Obama Considering National Guard Troops to Mexican Border
From McClatchy News Service:
WASHINGTON — President Obama weighed in Wednesday on the escalating drug war on the U.S.-Mexico border, saying that he was looking at possibly deploying National Guard troops to contain the violence but ruled out any immediate military move.
“We’re going to examine whether and if National Guard deployments would make sense and under what circumstances they would make sense,” Obama said during an interview with journalists for regional papers, including a McClatchy reporter.
“I don’t have a particular tipping point in mind,” he said. “I think it’s unacceptable if you’ve got drug gangs crossing our borders and killing U.S. citizens.”
Taliban, Iraqi Sunnis – Apples, Oranges
Filed under: Afghanistan, Iraq, National Security, Obama Administration, Terrorism
What I’m reading about President Barack Obama’s latest pronouncements on turning the tide in the war in Afghanistan makes me uneasy.
There is no doubt that U.S. and NATO fortunes have backslid in Afghanistan, through no fault of our troops on the ground – there just haven’t been enough to pursue any of a number of strategies effectively. We also know that in many respects the “surge” in Iraq worked to some effect in that war. The surge was not just about troops, it was also about effective counterinsurgency policy and tactics. One of those tactics was to co-opt Sunni tribal elders and their followers who had fallen in line with al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Now, as if Afghanistan is just like Iraq, we’re going to surge there as well. More troops makes sense if those troops are protecting civilians and not leaving them prey to the Taliban. More troops make sense if we are capturing or killing Taliban. Paying off Taliban in the way we worked with Sunni leaders in Iraq is a suckers bet, however.
Too many Americans view the Islamic world through a single lens ground from the images of 9/11 and the Bush war on terror. In this view all muslims are sixth century throwbacks who routinely take to the streets and chant death to America.
The truth is that most muslims want the same things most of us want – peace, prosperity, liberty. Another part of the truth is that there is a very vocal, in your face segment of Islam, who are grounded in a medieval view of the world. They are inherently evil. Their most apparent incarnation is in the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
Obama Transparency Train Makes a Stop at Justice Dept.
Several Bush/Cheney Memos Secret Memos Not Secret Any Longer
If there’s one thing the Bush/Cheney Administration loved, it was secrecy. They would say the president had the power to authorize things like shipping enemy combatants to other countries to be softened up, write a memo or legal opinion, then lock it away. Today, several of these memos were released by the U.S. Dept. of Justice after years of being locked in someone’s safe there.
Now, these legal opinions may see the light of day where scholars and the public can judge their merits.
Why should you care? Because we elect presidents to exercise their power within the bounds of the Constitution, existing laws and treaty obligations. This is the rule of law. We deserve to know whether or not the law is being observed or bent to the will of maniacs like DICK Cheney and David Addington.
More on Mexico’s Failed State Symptoms
Who’s In Charge in Juarez? from the New York Times
CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico — Mayor José Reyes Ferriz is supposed to be the one to hire and fire the police chief in this gritty border city that is at the center of Mexico’s drug war. It turns out, though, that real life in Ciudad Juárez does not follow the municipal code.
It was drug traffickers who decided that Chief Roberto Orduña Cruz, a retired army major who had been on the job since May, should go. To make clear their insistence, they vowed to kill a police officer every 48 hours until he resigned.
They first killed Mr. Orduña’s deputy, Operations Director Sacramento Pérez Serrano, together with three of his men. Then another police officer and a prison guard turned up dead. As the body count grew, Mr. Orduña eventually did as the traffickers had demanded, resigning his post on Feb. 20 and fleeing the city. (Read Entire Story)
Def Secy Gates on Mexican drug war on our border: from Meet the Press
MR. GREGORY: We’ve got a few more minutes, and I want to go through as quickly as we can some other really important topics. The first is Mexico, a major threat on the border with Mexico because of a widening drug war there. The Economist magazine wrote this startling synopsis, and they call it “Who’s in charge? The police chief in Ciudad Juarez, on Mexico’s border with America, resigned after drug gangs, who had murdered his deputy, threatened to kill one of his officers every 48 hours until he quit.” What’s going on there, and how big of a national security threat is this for the U.S.?
SEC’Y GATES: Well, I think that what is important is that President Calderon of Mexico, perhaps for the first time, has, has taken on the battle against these cartels. And because of corruption in the police and so on, he sent the federal army of Mexico into the fight. The cartels are retaliating. I think we are beginning to be in a position to help the Mexicans more than we have in the past. Some of the old biases against cooperation with our–between our militaries and so on I think are being set aside.
MR. GREGORY: You mean providing military supporting?
SEC’Y GATES: Providing them with, with training, with, with resources, with reconnaissance and surveillance kinds of capabilities; but just cooperation, including in intelligence. But it clearly is a serious problem, and, and–but what I think people need to point out is the courage that Calderon has shown in taking this on, because one of the reasons it’s gotten as bad as it has is because his predecessors basically refused to do that. (Entire Transcript)
Mexican drug war bleeds across border: Reuters
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. (Entire Article)
Transcript: President Barack Obama, First Press Conference, February 9, 2009
Filed under: Afghanistan, Bailout Bill, Barack Obama, Economic Stimuls, Energy Policy, Joe Biden, National Security, Pakistan, Recession, Terrorism, U.S. Congress, U.S. Economy, U.S. Financial Crisis
(Source: CNN)
President Obama: Good evening, everybody. Please be seated.
Before I take your questions tonight, I’d like to speak briefly about the state of our economy and why I believe we need to put this recovery plan in motion as soon as possible.
Sen. Leahy Echoes Clips & Comment; Calls for Truth Commission on Bush Presidency
Filed under: Bush Foreign Policy, George W. Bush, National Security, Terrorism
Ever since I submitted two ideas to then President-elect Barack Obama’s “Citizens Briefing Book,” I’ve wondered whether or not anyone with any real pull read them.
My answer: Perhaps Sen. Patrick Leahy did. According to the Associated Press today:
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is proposing a “truth commission” to investigate abuses of detainees, politically inspired moves at the Justice Department, and whole range of decisions made during the Bush administration.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the primary goal of the commission would be to learn the truth rather than prosecute former officials, but said the inquiry should reach far beyond misdeeds at the Justice Department under Bush to include matters of Iraq prewar intelligence and the Defense Department.
Leahy outlined his suggestion for a “truth and reconciliation” commission during a speech at Georgetown University Monday.
“I’m doing this not to humiliate people or punish people but to get the truth out,” he said.
The panel he envisions would be modeled after one that investigated the apartheid regime in South Africa. It would have subpoena power but would not bring criminal charges, he said.
Among the matters Leahy wants investigated by such a commission are: the firings of U.S. attorneys, treatment and torture of terror suspect detainees, and the authorization of warrantless wiretapping.
“Rather than vengeance, we need a fair-minded pursuit of what actually happened” during the Bush administration, Leahy said.
Here’s what I wrote at change.gov and on this fine blog back on January 17:
… Here’s an idea – a truth commission. What if the concept was based around answering the questions regarding the Constitution, the efficacy of torture, who was ultimately responsible, etc. This could be done in such a way as to put off any public hearings or transparency until after a bipartisan panel of serious legal, policy experts and just plain citizens had a chance to pursue the issues with subpoena power under a media blackout. Their product would be public. …
FIRST!
Video: During Bush Years, NSA Swept All Americans’ Communications | Russell Tice on Countdown with Keith Olbermann
Tice Says U.S. Journalists, News Organizations Phone Calls, Electronic Communications “Collected”
And you thought the Bush Administration wasn’t scary …
Mexico – Our Own Little Slice of Pakistan?
Can you imagine a collapse of the Mexican central government? Perhaps army units around the country would align themselves with regional leaders or drug lords. Next would come the potential for armed rivals fighting one another for central control. What we’re talking about is Afghanistan just after the Soviets departed where there weren’t two sides in a civil war, but several. What we might experience is hundreds of thousands of refugees on our southern border.
Our armed forces are currently stretched to the limit due to the Iraqi adventure. What’s available to secure our southern border or insert into Mexico to keep or restore the peace? China has spent the past several years working on its relations with Central and South America, primarily in places with oil, like Mexico. How soon could the Chinese have a division or two on the ground, in Mexico? When would they leave?
So, there’s a little bit of the nightmare scenario. Do I believe any of the above will happen – no. Could it? Yes.
