Quagmire On So Many Levels
By Mitch Berg
It’s Orwell 101; the authoritarian/totalitarian state has to have an enemy to justify piddling on the Rights of Man.
I know, I know; the left spent the last eight years caterwauling emptily about the same thing – the threat that the War on Terror was just a pretext to gut Americans’ civil liberties. It’s not to say that the price of Liberty isn’t eternal vigilance; it’s not even to say that the left was crying wolf.
It might seem, though, that they’re projecting a bit. The Obama Administration is apparently weighing using the US military to help the Mexican military fight the narcotraficantes weighing using the US military to help the Mexican military fight the narcotraficantes that have made northern Mexico as dangerous as Iraq so far this year:
The U.S. military is in a better position to provide Mexico’s military with training, resources and intelligence as its southern neighbor battles deadly drug cartels, Defense Secretary Robert Gates says…”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,” Gates said in an interview aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.””It clearly is a serious problem,” he said.
But yes, of course – it’s our civil liberties that are at fault:
A U.S. report has found that weapons in the drug killings are coming from north of the border. Mexican authorities are outgunned by the drug cartels because the criminals are receiving their high-powered arms from the United States, Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday…”They want to clearly stop the guns from the United States going south. We want to stop the drugs coming north,” Emanuel said on “Face the Nation” on CBS. “That border is important to us and Mexico is a key ally of ours.”
We’ve called BS on this claim for quite some time; what self-respecting thug would use a measly semi-automatic, civilianized “Assault Weapon” when they can get, for a fraction of the price, fully-automatic weapons from Central American legacy terrorist groups, from the Mexican and other co-opted Latin American militaries, or from gun-merchants who can turn cartel drug money into first-world hardware for the asking.
No, the Administration needs a boogieman.
A domestic, right-wing boogieman.
So, gun owners; are you ready to boogie?
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:00 am
You mean I can’t buy a grenade launcher at the Yuma Wal-Mart?
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:40 am
Maybe a fence would force them to toss the weapons over it to get to the Mexican side, and have them land on a rock and break?
Maybe a fence would at least slow the smugglers down and let the Mexican government catch them?
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Lead the way, Mitch!
Should we take aim at the BS report from the ATF or Secretary Gates?
Ready to defend America on your orders, sir!
/jc
March 3rd, 2009 at 6:27 pm
I was born to boogie.
March 3rd, 2009 at 8:18 pm
I have been waiting to see what the basis is for the assertion that the guns and other weapons going into Mexico have been originating in the US. It would make a certain amount of sense to me that the problems in northern Mexico – where the worst currently appear to be – would seek a closer source, like the US. Perhaps the drug baddies further south are getting their weapons from Central America?
In any case, if the documentation does prove that there is a US source involved in the problem, it would follow that the source needs to be identified and dealt with, not just ordinary law abiding gun owners.
That said, I found Mr. LaPierre’s foaming at the mouth at the CPAC, along the lines that “those who have the guns rule” was stupid and more likely to elicit negative reactions from a majority of those who are not gun savy.
March 4th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
When it comes to the economy Obama is gonna party like it’s 1929.
When it comes to gun control Obama is gonna party like it’s 1938.
Nazi Weapons Act of 1938
All citizens who wished to purchase firearms had to register with the Nazi officials and have a background check.
Presumed German citizens were hostile and thereby exempted Nazis from the gun control law.
Gave Nazis unrestricted power to decide what kinds of firearms could, or could not be owned by private persons.
The types of ammunition that were legal were subject to control by bureaucrats.