Clinton: U.S. drug habits fuel border violence

[JohnP]

Clinton: U.S. drug habits fuel border violence

MEXICO CITY - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that America's "insatiable" demand for illegal drugs and inability to stop weapons smuggling into Mexico are fueling an alarming spike in violence along the U.S.-Mexican border.
Clinton said the United States shares responsibility with Mexico for dealing with the violence. She said the administration will work with Mexican authorities to improve security on both sides of the border.
"Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade," she said. "Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians."
"I feel very strongly we have a co-responsibility," she told reporters accompanying her to Mexico City a day after the administration of President Barack Obama said it would send more money, technology and manpower to secure the United States' southwestern frontier and help Mexico battle the cartels.
Obama himself said Tuesday that he wanted the U.S. to do more to prevent guns and cash from illicit drug sales from flowing across the border into Mexico.

Clinton's remarks, delivered ahead of her arrival in Mexico City, appeared more forceful in recognizing the U.S. share of the blame.
"These criminals are outgunning the law enforcement officials," Clinton said, referring to guns and military-style equipment such as night vision goggles and body armor that the cartels are smuggling into Mexico from the United States.
Clearly, what we have been doing has not worked and it is unfair for our incapacity ... to be creating a situation where people are holding the Mexican government and people responsible," Clinton said. "That's not right."

And it begins.... Let us now blame China for the invasion of the Japanese and the Rape of Nanking in 1937. How about blaming New York for the 9/11 Terrorist attack? My God, if they didn’t have the World Trade Center there those poor camel jockeys would never have high-jacked a plane and drove into it.

It is because we believe that the use of non-prescribed narcotics is illegal it is our fault the Mexican border is a “wild-west” situation. This is the biggest bunch of bovine excrement that I’ve heard in a long time. (At least since yesterday.)

The fault lies within a corrupt country that has no control of its military, police, politicians and anything else within its borders. Maybe it’s true, the fault lies with us or rather our fore-fathers for not making Mexico and its states a part of our Great Nation after the Mexican American War. (But that is another thread to be explored later.)

To bring this subject back to the meat of the issue; it is a poor communicator and negotiator that points a finger at her own government and nation in an attempt to open relations. It is dealing from a point of weakness. The opening statement should be, “We acknowledge there is an unnecessary use of banned substances. It is being further exasperated by you inability to control your border and letting these flow leave you country to ours. From this point forward, all personnel caught smuggling anything into our borders will be summarily executed.” In addition, “Any further armed incursions into our nation will be treated as a hostile act and will cause us to respond in kind and in “ten-fold.”

But then again, this is my opinion, I may be wrong.

Let us open this up for discussion. Is there anyone out there that disagrees with protecting our Nation with due force?

[03_SHOOTER]

My Brother, the Hildabeast has just provided a primary example of what I was trying to get across to the Cadets in THIS (http://www.gruntsmilitary.com/board/showthread.php?t=1310) thread. The (upper case "L") Libtards absolutely and without exception HATE America, and will take every opportunity to denigrate, besmirch, and slander her anywhere and any time, ESPECIALLY when they're on foreign soil. These gutless, cheese-eating, barking moonbats are nothing more, and nothing less than the "useful idiots" and willing accomplices to the expansion of a philosophical doctrine (Socialism) that everyone else in the world has already figured out simply doesn't work! They are the exemplar of the dictionary definition of insanity; they continue to try the same things over and over and over again, and honestly expect a different result every time.

I believe I have made it abundantly clear on numerous occasions before that I consider Lincoln to be only slightly above whale poop, but not unlike a broken clock he did manage to get it right a couple of times, and one of them was when he had Representative Clement Vallandigham arrested, charged, tried, convicted and sentenced for TREASON during the War of Northern Aggression, and it's long past time that we did the same thing with a rather large and growing list of elected mis-representatives and non-elected functionaries, starting with Hairy Skreed, Nancy Piglosi, Hitlery Clintoon, and the list goes on. That would be my first suggestion for defending our country, the next would be the "Big Ditch", and the third to call up the National Guard and have them do something that they're actually supposed to be doing, you know, like Guarding our nation (I know that's a bit of a novel idea, but work with me here), and in that vain I suggest that we place one National Guardsman every 100 meters along the entire 2000 mile border with Mexico with orders to shoot ANYONE, regardless of race, creed, color, sex, national origin, or age that illegally crosses our border. I do believe that after only a short amount of time that the stench of their rotting corpses will be sufficient deterence to anyone else from trying to do the same.

[03_SHOOTER]

I posted this earlier in the Cadet Forum, but apparantly they didn't "have it to go" to deal with this, and as it directly pertains to this discussion I thought I'd add it here for consideration.

Some examples of Liberals lack of "rational thought";


Liberals support "choice" but eschew "discrimination", when the fact is that choice and discrimination are same thing.

Liberals support aborting innocent children without "due process of the law", but oppose the death penalty for the most heinous criminals who have been tried and found guilty by a jury of their peers in a court of law.

Liberals make all kinds of ludicrous accusation like "9-11 was an inside job", that 9-11 was the first time that "fire melted steel", regardless of all of the evidence to the contrary.

Liberals see nothing wrong with feigning indignation about private companies giving out bonus's to it's employees for meeting contractually agreed upon goals even though the Liberals knew about the bonus's over a year ago. They also have no problem passing Bills to "tax those bonus's at 90%" totally in violation of Article 1 Section 9 Clause 3.

Liberals will claim that the war in Iraq was designed for us to "take their oil" regardless of the fact that the price of oil more than quadrupled during the war.

Liberals will cry about the debt and deficit when a Republican is in office, but will remain suspiciously silent when their "Messiah" signes into law more spending in his first 60 days in office than his predecessor spent in his 8 years in office.

Liberals have no problem voting themselves pay raises while recommending that everyone else "tighten their belts".

Liberals decry 11,000 firearm related homicides every year and use it as an excuse to try to ban firearms, while ignoring the millions of instances where intended victims were able to use a firearm to prevent a crime from being committed! Liberals will also accuse you of "racism" if you point out the fact that Blacks are responsible for 52% of all homicides even though they make up only 12.81% of the population.

Liberals will also accuse you of "racism" if you oppose a candidate based on his race, but it's perfectly fine if they support him/her because of their race.

Liberals will support policies that are straight out of the Nazi Party platform and the Communist Party platform while Conservatives routinely eschew those policies, yet Liberals will accuse Conservatives of being Nazi's.

Liberals complain about the constitutionality of the war in Iraq even though they passed a law calling for the war in Iraq in accordance with Article 1 Section 8 Clause 11, but they have no problem ignoring Article 1 Section 6 Clause 2 in appointing a sitting Senator to Sec State, or for that matter voting for an illegitimate Kenyan illegal immigrant in violation of Article 2 Section 1 Clause 5.

Liberals have no problem swearing to "support and defend the Constitution", and then immediately violating that Oath by supporting totally unconstitutional Agencies, Bureaus, Commissions, Offices, Programs, taxing and spending.

Liberals take great joy in violating the First Amendment Rights of people by making and supporting laws based on the myth of "separation of church and State" (even though those words are to be found no where in the Constitution), while ignoring the fact that the First Amendment clearly says that no law may be made preventing the free exercise of religion.

Liberals have no problem violating peoples freedom of speech by creating "hate speech" laws.

Liberals have no problem requiring that you obtain a permit to peaceably assemble or to carry a firearm regardless of the fact that the Constitution clearly prohibits them from doing so.

Liberals have no problem telling We The People that we don't have standing to bring a case against our own government even though the First Amendment clearly guarantees us the Right to "petition for redress of grievance".


I could go on for days, but you get the idea. Now, where is the "rational thought" in any of the examples of Liberal thought that I've listed?

[armysc_25b]

Liberals will also accuse you of "racism" if you oppose a candidate based on his race, but it's perfectly fine if they support him/her because of their race.

Too much of the overly biased American media's attention was placed on the race of one of the candidates for office, and the sex of another of the candidates. Far too much effort was placed on playing up "the first black President" and "the first female Vice President" that it was just sickening to listen to any news source. In fact, my office adamently refused to have our TV on in the days following the election, because again race was made out to be such a big deal (as well as our office being overly Republican Party members). It's a shame that We the People cannot fully support those who are elected into office because they surround themselves in so much controversy, i.e. the continued opposition of the words written into our Constitution.

[HairyEyeball]

The site having 'eaten' my earlier response, this from Gun News Daily:

[quote]
You and I Can't Buy the Guns Mexican Cartels Own
The Administration is Not Dealing Straight With Us on Mexico's Gun Problem

Ralph Weller
March 1 2009

Let's set things straight right up front. Yes, some guns are being smuggled into Mexico from the U.S. Most are handguns. But, handguns are being illegally trafficked from state to state and from the U.S. to Canada. It should come as no surprise that guns are smuggled into Mexico. But, the problem being portrayed by the U.S. media and our government is not as it seems. You see, Mexico doesn't allow ownership of most firearms, so ordinary Mexican people seeking self-protection will find a way to get them into Mexico. As for the drug cartels operating in the border towns along the U.S., they have other sources for their weapons and have become the prime supplier within Mexico.

I worked in Mexico in a border town for about five years. It was far enough from San Diego County in the Sonora Desert of Mexico that commuting several hundred miles daily was impossible. So, for a few years I lived in the city and commuted home periodically on some weekends. As crime grew out of control, I eventually moved into a place on the U.S. side and commuted daily in and out of Mexico for my own safety.

I stayed in Mexico for a Mexican holiday my first year. I don't recall the holiday. Normally, I would leave Mexico for a holiday, but it was in the middle of the week and one day was not long enough to come home. All I know is that on that particular Mexican holiday, Mexicans love to fire guns into the air. That evening as I sat on the balcony of my hotel, the gun fire that erupted in celebration was quite unbelievable. It was so intense I backed off the balcony and watched the festivities from a couple three feet in the room. We're talking war-like firing of weapons, it was that intense.

As I listened that night to the gun fire, I was somewhat shocked at the amount of fully automatic gun fire. It wasn't sporadic. It was continuous throughout the city. For a country that bans guns I thought, how in the world did they get their hands on all these full-auto weapons? Clearly what sounded like M16 fire was prolific along with 7.62 x 39 AK autos with a smattering of smaller caliber full-autos, most likely 9mm. Gun fire can be heard in most American cities on New Years, but I've never heard full-auto weapons being fired, at least not in the San Diego area.

The next day I went into work and sat down with a trusted senior Mexican manager. I looked at him and said, "I thought guns were illegal in Mexico." He chuckled and said, "So you stayed in town last night?" As the conversation progressed, it became clear that guns are as common in Mexico as tamales at Christmas. Everyone he knows, including himself, own at least one gun. And, it matters not whether it's a semi-auto or fully automatic, they're all illegal, so why stop with semi-autos? Though clearly illegal in the states in most instances, a lot of Mexicans have more firepower in terms of military weapons than we can only dream of owning here.

As time went on, parties in the city at middle class Mexican homes become a way of life. Most Mexican managers in the plant knew I was a gun wonk. As it turns out, they couldn't wait to invite me over to their place on a Friday night to show me their collection. Semi-autos, some very high-end Sigs and other European handguns were not uncommon along with piles of old revolvers. I thought I had seen everything in the states, but in Mexico it's not uncommon for people to own full-auto military rifles. Everything from an M16, UZI machine pistols and the most popular, select-fire AK47 military rifles. These are not the so-called "assault weapons" you can buy at the local gun shop in the U.S., but full select-fire military-issue rifles. Now, I know you want to know and are dying to ask; Did I see any U.S. military-issue weapons stolen from the U.S. military? Not a single one was marked with U.S. military markings. Everything was marked with additional foreign markings on the receiver, including M16 rifles, or they had nothing at all. I saw firearms manufactured in Europe, China, Russia and South America along with U.S. manufactured weapons. I saw rifles that looked familiar with no place of manufacture, no serial number or manufacturer's logo. The information was not removed, it was never there to begin with. I can only assume they came from illegal arms manufacturers in India or Pakistan that produce copies of weapons. It was obvious that none of these firearms came from a U.S. gun shop in Tucson or San Diego. You couldn't buy them from a gun shop in the states if you tried.

It seems Mexicans have a rich heritage of firearms ownership prior to the ban in 1968. Despite the laws against owning them, they ignore it. Most Mexicans will say they need it for personal protection of themselves and their family. The other reason is they don't trust the government or local law enforcement. If they have to use it in their home for self-defense, whether they end up in jail is all dependent on how much money they can come up with, or who they know in the government. It also depends on who they shoot. But, given the alternative with high crime rates, most middle class Mexicans willingly and without reservations take the risk. Despite being able to own .22 caliber pistols or rifles, Mexican law requires them to be stored at an approved firing range. Where's the firing range I asked many times? No one knew of one. Where's the gun stores in town to buy legal guns? Gun stores? No one ever recalled seeing one anywhere in Mexico, let alone their city. I'm sure somewhere, maybe in Mexico City you might be able to buy a gun, but not in this city of almost 1.5 million residents. And the gun traffickers know it.

Where do ordinary Mexicans get their weapons? Most buy them from a 'friend' or a friend of a friend or cousin or uncle. Where the friend gets them is not talked about. But, it seems that drug cartels in Mexico are heavily involved in gun trafficking of military weapons and related hardware. And, who are these ordinary Mexicans? They range from people who work in factories as managers and senior managers, government workers, doctors, dentists and anyone with the financial means to buy a firearm. I even ran into a couple of government bureaucrats, one a lawyer for the federal government who owns firearms. He confirmed that people he knew in the government, some very highly ranked bureaucrats and politicians all own illegal firearms. The other works for the Mexican equivalent of the IRS. It's a way of life in Mexico. It seemed to me that you aren't in the 'in-crowd' in Mexico unless you own at least one firearm. I was amazed at the whole thing after believing for years that gun ownership in Mexico was non-existent. That is hardly the case.

(continued)

[HairyEyeball]

(continued from above)

All this flies in the face of news articles published by the U.S. media in the last week or two. Mexico's gun problems are a direct result of gun runners buying "assault weapons" in the U.S. and taking them into Mexico to arm drug cartels, says the U.S. media and government. That is a bunch of government and media nonsense. The cartels aren't arming themselves from U.S. gun stores with semi-auto AR15 and AK47 rifles. They've moved on up. Not to completely dismiss arms moving into Mexico from the U.S., but it is not as it seems when the U.S. media tells the story. The firearms moving across the border are semi-auto rifles and handguns sold to middle class or wealthy Mexicans seeking personal protection from criminals that have no connections in Mexico with gun runners. For the most part the wealthy in Mexico are targets of criminal elements, so they have no intention of connecting up with them to buy a self-defense firearm. You're better off buying a weapon from someone within the Mexican government than buying it from the criminal element, namely a drug cartel.

Cartels buy their arms from countries around the world, most any place where military weapons can be purchased on the black market, or from countries wishing to destabilize North America. They arm themselves from a worldwide black market of full auto military weapons including grenades, land mines and RPGs. They also "procure" their weapons from the less than savory from within the Mexican military.

The drug cartels can easily afford to fly their weaponry into Mexico using their own fleet of aircraft on to remote airfields, or land them on remote Mexican shores from their fleet of vessels. They do it with drugs all of the time. Drug cartels buying semi-auto AR15 or AK rifles from U.S. gun dealers is viewed as a joke by Mexico's drug cartel, most Mexicans, and unfortunately by the Mexican government. The only people fooled by all the political rhetoric are Americans listening to the likes of Attorney General Eric Holder and other anti-gun politicians.

Mexico has a gun problem, just like they have a drug problem and both the U.S. and Mexican governments are trying to place the blame on U.S. gun owners. U.S. gun owners aren't the problem. Mexico is the problem. The government is corrupt from the lowest level law enforcement officer shaking down American tourists for traffic violations, to officials and politicians highly placed within the Mexican government, including elements within the military. Everyone knows it. Everyone in Mexico knows it. Every law enforcement official in the U.S. knows it, and everyone in our government knows it. And anyone who has worked for any length of time within border cities and lived in the local community knows it. This is taking a Mexican problem, blaming the U.S. by turning it into a crisis in order further an agenda, and Eric Holder and President Obama knows it and they are taking advantage of it.

The next time you see a news report of illegal full-auto weapons and grenades being found here in the U.S., you know where they came from. It wasn't from a gun store in Tucson or Phoenix. The administration is right that gun trafficking along the U.S./Mexico border is a problem. Not only do we have drugs and illegal aliens coming in our southern border, but we also have military arms and explosives coming into our country illegally as well. That's the issue and our government is being disingenuous in its argument.

This AP news report published today is typical of what is going on. It is disgustingly biased and flat wrong: AP report for Detroit Free Press. http://www.freep.com/article/20090301/NEWS07/903010428

Don't believe me and what I say? See what the Latin American Herald is saying about a recent arrest of cartel members and their weaponry in Mexico. No, the items listed weren't purchased at a gun store in Phoenix or Tucson. Grenades and RPGs are illegal in the U.S.: LAH Story: http://www.laht.com/article.asp?Article ... ryId=14091

GunNewsDaily authorizes the distribution of this commentary providing that GunNewsDaily.com is recognized as the originating source.
[/quote]

Every allegation of 'automatic weapons' - as well as land mines, grenades, rocket launchers, etc. - being bought at American 'gun shows', bought from legitimate American dealers is fraudulent, with the specific intent of turning an ignorant public into an anti-rights public, dependent on 'the government' for everything, more than willing to sacrifice liberty for some illusory 'security'. Either we counter 'the big lie' with facts and reason, or a stroke of the obamination's pen will turn a third of the nation into felons.