from Iraq to the Rio Grande?
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.”
Glenn Reynolds is worried that this:
“We expect to have a comprehensive approach to dealing with these issues of border security that will involve supporting Calderon and his efforts in a partnership, also making sure we are dealing with the flow of drug money and guns south, because it’s really a two-way situation there,” said Obama.
“The drugs are coming north, we’re sending funds and guns south,” he said. “As a consequence, these cartels have gained extraordinary power. Our expectation is to have a comprehensive policy in place in the next few months.”
portends a move to introduce more gun control in the United States. It would be interesting to see how that played out. Since anybody bringing drugs into the United States from Mexico and running guns from the United States into Mexico is breaking at least a dozen laws in the process, I’m not certain how a proposal to pass yet another law they’d be certain to break as well and which we have no intention of enforcing would be much of a deterrent.
Christ, what an over-reaction. For one thing, the violence has by no means spread across the border – El Paso, Texas remains quite safe with murder and robbery rates below the normal, even while Ciudad Juarez has gone completely to shit next door. Phoenix has seen higher kidnapping rates, but those are all among people involved in the business, and in any case I fail to see how soldiers patrolling the border are going to stop that.
To add-
Good point about how there are already laws on the books against gun running across the border – actual enforcement has been the sticking point. If I recall correctly, the gangs generally recruit inauspicious looking Americans who can drive back and forth across the border without suspicion to buy guns and bring them across in small quantities.