Should U.S. Troops Be Used to Fight in Mexican Drug Wars?
SodaHead News
2010/11/19 15:00:00
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Tired of waiting for the government to just build the dang fence and unhappy with the deployment of troops sent to guard the U.S.-Mexico border, Texas Governor Rick Perry is ready to pull out bigger guns to deal with vicious Mexican drug gangs.
Perry, who will soon take over as the leader of the Republican Governors Association, told MSNBC on Thursday that it’s time to get real and deploy U.S. forces across the border in Mexico to combat drug violence he fears will spill over into his state.
"I think we have to use every aspect of law enforcement that we have including the military,” he said. “I think we have the same situation as we had in Colombia. Obviously, Mexico has to approve any type of assistance that we can give them … But the fact of the matter is these are people who are highly motivated with money, they are vicious, they are armed to the teeth, and I want to see them defeated."
Perry has long complained that the federal government is not doing enough to ease the ever-present threat of violence from Mexico and in August he announced the deployment of a squad of Texas Rangers (no, not the baseball kind) to the border to help beef up the federal presence.
President Obama sent more than 1,200 National guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border last May in an effort to beef up security in the region, pairing the move with a request for an additional $500 million for border protection and law enforcement.
More than 28,000 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico since 2006, with a handful of murders spilling over onto the U.S. side.
Despite the barrage of execution-style murders in and around the border region, The Texas Tribune reported in August that a poll of residents in border cities in California and Texas found that 87.5 percent felt safe as they drove and walked in their neighborhoods, with only 10 percent saying they did not.
Should the U.S. send troops to fight cartels in Mexico?
Perry, who will soon take over as the leader of the Republican Governors Association, told MSNBC on Thursday that it’s time to get real and deploy U.S. forces across the border in Mexico to combat drug violence he fears will spill over into his state.
"I think we have to use every aspect of law enforcement that we have including the military,” he said. “I think we have the same situation as we had in Colombia. Obviously, Mexico has to approve any type of assistance that we can give them … But the fact of the matter is these are people who are highly motivated with money, they are vicious, they are armed to the teeth, and I want to see them defeated."
Perry has long complained that the federal government is not doing enough to ease the ever-present threat of violence from Mexico and in August he announced the deployment of a squad of Texas Rangers (no, not the baseball kind) to the border to help beef up the federal presence.
President Obama sent more than 1,200 National guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border last May in an effort to beef up security in the region, pairing the move with a request for an additional $500 million for border protection and law enforcement.
More than 28,000 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico since 2006, with a handful of murders spilling over onto the U.S. side.
Despite the barrage of execution-style murders in and around the border region, The Texas Tribune reported in August that a poll of residents in border cities in California and Texas found that 87.5 percent felt safe as they drove and walked in their neighborhoods, with only 10 percent saying they did not.
Should the U.S. send troops to fight cartels in Mexico?
Top Opinion
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johnc 2010/11/19 18:14:23
After the militia was removed, it was business as usual!
Not to mention, this 'taking on Mexican drug cartels' will be a farce, like the entire War on Drugs has been for almost four decades... what the War on Drugs is, is a selective war, on selective cartels, and an internal mechanism to maintain product price stability and pipeline entrenchment via ongoing, low-level busts. That's right, people. The government is the biggest drug dealer there's ever been...
(I have absolutely no evidence to back up this claim.)
Did the repeal of prohibition prevent alcoholism? No. Would legalizing drugs, taxing them, etc., bring about a change? I greatly doubt it. Look at what has been done to the tobacco industry for the past thirty to forty years! Has it reduced the use of tobacco? No. Just made it more expensive!
I agree, in fact I was just talking about this on Wednesday while watching border wars.
Better yet why don't we just post a firing squad out there and shoot them all. The drugs and the illegals need to stay out, it seems this could be the only way to send the message to them.
Does he drink or do drugs? Sometimes he doesn't look as though he's all there!
This is no longer a JOKE......
Since the beginning of the drug war, drug purity has gone up, drug use has gone up, and the price has gone up. We are doing nothing but pouring money into the pockets of drug kingpins with this moronic strategy.
I agree that US troops should be securing the US southern border, but at the same time we should be legalizing marijuana to eliminate it as a profit source for drug cartels. Easiest and most common sensical solution.
I can see it now, american soldiers shooting innocent mexicans because they can't identify who is good and who is bad... sound familiar? It's what we do best.