We've Been Down This Road Before

U.S. troops in Mexico wouldn't help:

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has long criticized the federal government on border security. ... When host Chuck Todd then asked Perry if the U.S. military should cross the border to help Mexico combat drug cartels, Perry said "we have to have use every aspect of law enforcement that we have, including the military."

"Obviously, Mexico has to approve any type of assistance that we can give them," Perry said. "But the fact of the matter is these are people who are highly motivated, with money, they are vicious, they are armed to the teeth. And I want to see them defeated. And any means we can to run these people off our border and to save Americans' lives, we need to be engaged in."

First, no conscious Mexican politician would ever approve a U.S. incursion. Second, the Mexican traffickers have the means to easily corrupt U.S. servicemen, and their leaders. Third, they have excellent technology - excellent weaponry, modern communications, anything you could ask. After all, many are former members of the Mexican military themselves, and they've received training on a par with that of the American military. Fourth, they know the battle field better. And we've been down this road before, in the last century, with General Pershing chasing Pancho Villa all around northern Mexico. That escapade didn't work well; why would a 21st-century intrusion?

Governor Perry likes to sound tough, but he has just no idea.... We could end up with American drug cartels run by heavily-armed American servicemen in league with their Mexican compatriots. Imagine Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix, controlled by mobsters with A-10 tank killer aircraft. Nice Interstate-10 there: it would be a shame if anything was to happen to it!