Posted on 03/15/2010 11:26:28 PM PDT by OldDeckHand
State Dept says consulate closed for security review
U.S. says too early to say if diplomats targeted
U.S. in for long haul in Mexico's anti-drug fight
WASHINGTON, March 15 (Reuters) - The United States pledged support for Mexico on Monday in its war against drug gangs as the FBI joined the investigation of the murders of two Americans and a Mexican linked to the U.S. consulate in a violent border city.
"The tragedy of this weekend just underscores how severe and significant a danger this represents to Mexico, to the United States, to the hemisphere," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told a news briefing.
"We all share that determination that ultimately, through a variety of means, we will take back these streets one community at a time."
U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday voiced outrage over the murders, part of a surge in drug-related violence along the U.S.-Mexico border that has alarmed Washington.
(Excerpt) Read more at alertnet.org ...
This should be the lead story on all news outlets.
Re closing border - too bad we have no support from our Senators. Recd letter from Cornyn asking for campaign donation and decrying red ink in Washington but not one word about all the illegals and drugs that are overrunning Texas and our Country. He and KBH both need to go! Everybody knows BO isn’t going to do squat about Mexico except maybe send them more of our tax money.
We were warned!
As if the murder of our government representatives last weekend in Mexico wasn’t enough.
Congressman Warns Mexico More Dangerous than Iraq, Could Become Failed State
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
[snips]At a House of Representatives hearing on federal law enforcement’s response to the violence along the border between the United States and Mexico, Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) said there is more danger in that region than in the Middle East.
“Mexico is more dangerous than Iraq,” Culberson said. “There were more deaths in Mexico than there were in Iraq.”
The per capita rate of civilian killings in the Mexican border city in 2008 was nearly three-and-a-half times (3.4) as great as the per capita rate of civilian killings in the Iraqi province of Baghdad
That means people are at greater risk in Juarez than in Baghdad province.
In fact, CNSNews.com has calculated that approximately 113 per 100,000 people were killed by violence in Juarez, while in Baghdad about 33 per 100,000 civilians shared the same fate.
“Yet the testimony that this committee’s received, that we have on Homeland Security – many members of this committee are also on the Homeland Security Committee – the U.S. military has ranked the Mexican government, the Pakistani government and the Afghan government as the three most unstable, potentially likely to collapse governments in the world,” Culberson said.
“The level of violence we’re seeing in Mexico certainly has to be qualified essentially as a civil war,” he said. “The level of violence is unprecedented.”
Culberson also questioned the Drug Enforcement Agency’s (DEA) definition of “spillover,” as when drug cartels or gangs target Americans or American assets.
“In Houston, Texas, in broad daylight, we had a machine-gun fight at one of the biggest intersections in southwest Houston,” Culberson said. “A machine-gun battle between two human smugglers. They’re trying to kill each other. That’s not counted as spillover because they are shooting at each other and it’s not a deliberate attack on U.S. civilians.”
“Those bullets weren’t hitting each other, those bullets were flying everywhere,” Culberson said.
http://www.cnsnews.com/PUBLIC/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=45583
“Okay, here’s a HUGE problem I have with this. I am tired of the false and logically unsound argument that “US gun laws are arming the cartels.””
Our friends from NAFBPO often relate news items from Mexico showing many of these arms are coming in from China and elsewhere.
On FR, look under Keyword: NAFBPO
“By the way, and this is why I’m pinging All, does anyone know if the Minutemen are still active? I tried doing a Google search and got like 5 different groups, and I’m not sure how any of them are related. The websites also look pretty out of date. If I’m going to donate to this, I want to make sure it’s going to people who have their act together...some of these websites don’t look very professional, they mean well probably, but I want to make sure they are legit with their business”
The groups have become fragmented, largely due to false publicity. I’m pinging LadyCalif, she may know the active ones, like near Campo.
“This should be the lead story on all news outlets.”
I was stunned to see CBS gave this good coverage last night.
They even talked about the 5 beheadings in Alcapulco the same day our citizens were slaughtered. One diplomat actually said, ‘this was an act of terrorism’.
But I cannot find one congressman who has spoken out on this.
We, the Campo Minutemen are still active in Campo, CA. Kingfish is there 5 nights a week.
Check this out....Mexicans don’t want US meddling in their affairs!
About the murders in Mexico:
“Analysts seem to think this is a message the killers are sending to US and foreign officials, saying that they don’t want them here - they don’t want any meddling.[snip]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2472183/posts?page=14#14
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