basically going to be split. Hali talks about the bombing of the mosque and isn't sure what's going to happen when the curfew is lifted. And from Brent we learn another Lebanese MP has been killed and things are getting critically dangerous. Okay, so I don't have much time and I'm kind of phoning this in, but I do want to note Hala's final comment: "These three conflicts -- because of all the actors in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Iraq that have a hand or interests in it, is really exacerbating a situation across the regions. So these conflicts are separate, but they're related. Solving one without solving the others is becoming increasingly difficult."
I don't know that most Americans know that people in the mideast see the conflicts as connected and something like this could probably use further coverage. Also, while I really appreciate 360 never dumbing things down, more explanation of what's going on with Palestine and Lebanon would probably be helpful. You know, kind of like a 101 course. Because I know that while I know enough about the players to follow along with the discussion, most people don't consume news like I do and are probably just zoning out. One reason why the special with Michael Ware on Iraq was so cool was that it really broke the whole thing down in a simple and understandable form without making us feel like we're retarded.
Transitioning now to an interview with Marcus Luttrell, author of "Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Red Wing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team Ten." Okay, so Marcus fought in this battle in Afghanistan where it was four of them against 100 Taliban. Wow. The other three didn't make it, but after being shot, Marcus was able to get himself to a village. And here's the cool part: due to tribal customs they totally took him in and protected him from the Taliban. They no doubt saved his life. After this we have a Randi Kaye piece on a new report following Virginia Tech and then a repeat of the Ted Rowlands piece. From there we have a Paula Newton piece on an honor killing committed in London and then a Dan Simon piece on this cool kindergarten that's teaching their kids in Chinese only. I don't think Lou Dobbs would be down with that though. And that was it. Sorry for the rush job. I need more hours in my day.
Keeping with immigration, we have a Jeanne Meserve piece that tells us a tale of two crossings. In the first story, a Mexican family crosses the Rio Grande and are caught by Border Control. However, instead of following procedure, one of the family members claims the border agents forced them all back into the water, resulting in three drownings. Border Patrol found no evidence of misconduct, though it is curious that the government settled when the family sued. For a different view of Border Control, Jeanne next brings us the story of Border Patrol Agent Daryl Lee. When Lee approached some illegal immigrants that he had seen on his camera, they fled back into the water and one of them started drowning. Lee then jumped in the river and saved his life, which we get to see on Border Control video. Today's lesson is that Border Control agents have the capacity to be good and bad. Illuminating.
Transitioning now to a Ben Wedeman piece that comes at us from the West Bank. So it's not a happy one folks. All hell is breaking lose between Fatah and Hamas and I'm just going to move on because things have already changed a lot. After the piece we're joined by Ben, Brett Sadler in Beirut, and Hala Gorani in Baghdad. Ben tells us the Palestinian authority is basically going to be split. Hali talks about the bombing of the mosque and isn't sure what's going to happen when the curfew is lifted. And from Brent we learn another Lebanese MP has been killed and things are getting critically dangerous. Okay, so I don't have much time and I'm kind of phoning this in, but I do want to note Hala's final comment: "These three conflicts -- because of all the actors in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Iraq that have a hand or interests in it, is really exacerbating a situation across the regions. So these conflicts are separate, but they're related. Solving one without solving the others is becoming increasingly difficult."
I don't know that most Americans know that people in the mideast see the conflicts as connected and something like this could probably use further coverage. Also, while I really appreciate 360 never dumbing things down, more explanation of what's going on with Palestine and Lebanon would probably be helpful. You know, kind of like a 101 course. Because I know that while I know enough about the players to follow along with the discussion, most people don't consume news like I do and are probably just zoning out. One reason why the special with Michael Ware on Iraq was so cool was that it really broke the whole thing down in a simple and understandable form without making us feel like we're retarded.
Transitioning now to an interview with Marcus Luttrell, author of "Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Red Wing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team Ten." Okay, so Marcus fought in this battle in Afghanistan where it was four of them against 100 Taliban. Wow. The other three didn't make it, but after being shot, Marcus was able to get himself to a village. And here's the cool part: due to tribal customs they totally took him in and protected him from the Taliban. They no doubt saved his life. After this we have a Randi Kaye piece on a new report following Virginia Tech and then a repeat of the Ted Rowlands piece. From there we have a Paula Newton piece on an honor killing committed in London and then a Dan Simon piece on this cool kindergarten that's teaching their kids in Chinese only. I don't think Lou Dobbs would be down with that though. And that was it. Sorry for the rush job. I need more hours in my day.
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