Pot-laden truck creates armed standoff (at the Mexico border)

El Paso Times ^ | nov 19 | Daniel Borunda

[AnimalLover]

BUMP

[DTwistedSisterS]

If we were invaded by the Mexican "Army" let's just stomp right through and turn the country into America's backyard parking lot.

Keep Cancun though, I heard it's nice.

[dr_who_2]

We also need to modify the "Posse Comitatus" to allow the full scale use of the armed forces to curb these abuses of the border.

Oh certainly. Look how well it worked with Mexico's military. Ever get the feeling you're not getting the whole story?

[Itzlzha]

A marijuana-laden dump truck got stuck in the Rio Grande on Thursday evening in Hudspeth County, leading to a standoff between U.S. law enforcement and what appeared to be the Mexican military, sheriff officials said.
"It's a very serious incident," Hudspeth County Chief Deputy Mike Doyal said.
"We are very fortunate (Thursday) night no one got hurt," Doyal said. "Everyone had the presence of mind not to cause an international incident, or start shooting."

Now rerconcile that with the following (I have corrected the appropriate section)

Doyal said the truck driver returned with the armed men, including men who arrived in official-looking vehicles with overhead lights and what appeared to be Mexican soldiers in uniform and with military-style rifles.
The Mexican army is used in anti- PRO-narcotics operations. Army officials could not be reached for comment.

Yup...so, all you OBL morons...still think that it's all about "cheap lettuce"?

Amazing part...the Mexican Army was used to recover their "property", and that witnesses confirmed it!

[Hoosier-Daddy]

Let's get the word out - John Culberson-R Texas the Border Law Enforcement Act HR 4360. Al Qaeda and the drug smugglers are teaming up. Bad Mojo.

[beyond the sea]

That was a riot.

[Captain Rhino]

Not sure what you are referring to here.

The "Posse Comitatus" I am referring to is the U.S. federal law that greatly restricts the involvement of U.S. armed forces in law enforcement activities within the national borders. We have had some involvement recently along the southern border in support of the US Border Patrol. Examples of this are Marine engineer units in Arizona building fences and use of reserve Marine reconnaissance units in south Texas to watch the border. The later caused an incident a few years ago. A teenage Hispanic boy (U.S. citizen) armed with a rifle was shot and killed by a patrol leader after he (the boy) allegedly took the patrol under fire in it's hiding position. Don't know how the case ultimately turned out but IIRC the patrolling was subsequently discontinued due to local political heat. (The boy was from a majority Hispanic community just inside the US border. The Marine who shot him was Hispanic as well.)

The bottom line is that the law severely restricts how and when the support is rendered and prohibits the carrying out of actual law enforcement functions by the armed forces.

I know very little about Mexican law, so if they have a similar law I'd be glad to know about it.

The impression given by this and other articles is that the Mexican Army units along the border have been hopelessly corrupted by narcotics money and that they are acting as facilitators for cross border movement of the drugs and security for them during their transit in the border area. How far up the corruption goes I cannot say. But I suspect that it goes all the way into the top most-levels of Mexican state and federal governments.

In this particular case, the US Border Patrol was effectively intimidated in preventing the complete recovery of the trafficker, the dump truck and the bulk of the drugs. Intimidated because they had nothing but police weapons to deal with the military weapons confronting them. Had the BCTs mentioned in my previous post been available, the mid-river incident probably would have been a different ending with AH-64s, M2/M3 Bradleys, and M1A1s backing up the US Border Patrol.

Yes, there might have been a shooting incident but border inviolability is a two way street and right now the Mexicans are not holding up their end of the bargain. While the Mexican and US governments may not officially want a shooting war on the border, the local Mexican forces aiding and abetting drug trafficking are not going to back down until they are clearly over-matched in terms of firepower.

Let the Mexicans reinforce the border if they are that committed to their drug lords and their money. That will end all pretense and allow us to drop all remaining concerns about posting US forces along the border or building the long overdue border wall.

[dagnabbit]

Cordero, the Border Patrol spokesman, described the incident as an "armed encounter with drug smugglers" but would not confirm whether the Mexican military was involved. Investigations into the incident continue.

The Bush administration's dishonesty about borders and immigration runs deep - all the way down to Senoir Cordero.

[dr_who_2]

The "Posse Comitatus" I am referring to is the U.S. federal law that greatly restricts the involvement of U.S. armed forces in law enforcement activities within the national borders.

Yup, that's the one. Dumb idea.

[dr_who_2]

The later caused an incident a few years ago. A teenage Hispanic boy (U.S. citizen) armed with a rifle was shot and killed by a patrol leader after he (the boy) allegedly took the patrol under fire in it's hiding position. Don't know how the case ultimately turned out but IIRC the patrolling was subsequently discontinued due to local political heat. (The boy was from a majority Hispanic community just inside the US border. The Marine who shot him was Hispanic as well.)

Yes, I remember that. There's this thing called the "rules of engagement". Armed forces aren't policemen, and shouldn't act like be unless there are no policemen. It's been tried, and it doesn't work. Innocent people get killed, and yes, Americans start complaining about it, damn them.

[dr_who_2]

Perhaps Bush is involved in the drug trade too! What else could explain all this?!

[dr_who_2]

Yes, there might have been a shooting incident but border inviolability is a two way street and right now the Mexicans are not holding up their end of the bargain. While the Mexican and US governments may not officially want a shooting war on the border, the local Mexican forces aiding and abetting drug trafficking are not going to back down until they are clearly over-matched in terms of firepower.

In other words, you want a border war with Mexico.

[ViLaLuz]

""We are very fortunate (Thursday) night no one got hurt," Doyal said. "Everyone had the presence of mind not to cause an international incident, or start shooting."

What a totally idiotic global-brained statement. The armed group that went to retrieve the truck already made it an international incident.

[ViLaLuz]

"Congressman Culberson (Houston, Texas) was on Hannity's radio show yesterday and H&C last night discussing similar incidents and the Mexican Army's participation. He was complaining that the border patrol had their hands tied by the Administration so he's planning to circumvent the Feds and equip the Sheriff's Dept in several counties along the TX border to clean this mess up. He described himself as having his 'hair on fire' over this situation. He had reports from two Sheriffs that an Al Queda terrorist with papers naming him as a Mexican had been arrested recently and held in their jail. Hopefully the Sheriff's Dept from these areas will get the support they need to clean up their neighborhoods. Evidently they are ready and willing. God bless them!"

That's exactly what the states on the border need to do. We shouldn't be waiting around anymore for the federal gov't to take action. They've already demonstrated that they are more interested in UN global-minded borderless Americas. If the border states can't afford to build a fence, man the border, etc., then the rest of the states need to assist them through groups such as the Minutemen.

[Minutemen]

I want our military to respond with tow missles next time the mexicans pull a stunt like that.