Posted on 03/09/2009 10:06:41 AM PDT by AuntB
With U.S. forces fighting two wars abroad, the nation's top military officer made an important visit last week to forestall a third.
He went to Mexico.
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the trip to confer with Mexican leaders about the Merida Initiative, a three-year plan signed into law last June to flood the U.S.-Mexican border region with $1.4 billion in U.S. assistance for law-enforcement training and equipment, as well as technical advice and training to bolster Mexico’s judicial system.
That’s about 100 people every week for the last 14 months. The cartels usually do not target civilians, but dozens, perhaps hundreds, have died in the crossfire.
“It’s a real war,” says Jorge Ramos, mayor of Tijuana, Mexico, across the border with San Diego. “We’re not faking.”
More important for the Obama administration, it is to keep the violence from spilling across the border more than it already has, especially in the border states of Texas, California, Arizona and New Mexico.
The concern is very real. Mexican drug cartels already control about 90 percent of the cocaine trade across the United States and most of the market for marijuana, methamphetamine and heroin, with operations in 230 cities, according to the U.S. Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
El Paso cited as possible target
[snip]New fears are rolling across the region, stemming from recent indications by cartel leaders that they are prepared to extend their war across the border, most likely into Texas and Arizona.
Ciudad Juarez Mayor José Reyes Ferriz is a particular target. Earlier this year, drug lords killed six Ciudad Juarez police officers and threatened to continue killing one every 48 hours until Reyes removed Police Chief Roberto Orduña Cruz, an anti-cartel crusader, from his job.
El Paso cited as possible target
New fears are rolling across the region, stemming from recent indications by cartel leaders that they are prepared to extend their war across the border, most likely into Texas and Arizona.
Reyes took the threats seriously. He is rumored to have moved his family to El Paso, seeking U.S. protection. El Paso Mayor John Cook promised that the city would take whatever measures were needed to protect Reyes’ family, but the cartel behind the threat said that would make no difference.
“Reyes Ferriz you made a good decision to let go of the pig, but if you continue to support those pigs and helping those people (you know who we’re talking about) we will not ask you to resign,” said signs posted in the city. “We will cut off your head along with your family even if they are in El Paso, Texas.”
U.S. and Mexican officials have called Ciudad Juarez a city in chaos...... “I have been screaming at the top of my lungs to anyone who would listen to me for well over a year that this was coming,” Fleming said last week in an interview with MSNBC TV. “Why just now the federal government is getting a hold of this and doing something about it — I don’t have that answer.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29516551/page/2/
I’ve long been a fan of the notion that “if you don’t understand something, get rid of it.”... Foreign or Domestic.
“What’s this? Now the Mexican Government wants us to provide them with police forces as well?”
Well, yes. After all, the problems in Mexico (according to them!) are ALL our fault...our guns get down there!
I’ve been thinking about this ‘gun’ angle the Mexicans are pushing. We both know any US citizen going into Mexico with a gun or even ammunition is going to jail. If guns are coming into Mexico from the US it’s under the guidance of those in charge in Mexico and they darn well know it!
That old excuse just doesn’t fly.
I say turn just a few Marines loose down there and let them take care of business, and that means playing dirty, killing, kicking some a$$ and taking NO names....
Jorge Bush wanted to make Mexico our partner. Probably still does. Sheer insanity. If I were president I would have fences up everywhere they were needed within one year.
Keep Mexico in Mexico!
They are running out of crude which all they are any good for
We should provide the Mexican government with an impenetrable wall of US forces on our side of the border. That way we can guarantee the violence will not spill over into America. Beyond that, if they want our help inside Mexico, it should be by the application of overwhelming force against the cartels. Take no prisoners, ask no questions. Apache gunships over ciudad Juarez. Smoking ruins in the roads. And no more complaints about border security or US gun shows.
I would also add that if they want our help inside Mexico, they must provide us with the precise locations of all the cartel leaders’ residences and warehouses, and guarantee us immunity. Clear and present danger.
Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
May 14, 2008
WASHINGTON — As many as 200 U.S.-trained Mexican security personnel have defected to drug cartels to carry out killings on both sides of the border and as far north as Dallas, Rep. Ted Poe, R-Humble, told Congress on Wednesday.
-snip-
The renegade members of Mexico's elite counter-narcotics teams trained at Fort Benning, Ga., have switched sides, contributing to a wave of violence that has claimed some 6,000 victims over the past 30 months, including prominent law enforcement leaders, the Houston-area Republican told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
I suspect that we already have all of that information.
The only fear should be on the part of the cartels. If Texans get involved, it will be the end of the world for them.
“WASHINGTON — As many as 200 U.S.-trained Mexican security personnel have defected to drug cartels to carry out killings on both sides of the border and as far north as Dallas, Rep. Ted Poe, R-Humble, told Congress on Wednesday.
-snip-
The renegade members of Mexico’s elite counter-narcotics teams trained at Fort Benning, Ga., have switched sides, contributing to a wave of violence that has claimed some 6,000 victims over the past 30 months, including prominent law enforcement leaders, the Houston-area Republican told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “
________________
Yes.
One of the awol Mexican military guys was caught growing dope about 10 miles from me. The camp was well armed.
“I say turn just a few Marines loose down there and let them take care of business, and that means playing dirty,”
Now, now, you’re being logical again. Instead this is what we’re doing:
From Grassfire.org today:
yet another massive spending bill — the
$410 billion omnibus appropriations bill that contains more than
2,900 pages.
Worse yet, the bill is laden with 8,500 pork-filled earmarks—
including $473,000 for National Council of La Raza!
As you know, La Raza (which means “The Race”) is a far-left Latino group
that has brazenly promoted amnesty and even supported radical Mexican
nationalism within our borders.
In addition, the spending bill includes…
—$1.8 million for pig odor and manure management
—$200,000 for a “tattoo-removal violence-outreach
program” in Los Angeles
TATOO removal??????? Can’t have those MS-13 gangbangers going around with tatoos that can identify them!!!!
Mexican cartels plague Atlanta
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-03-08-mex-cartels_N.htm
Good article, can’t be posted, link only.
The drug lords will be forced to eat nothing but New York chili with beans while listening to Captain & Tenille until they crack.
“What’s this? Now the Mexican Government wants us to provide them with police forces as well?”
No, they don’t want us operating over there. I wish they would let our guys come in to try to take out some of the leadership of these cartels.
When our own government arrests our own border guards and gives money to the cartel....
Atlanta has the best network of buses and other transportation directly from and to the Mexican border portals, and from here on to many major markets, so I am not surprised. Little Gainesville GA, close to me, has had several gang shootings, all Hispanic gangs. You can’t make a decent living plucking chickens, so there is always the drug trade. Personally, along with making employment of illegals impossible, I would decriminalize marijuana. That would make the whole criminal enterprise moot. Adios, muchachos.
Yes it has.
“Personally, along with making employment of illegals impossible, I would decriminalize marijuana. That would make the whole criminal enterprise moot. Adios, muchachos.”
That one is a crap shoot at best, isn’t it. I’m inclined to believe the only way we will get thousands of acres of our park and forest land out of the armed Mexican Drug cartel cultivation, is to make it legal.
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