In Other Words

It took the Israelis 6 months to build a 60 km (~38 miles) fence.

During my time as Commander of Southern Command in the years 2000-2003, there were more than 400 attempts by Palestinians to cross the boundaries of the Gaza Strip, all of which failed. There are a number of key reasons for this:

• Our first move was to rebuild the fence, which took six months from December 2000 to June 2001.
• Together with the fence, a key security element was the creation of a one-kilometer security buffer zone. Sometimes there were orchards that allowed the terrorists to get within 50 meters of the fence without being spotted. The only way to face our intelligence alerts effectively was to remove the trees to allow clearer observation.
• In addition, we constructed high technology observation posts that enabled soldiers to monitor about six kilometers – day and night, and we provided the troops with new rules of engagement regarding anyone approaching this area.

It will take us significantly longer.

The Bush administration has scaled back plans to quickly build a “virtual fence” along the U.S.-Mexico border, delaying completion of the first phase of the project by at least three years and shifting away from a network of tower-mounted sensors and surveillance gear, federal officials said yesterday.Technical problems discovered in a 28-mile pilot project south of Tucson prompted the change in plans, Department of Homeland Security officials and congressional auditors told a House subcommittee.

Gee. It’s almost like someone in the government doesn’t want it built.

This entry was posted on February 28, 2008 at 9:42 pm and is filed under foreign, politics. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.