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Home Front: Politix
Mexico Suggests (US) GIs Aided Pot Smugglers
2006-01-27
Mexico's top diplomat suggested Thursday that American soldiers disguised as Mexican troops may have been in the military-style Humvee filmed earlier this week protecting a marijuana shipment on the border.
Confirmation that the Mexicans are lying begins right here.
Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez also told a news conference that U.S. soldiers had helped drug smugglers before. However, he offered no evidence. The U.S. Embassy in Mexico made no immediate comment on Derbez's claims. His comments came a day after U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza issued a statement asking the Mexican government to "fully investigate" the border incident.

Monday's armed standoff began 50 miles east of El Paso, Texas, when Texas state police tried to stop three sport utility vehicles on Interstate 10. The vehicles made a quick U-turn and headed south toward the border, a few miles away. Crossing the border, one SUV got stuck in the Rio Grande River, and men in a Humvee tried in vain to tow it out. Then a group of men in civilian clothes began unloading what appeared to be bundles of marijuana and torched the SUV before fleeing.

Mexico insisted Wednesday that the men in military-style uniforms were drug smugglers, not soldiers. In Mexico, kidnappers and drug smugglers regularly wear police gear, which is sold at street stands.
Which means the Texas Rangers won't know a legit soldier from a smuggler. Be a real shame if the Rangers ventilated the wrong one, eh?
Derbez said Thursday that the men photographed by Texas law enforcement could have been Americans. "Members of the U.S. Army have helped protect people who were processing and transporting drugs," Derbez said. "And just as that has happened ... it is very probable that something like that could have happened, that in reality they were members of some of their groups disguised as Mexican soldiers with Humvees."

Three U.S. soldiers have pleaded guilty to running a cocaine smuggling ring from a U.S. base in Colombia, and a fourth is being tried in Texas this week.

Derbez said there was no proof that the men seen in the incident were Mexicans. Derbez also said his country will send a diplomatic note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice demanding that U.S. officials tone down their comments on Mexico's security and immigration problems.
I wonder if Condi will snap back that the Mexicans should 'tone down' their human and drug smuggling into our country?
Photo here.
Posted by:ed

#20  11A5S : you need to shoot the junkies as well. When the Chinese did that under Mao, it effectively eliminated their drug problems for 20 years. A little hard on the junkies, but oh well.
Posted by: Shieldwolf   2006-01-27 23:43  

#19  it was goofy Ship humor on a nym from the auto-generator. Especially the "ironic Spemble humor"...it's taken on a life of its' own IIUC
Posted by: Frank G   2006-01-27 23:42  

#18  I guess I see an order of magnitude leap in the corruption, Nimble Spemble. I don't think that we'll have a problem with booze unless we launch prohibition again. Sex? Most US jurisdictions tolerate it if it's kept in the Yellow Pages and off the streets. Look at what happened when Bloomberg put punitive taxes on cigarettes in NYC. Gangs started moving in and for the first time ever we have people getting killed for a few pallets of smokes.

In all of my research, I've only been able to find two approaches that work with street drugs. Start shooting drug dealers or decriminalize the product. Believe it or not, I'm really don't have a preference one way or the other. Just fix the problem before the corruption spreads here.

What is a spemble anyway? It started here as some goofy Shipman inside humor. I guess that I was one of the uncool kids left on the outside looking in.
Posted by: 11A5S   2006-01-27 23:39  

#17  thanks .com - didn't know if many would get that!
Posted by: Yosemite Sam   2006-01-27 15:38  

#16  Dang, I thought I had the only three possibilities the other day. Definitely didn't think of this one.
Posted by: eLarson   2006-01-27 15:24  

#15  Lol, YS...
Posted by: .com   2006-01-27 13:37  

#14  In Mexico, kidnappers and drug smugglers regularly wear police gear, which is sold at street stands.

They also wear it becasue it is issued to them by the government.

Posted by: Nimble Spemble   2006-01-27 11:58  

#13  

Yeah, it was... um you...yeaaahhh... dressing up like me, yeah thats the ticket. Now stop bothering me about this. I have to get back to my wife...um.. Morgan Fairchild, yeaaahhh, yeah, Morgan Farichild. Thats the ticket.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam   2006-01-27 11:54  

#12  "In Mexico, kidnappers and drug smugglers regularly wear police gear, which is sold at street stands."

Just a thought but it might even be in Mexicos best intrest to crack down on that sort of thing.
Then again you don't want to start a revolt from the Peasant Contraband Uniform Union.
Posted by: DepotGuy   2006-01-27 10:59  

#11  We're going to have to clean the place up sooner or later.

I'd prefer that we didn't, as they've been riding on our coattails for way too long. They made a mess of their own house, they need to clean it all up. And not by sucking more of our blood.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2006-01-27 10:25  

#10  It's a SET UP!

The actual quote is "It's a trap!"
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2006-01-27 09:41  

#9   When the Foreign Secretary of Mexico lies to cover the tracks of drug smugglers, you know then that the entire government -- from soldado to presidente -- has been corrupted by the drug trade.

11A5S, Is this news to you? The Mexican culture is as thoroughly corrupt as any other. That's part of the reason so many Mexicans want to escape here. But if it weren't drugs, it would be something else, booze, sex, whatever. We're going to have to clean the place up sooner or later.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble   2006-01-27 09:09  

#8  It's a SET UP!
Posted by: Besoeker   2006-01-27 08:30  

#7  When the Foreign Secretary of Mexico lies to cover the tracks of drug smugglers, you know then that the entire government -- from soldado to presidente -- has been corrupted by the drug trade. I think that whether you take a libetarian or absolutist position on the war on drugs, you have to agree that we need a radical reassesment of our current policy.
Posted by: 11A5S   2006-01-27 08:27  

#6  Was this a Saturday Night Live skit? Oh, it was real? The diplomat must be smoking some of the stash. Or he just might have stayed too long in that mile long tunnel found in California yesterday.

I suppose all the hawks are right on this one. Its time to let them see what a real US military vehilce looks like and send in the Bradley fighting vehicles and strykers to defend our borders. After reading the AQ passport issues in South America I think we really need to get tough on the border and use DOD on this. OK here's where Beo and .com chime in with "Its about time!"
Posted by: 49 Pan   2006-01-27 08:15  

#5  What a shame no one got pics of the identifying marks on the Humvee.
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2006-01-27 08:03  

#4  However, he offered no evidence.

Lotta that goin around lately...
Posted by: tu3031   2006-01-27 08:00  

#3  Maybe its time we asks our Congressmen to direct a military exercise on March 16th around Columbus New Mexico in remembrance of the start of the punitive expedition conducted by General Pershing after another Mexican incursion upon American territory. Sort like a diplomatic shot across the bow.
Posted by: Sharong Ebbosing6626   2006-01-27 07:29  

#2  That's gotta be the most pitiful attempt at lying I've ever heard. It wasn't us. It was, uh, you *dressed* like us Yeah, that's it!
Posted by: SteveS   2006-01-27 04:03  

#1  Fine - fire at will. No Mexicans will be harmed
Posted by: Frank G   2006-01-27 00:19  

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