U.S. rattled as Mexico drug war bleeds over border

[smokey703]

PHOENIX (Reuters) – Hit men dressed in fake police tactical gear burst into a home in Phoenix, rake it with gunfire and execute a man.
Armed kidnappers snatch victims from cars and even a local shopping mall across the Phoenix valley for ransom, turning the sun-baked city into the "kidnap capital" of the United States.
Violence of this kind is common in Mexico where drug cartel abductions and executions are a daily feature of a raging drug war that claimed 6,000 lives south of the border last year.
But U.S. authorities now fear that violent crime is beginning to bleed over the porous Mexico border and take hold here.
"The fight in Mexico is about domination of the smuggling corridors and those corridors don't stop at the border," Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said.
Execution style murders, violent home invasions, and a spiraling kidnap rate in Phoenix -- where police reported an average of one abduction a day last year linked to Mexican crime -- are not the only examples along the border.
In southern California, police have investigated cases of Americans abducted by armed groups tied to the Tijuana drug trade. One involved a businesswoman and her teenage daughter snatched in San Diego last year and held to ransom south of the border.
In south Texas, a live hand grenade traced back to a Mexican cartel stash was tossed onto the pool table of a bar frequented by off-duty police officers in January. The pin was left in it and the assailant fled.
COPING WITH SPILLOVER
Mexican traffickers have always been violent, but the death toll has soared since President Felipe Calderon took office in late 2006 and sent tens of thousands of troops to fight the country's powerful cocaine cartels.
Soldiers have fought pitched battles with drug gangs in several Mexican towns and overwhelmed police officers have fled municipal forces the length of the border. In many cases, police officers have been paid off by the drug gangs or even joined them.
In a sign of an increasingly desperate struggle to rein in the violence, Calderon this week ordered 5,000 more troops and federal police to Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas.
The cartels have killed 250 people in Ciudad Juarez in the past month, forced the police chief to resign, and shut down the airport with bomb threats.
The struggle by outgunned Mexican authorities to contain the violence was highlighted for Arizona state police last November, when Mexican police officers pinned down in a raging gun battle in Nogales, Sonora, reached out to them with an urgent request for more bullets.
While U.S. authorities stress they have not seen anything like the kind of street battles and horrific beheadings that are now common in Mexico, they are already taking action to curb was has become known as "overspill".
Texas Gov. Rick Perry says he wants 1,000 troops to guard the border. The state's Attorney General Greg Abbott is backing legislation to crack down on money laundering and human, drug and weapons trafficking through the state by the warring Gulf and Sinaloa cartels.
Lawmakers in Arizona heard testimony on border violence last week from police and prosecutors, who are seeking more robust measures to seize smugglers' assets, as well as cracking down harder on gunrunning to Mexico.
PLANNING FOR THE WORST
Washington has stepped up support for Calderon, pledging to give Mexico helicopters, surveillance aircraft, inspection equipment and police training under a $1.4 billion plan to beat the cartels in Mexico and Central America.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano -- a former Arizona governor -- told a Congressional hearing last week she was focused on curbing the southbound traffic in guns that are being used to arm the violent cartels.
In a measure of that commitment, a Phoenix gun dealer goes on trial next week on charges he sold hundreds of weapons, including AK-47 assault rifles, to smugglers knowing they would send them to a powerful cartel in Sinaloa state on Mexico's Pacific coast.
As the spiraling drug violence shakes Mexican cities and towns along the U.S. border, U.S. Senate lawmakers announced last week they would hold two hearings to assess the ability of U.S. security forces to deal with the rise in crime on the U.S. side.
Senator Joseph Lieberman, chairman of the homeland security governmental affairs committee, said the panel would assess border security programs already in place and review whether federal, state and local authorities are ready to respond to any serious spillover of the Mexican drugs war.
For the sheriff of Hidalgo County, in south Texas, where the live grenade was thrown into a bar in Pharr, possibly by street gang members armed by a Mexican cartel, that renewed attention to the war on his doorstep can only be welcome.
"It's the first time we've had a hand grenade attack," Guadalupe Trevino told Reuters. "I believe there's more out there that we need to find.

[TXCharlie]

People were horrified when Perry's "Operation Border Star" contingency plan was announced, but what people don't realize is that the United States probably has a few contingency plans for war with Canada too- And must have, because events can move faster than planning.

Perry has a portion of his web site devoted to it:

Perry Notes: March 2008 | Texans for Rick Perry

OPERATION BORDER STAR


In September 2007, the governor’s office launched the latest border security initiative: Operation Border Star. Armed with $110 million authorized by the Texas Legislature, Operation Border Star began in high-threat areas, and will soon expand to continuous high-intensity surge operations along the entire Texas/Mexico border.

Utilizing the combined state resources of DPS Troopers, Texas Rangers, state helicopters, Parks & Wildlife Game Wardens and river assets, Texas Civil Air Patrol, U.S. Border Patrol and local police and sheriffs’ departments, Texas is disrupting smuggling operations, putting crime cartels on notice and securing the border.

This thing with Mexico has been brewing for years. A lot of people in South Texas have seen nothing short of an invasion, and not entirely blood-free. Some areas of South Texas resemble the slums of Mexico City more than they resemble Dallas.

[Jenna]

People were horrified when Perry's "Operation Border Star" contingency plan was announced, but what people don't realize is that the United States probably has a few contingency plans for war with Canada too- And must have, because events can move faster than planning.

Where would draft dodgers go if the US goes to war with Canada?

[TXCharlie]

Here's the recent official press release on Perry's initiative:

Office of the Governor Rick Perry - Gov. Perry Urges Legislature to Continue Funding Border Security

Gov. Perry Urges Legislature to Continue Funding Border Security

February 24, 2009


EL PASO – Gov. Rick Perry today reiterated his request that the Texas Legislature appropriate $135 million for continued border security funding to combat transnational gangs. The governor met with Gen. Barry McCaffrey, former director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, local leaders and law enforcement to discuss border security issues and the escalating, drug-related violence in Mexico.

“We cannot compromise efforts to achieve Texans’ safety and security while ensuring a free-flow of commerce with our valued neighbor,” Gov. Perry said. “I am confident that we are ready to handle the ongoing challenge of securing our border, which will increase peace, protect our citizens, and help both Texas and Mexico emerge from these dark times stronger and more viable than ever.”

Texas has recently developed a contingency plan to respond to potential spillover violence from northern Mexico by working with local, state and federal law enforcement. More than 5,700 homicides occurred in Mexico in 2008, with roughly 1,600 in Juárez alone, which borders El Paso on the southern side of the Rio Grande. Already in 2009, Juárez has seen over 230 brutal homicides. The U.S. State Department estimates that more than 200 Americans have been killed in Mexico since 2004.

“Mexico is not only our long-time neighbor whose history and culture is interwoven with ours, they’re our number one trade partner,” Gov. Perry said. “That is why we need to direct our energies into partnering with Mexico on security issues, not pointing fingers.”

Last year, Mexico was Texas’ top trade partner, with more than $62 billion in Texas products exported and more than $143 billion in Mexican goods imported.

A porous border allows international terrorists, organized crime cartels and transnational gangs to put Texas and the nation at risk. Until the federal government fulfils its responsibility to this effort, Texas needs continued leadership and funding from the Legislature to support the state’s current border security strategy, which involves putting more boots on the ground and providing increased law enforcement resources along the border.

Additionally, transnational gangs such as the Mexican Mafia, Texas Syndicate, Barrio Azteca and MS-13 have begun to operate in every region of the state and are involved in extortion, retail drug distribution, vehicle theft, child prostitution, money laundering and drive-by shootings. These organizations recruit members from high schools and prisons and have become highly adaptive, increasingly using technology to thwart law enforcement efforts.

To view video and photos of the event, please visit http://governor.state.tx.us/video/11989/.

[Captain America]

Where would draft dodgers go if the US goes to war with Canada?

Vietnam?

[Car 4]

I believe it is coming, boys and girls. I have been watching this since I ran our narcs in 88 and 89. Most of this shit was coming from Michoacon in those days but now is centered in Sinaloa and Sonora. Sooner or later, some group will commit some atrocity in one of our cities and the war will be truly on.

I don't believe that we can fight this kind of insanity with a law enforcement focus. We need the kind of perspective found in our elite armed forces. That is a take no prisoners attitude that would shock our civilian population but which ultimatley results in victory. The power of the drug cartels has grown exponentially over the past 20 years and the belief that they are bullet proof and above any law of any state is obvious in their actions. The Mexican law enforcement and military are not very competent and as mentioned elsewhere, mostly bought and paid for or scared stiff.

Tom Clancy may have been a prohpet with his book, "A Clear and Present Danger".


Car 4

[Willowdared]

The title should be the rest of the US....not new info to those of us living in the border states. I stopped going to TJ/Ensenada years ago.

They are having a Boy Scout Jamboree there this year, and my Ex and I both told boychild he couldn't go.

[MacLean]

The title should be the rest of the US....not new info to those of us living in the border states. I stopped going to TJ/Ensenada years ago.

They are having a Boy Scout Jamboree there this year, and my Ex and I both told boychild he couldn't go.

You're kidding right? In TJ?

Holy crap.

[Retdetsgt]

Mexico has been a pain in the ass to us ever since we took California, New Mexico and Arizona from them after the Mexican War of 1845. They've just found new ways to do it.

Mexican criminals "owned" the border cities along the Texas/Mexico border when I was a kid. It's just gotten worse and will continue to do so.

[Captain America]

The title should be the rest of the US....not new info to those of us living in the border states. I stopped going to TJ/Ensenada years ago.

They are having a Boy Scout Jamboree there this year..............

Great......Let me guess , their taking the scouts to see a donkey show.

[Retdetsgt]

Great......Let me guess , their taking the scouts to see a donkey show.

It was a combination sex education and driver's ed.....

[CTR man]

The title should be the rest of the US....not new info to those of us living in the border states. I stopped going to TJ/Ensenada years ago.

They are having a Boy Scout Jamboree there this year, and my Ex and I both told boychild he couldn't go.

I could so go on a rant agreeing with you and your decisions. 30 years ago as a teenager I went on a Boy Scout outing with my Church. Only because my parents knew and trusted the advisors. We drove straight through TJ. I was not impressed, even then. The beaches we went to were pretty good, I guess. Would I let a child of mine go now, with the present state of the way things are down there? NOT ON YOUR LIFE!!!

[AZInterceptor]

The title should be the rest of the US....not new info to those of us living in the border states. I stopped going to TJ/Ensenada years ago.

ditto, screw that place. As far as I'm concerned, the war crossed the border a while ago
Police Officer Marc Todd Atkinson, Phoenix Police Department

and then last year, that same crew mentioned in the beginning of the article ( that pulled the home invasion/murder in police gear ), tried to lure PHX PD SAU ( SWAT team ) into an alley so they could ambush 'em too. Luckily, the nitwits ran out of bullets and were taken into custody.

[Willowdared]

You're kidding right? In TJ?

Holy crap.

Not in TJ, I think maybe San Felipe? All I know is he said in Mexico, and his Dad said he couldn't go, and I said his Dad was right!

Just what we need, a bunch of boy scouts taken hostage.

[MacLean]

Not in TJ, I think maybe San Felipe? All I know is he said in Mexico, and his Dad said he couldn't go, and I said his Dad was right!

Just what we need, a bunch of boy scouts taken hostage.

Agreed.

That was a stupid move on someone's part.

[Willowdared]

I could so go on a rant agreeing with you and your decisions. 30 years ago as a teenager I went on a Boy Scout outing with my Church. Only because my parents knew and trusted the advisors. We drove straight through TJ. I was not impressed, even then. The beaches we went to were pretty good, I guess. Would I let a child of mine go now, with the present state of the way things are down there? NOT ON YOUR LIFE!!!

I was very glad to see the State Department issue a warning this year for Spring Breakers.

[HudsonHawk]

It took long enough for this to hit the American main stream media...

Spring break warning for Mexico tourists | Top Stories | KREM.com | News for Spokane, Washington

Spring break warning for Mexico tourists 07:31 AM PST on Monday, March 2, 2009

SPOKANE—Spring break is coming up and the U.S. officials are issuing a warning for students heading to Mexico.

The U.S. State Department and universities around the country are warning college students to avoid the spring break hot spot.

The warning comes as the U.S. is seeing a surge of drug related violence and murders.

The five major Mexican drug cartels are fighting for the country's shrinking drug profits.

The State Department says that nearly 100,0000 American teens and young adults flock to Mexico for Spring Break. That means more than 80% of Mexico’s tourism comes for the U.S.

Officials say if you're planning a trip to Mexico stick to the tourist areas and try to stay in a group of three or more.

Also, be aware of your surroundings during your stay.