Target Centermass

Day: January 24, 2006

  • Mexico Denies Soldiers Involved in Drug Standoff

    After a dangerous showdown at the West Texas border between the long arm of the local law and drug-lugging interlopers donning military uniforms, Mexico has issued the expected denials of involvement by actual soldiers.

    Mexican soldiers were not involved in a standoff with law enforcement officers from the United States on the Rio Grande near Sierra Blanca, Texas, on Monday, Mexican consul Juan Carlos Foncerrada Berumen said Tuesday.

    Berumen said Mexican military uniforms may have been used by drug smugglers to confuse “public opinion” and damage relations between the two countries.

    Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West said his deputies along with officers from the Texas Department of Public Safety were on patrol at about 2 p.m. when they began chasing three vehicles they suspected were carrying illegal drugs.

    The officers chased the vehicles to the Rio Grande when they came across several men who appeared to be soldiers “in a Humvee with what appeared to the officers as being 50-caliber machine guns,” officials said.

    No shots were fired and no injuries were reported, but the lives of the law enforcement officers were threatened, officials said.

    Officers, who responded to the scene, said when they arrived at the border the men dressed in military uniforms drew their guns and pointed the automatic weapons toward them.

    Officials said one vehicle that was being chased was seized and that 1,400 pounds of marijuana was left behind by the driver, who fled across the river. Another vehicle made it back into Mexico. The third vehicle became stuck in the river and set ablaze by the men dressed as soldiers after people dressed in civilian clothing unloaded bundles of drugs from the vehicle.

    […]

    In November, the Hudspeth sheriff’s department reported a similar incident involving soldiers from Mexico. Whether the men on the Mexican side of the border were soldiers from the Mexican military remains in dispute.

    The Mexican border is an ongoing, make that growing, problem for the U.S., with pockets of lawlessness spreading while most American politicians continue to treat the matter as a political hot potato. See also the following:

    Please don’t think that my only concern about our southern border is crime, drug trafficking and illegal immigration. No, my major concern about the sieve that is our border is its possible exploitation by our radical Islamist enemies. I hope you haven’t forgotten this story, and have given thought to what may have already successfully penetrated into the U.S.

    The border must be secured, and it may very well mean a very visible presence of our own military.

  • Carnival of Liberty XXIX

    This week’s installment of the Life, Liberty, Property community’s Carnival of Liberty is up over at Combs Spouts Off. Go read another fine collection of posts from a libertarian slant.

  • Six Killed in Southwest Iran Bombings

    Today brings us another tale of civilians killed by bombings in Iraq Iran.

    Bombs killed six people and wounded more than 30 others Tuesday in Ahvaz, a southwestern city with a history of violence involving members of Iran’s Arab minority, Iranian state media reported.

    The bombs exploded outside a bank and a state environmental agency building in Ahvaz, the capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province, which borders Iraq, the official Islamic Republic News Agency said.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad canceled a planned visit to Ahvaz Tuesday, citing a forecast calling for heavy rain, IRNA reported. The report did not say whether the blast had any bearing on the cancellation.

    Ahmadinejad and his entire Cabinet had been expected to meet in Ahvaz as part of a series of visits to provincial capitals to address key local issues.

    State TV said the bombs killed six people and wounded 34 others.

    It should be noted that this is not a new occurrence, though it is interesting that today’s bombings would certainly seem to be tied to Ahmadinejad’s scheduled visit.

    Ahvaz was also the scene of bombings in June and October that the government blamed on Iranian Arab extremists whom it claimed were trained abroad and maintained ties to foreign governments, including Britain.

    The October bombings killed six people and those in June killed at least eight. Britain has denied any connection to the Khuzestan unrest.

    Nezam Molla Hoveizeh, a Khuzestan lawmaker, said Tuesday that the bombers were “dissidents based outside our borders,” IRNA reported. Hoveizeh did not elaborate on the allegation.

    Official Iranian fingers were quickly pointed in the direction of the Brits.

    The explosions follow bitter exchanges between Tehran and London.

    In recent months, Iran has repeatedly accused Britain of provoking unrest in Khuzestan, which borders that part of Iraq where 8,500 British soldiers are based as part of the U.S.-led military coalition.

    At the same time, Britain has opposed Iran’s nuclear activities, supporting moves to refer it to the U.N. Security Council, and has accused Tehran of allowing Iraqi insurgents to receive explosives technology that has been used to attack British soldiers.

    Both countries have denied the claims and counterclaims.

    Frankly, I have no faith whatsoever in the Iranian denials, and I can only hope that, with the looming nuclear crisis, both Britain and the U.S. are hard at work fomenting unrest in Iran.