Via the

Associated Press

Texas Coast To Be Patrolled By Unmanned
Predator Aircraft

HOUSTON, Texas — A dozen U.S. Predator aircraft will be based at Houston’s
Ellington Field for use in homeland security and border patrols.

Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay made the
announcement in Houston Wednesday.

Predators are unmanned aircraft that can carry missiles and can stay
airborne for 24 hours. They can be operated by ground control or satellite.
They can be used to locate targets and either fire their own Hellfire missiles
or be followed up by other aircraft.

Perry said the 12 Predators at Ellington will be used to patrol such assets
as the Southeast Texas ports and petrochemical complex and NASA’s Johnson
Space Center. Perry said they’ll also be used to patrol the border with
Mexico.

DeLay — who’s a Sugar Land Republican — says the aircraft would used to
monitor illegal immigration. Perry says they’d also be used as a bargaining
chip with the independent federal base-closing commission to keep the 147th
Fighter Wing at Ellington.

So now we are using missile carrying aircraft to patrol the Texas boarder and
coast. Signs that we are closer to becoming a police state.