December 23, 2006

Borderline

Madonna. It's one of her earliest singles & for early 80's pop it's not too bad. besides, it's title appropraite which is all I can really hope for these days. Here's the vid.

Mexican Soldiers Freelancing for Drug Cartels on US Soil

Not breaking news to some of us but I doubt most folks realize what all is really going on near the border.

"Gun-toting members of the Mexican military are crossing regularly into U.S. territory, where they are partnering with drug cartels and criminal gangs to protect sophisticated smuggling operations, according to Texas sheriffs and lawmakers."

& what do you think the reason for bearing arms while escorting smugglers is?

"U.S. Border Patrol agents and local law enforcement officials operating along the southwestern border have come under attack from the Mexican side in recent months, with automatic gunfire frequently erupting, Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) told Cybercast News Service."

Only it's been going on for years, not months. (see here as well as here).

"Mexican military units and drug cartels have access to weaponry and communications equipment far more advanced than resources made available to U.S. officials on the state and federal level, Culberson said.
'The U.S. Border Patrol is telling its agents to just lay low and report on what they see,' he said. 'They are instructed to determine the size of the [Mexican military] unit, the number of personnel, the direction of travel."

So in a nation of riflemen they're telling our boys to lie low & not engage the enemy? Not that I think a single border agent should charge a platoon of smugglers, but what happened to "one riot, one ranger"? (I know it's a myth but still...)

They are doing something though:

"The U.S. ambassador to Mexico has sent diplomatic notes to the Mexican government complaining about incursions into U.S. territory by 'individuals dressed in military uniforms,' according to a congressional report."

I'm sure that'll straighten out those pesky paramilitary smuggling rings. / sarcasm so obvious I feel guilty pointing out it is actually sarcasm.

But to make you feel even better about the role our federal government is taking in this:

"More than 200 incursions by the Mexican military of the U.S. southern border have been documented since the late 1990s, Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) said in an interview.
'Our federal government denied it occurred until the Texas sheriffs took photos,' he said. 'There is no nation in the world that would allow this invasion to occur except for the United States."
(emphasis added)

Go read the rest of the article for enlightening tid-bits such as many of these smugglers were u.S. trained & the Mexican government has be known to claim the smugglers were just Mexican military who didn't know which side of the border they were on.

I'm still all for declaring victory & ending the War on (some) Drugs but armed excursions by foreigners into u.S. soil has to be stopped. & if it takes force so be it. Not that I think any serious efforts will be made by this administration or this congress but they damn well should be taking this seriously.

Posted by Publicola at December 23, 2006 04:44 PM | TrackBack
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