US 'Shares Blame' for Mexico Drug War

[chroode]

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton accepted shared responsibility Wednesday for the drug violence convulsing Mexico, saying that traffickers "are motivated by the demand for illegal drugs in the United States and are armed by the transfer of weapons from the United States."

Clinton, on her first diplomatic mission to Latin America, promised more aggressive efforts to stem drug violence south of the border.

She stopped short of pledging to send National Guard troops along the U.S.-Mexico border, as called for by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, but she did announce a new office in Mexico where U.S. and Mexican authorities "will work together side by side to fight the drug traffickers and the violence which they spread."

"We have not made any decision on National Guard troops along the border," she said at a joint news conference with Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa, while sidestepping the question of any possible role for U.S. troops inside Mexico.

Asked whether she was satisfied with U.S. actions, Espinosa said she saw progress. "I would like to stress that we are engaged in this really broad cooperation, and American initiative has really meant a quantitative change in our cooperation in terms of drug trafficking and in general against organized crime."

United States' role

Clinton met earlier with President Felipe Calderon.

On U.S.-Mexico anti-drug policy, she said, "We will be guided by what the Mexican government believes is working, what is appropriate."

Earlier, on the flight to Mexico City, Clinton used strong words to accept U.S. responsibility for the drug scourge that has wracked Mexico.

"Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade," she told reporters on the plane. "Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians."

She insisted the fight can be won.

"If the criminals and kingpins spreading violence are trying to corrode the foundations of law, order, friendship and trust between us," she said at the news conference, "they will fail."

Agents, helicopters

The White House said Tuesday that it was sending hundreds of additional federal agents to the U.S.-Mexican border to help border states deal with the spillover effects of the violence and to stop the flow of guns and money from the U.S. to Mexico.

Clinton said the administration was working with Congress to more quickly deliver Black Hawk helicopters that are part of $700 million in assistance already approved by Congress under the anti-drug Merida Initiative.

Mexico has expressed concern that the helicopters may not be delivered for years under the current U.S. timetable, at a time when drug crime is at record levels.

"Part of being a good partner is being a good listener," Clinton said. "The Mexican government made clear to the U.S. its urgent need for additional helicopters to take on the drug traffickers, and we are responding."

She also announced a $720 million program for modernizing border crossings to make the legal flow of trade and people more fluid.

Immigration

On the issue of immigration, Clinton said the administration was analyzing the policy it had inherited from the Bush administration and looking at "administrative" ways it could be adjusted, without giving specifics.

She said President Barack Obama "remains committed to comprehensive immigration reform. It is and will be a high priority for him and his presidency."

Asked by a Mexican reporter about the "mistreatment" of Mexican workers in the United States, she said, "We are certainly sensitive to and understanding of the great concern for your co-nationals in the United States."

She added: "We believe there have to be changes made, and we hope to pursue these in the coming months," without going into detail.

Both Clinton and Espinosa expressed opposition to protectionist trade practices in times of economic crisis but did not comment in detail on the U.S. Congress' decision to cancel a pilot program that allowed some Mexican truckers to operate in the U.S. under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Unsafe areas

Commenting on a U.S. government report that parts of Mexico are ungovernable, Clinton said that she disagreed and noted that the U.S. also faced a crime wave 15 to 20 years ago that created areas of the country where people felt unsafe.

Foreign Minister Espinosa was asked whether there were any areas of Mexico where she would not take Clinton. She replied that there were.

"I would like Secretary Clinton to come very often to Mexico and I would like to take her to many, many very beautiful places that we can share in our country," Espinosa said. "Of course, there are some places where I would not take her, and I believe she would not take me to some places in her country."

To which Clinton replied: "Well said."

Source: US 'Shares Blame' for Mexico Drug War

[joespahr]

"On U.S.-Mexico anti-drug policy, she said, "We will be guided by what the Mexican government believes is working, what is appropriate." "
Great. A foreign country that encourages its citizens to illegaly enter our country is now going to dictate policy to us.

"Asked by a Mexican reporter about the "mistreatment" of Mexican workers in the United States, she said, "We are certainly sensitive to and understanding of the great concern for your co-nationals in the United States." "
Instead of understanding and being sensitive to the concerns of the Mexican people, why can't our govnernment be understanding and sensitive to the concerns of American people who want illegal immigration curtailed?

[festus]

Thank You Billary Rotten Clinton for throwing our country under the bus. You cannot accept blame with out proof and right now...65% of Americans polled believe that the guns came from other than the US. You are as useless and weak as your husband and his girlfriend

[gogriz91]

Her only foreign policy qualification for taking the job was knowing the floor plan to Air Force One...I wish I was kidding but that's about it.

Classic liberal failing, an obsession with being "liked".

[Pvt Dinky]

Telling bare faced lies about the origin of firearms will destroy any chance president Obama has for reelection. He and the weirdo Holder can not believe the number of guns being bought and the fact that ammunition is being stockpiled across the whole country now. No one would dare sell a firearm now except for retail gun dealers. It has got to the point that even very progun people can't believe the level of distrust the average American has for their government. The US Constitution clearly states if your government abandons you and your country.....shoot them down and install a new government that obeys the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. There are several hundred million armed people standing by ARMED and READY...to do just that. Hilary Clinton DOES NOT want to be abandoning her country at this time. Her and her sleezy husband got by with it a few years ago,but the people in this country are fed up. It would not take much before every person with an MBA,every person that is even remotely attached to the ACLU,and a few other groups could be stood beside a wall and shot.I don't think a few hundred misguided Barneys will be able to stop the conflagration once it starts. She should be very careful with the bare faced LIES ABOUT FULLY AUTOMATIC WEAPONS COMING FROM AMERICAN HOUSEHOLDS TO MEXICO. Her and Holder will be made to eat those words if they keep on with the BULL$$IT. It has got to the point that my wife brought me $35 the other night when she came home from work and asked me to help her get on the internet and join the NRA. The women where she worked got so pissed at MZZZ. Clinton that they all agrred to go home and join the NRA with their husbands. When have you ever heard of American housewives joining the NRA because they were fed up with some lowlife in the government? I think it's a pretty good idea myself. Her paperwork and ID card will be in the mail in about 2 weeks.We are giving our daughter a membership for her birthday in May.

[Dispatcher]

TThe US Constitution clearly states if your government abandons you and your country.....shoot them down and install a new government that obeys the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights."

The US Constitution mentions nothing about armed rebellion. There is no clause or amendment that mentions anything about the government running amok.

You may be thinking of the Declaration of Independence. It is there that you will find language listing the rights of the people to cast off a government should it not work anymore or overstep it's bounds.

[Rusty_Shackleford]

I am an active member of MCDC, Patriot Border Alliance, and a member of our local Citizens Committee on Illegal Immigration. Besides giving of my time I have spent hundreds of dollars in support of these and other like minded organizations such as Numbers.com and Glenn Spenser's American border Patrol. For this W(B)itch to blame the US, meaning (us) the people as a whole is totally inexcusable!

Many of us feel that we have been doing everything we possibly can to stop the problems associated with illegal immigration; I consider it as bad as any plague that could wipe out our country as we know it meanwhile our elected leaders are driving the monkey to the airport!!............
the ones to blame are idiotic Democrat and Republican law makers (breakers) and I will include both the Obama administrations as well as the Bush administrations.

[Hamster]

saying that traffickers "are motivated by the demand for illegal drugs in the United States

This from a woman married to someone admitting smoking MJ, oh that's right he didn't inhale.

[BWP]

Lets pray that we can survive four years of this administration of FOOLS. Total incompentants from the top down. How did our nation get here?

[Bald Eagle]

It would not take much before every person with an MBA,every person that is even remotely attached to the ACLU,and a few other groups could be stood beside a wall and shot.

I hope you are not, however you sound like an under-educated liberal with an axe to grind against those with a higher education and a 'higher' level of success. Just having an MBA doesn't put you on a par with the Clintons or the ACLU! If we do have a revolution, and I think it could come to that, to re-establish the constitution as the law of the land, I hope it will be a political one and not one where blood is shed. The ACLU should die because NO ONE will support their communist drivel, not because they were lined up against a wall.

Hillary does have a valid point that it is drug use and demand in this country that is fueling and funding much of what is going wrong in Mexico. We should be pointing at every illegal drug user and pusher and placing the deaths of thousands squarely on their shoulders.

As for her gun arguements, well.....They are totally absurd to anyone with a brain. But that goes with all of the anti-gunners arguments. But I'm preaching to the choir here.