Tony Martinez In Denial on Border Security

     When Mayor Tony Martinez is asked about border security he changes the subject to the relative calm on the streets of Brownsville and out into the rurals of Cameron County.  He cites the "great job" done by County Sheriff Omar Lucio and also by Police Chief Carlos Garcia.  But border security is not the responsibility of the octagenarian sheriff or the affable police chief.  Tony just continues to miss the point by a wide margin.  At the September 19, 2011 forum on border security, Tony opined that any street in Brownsville was safe to walk along and that he and his two sons had just dove hunted in the county without incident.  Excuse me, but what do either of those two opinions have to do with weapons crossing the border going south, drugs coming north, victims being held for ransom in stash houses, and the daily fears of citizens living between the border wall and the river?
     Tony is not the first politician to worry about the perception of an area as not safe and lost tourist dollars.  Mexico bristles every time the U.S. State Department issues a travel warning because of the negative effect on their economy.  Perhaps the Brownsville mayor is simply the wrong person to include in any discussion of border security.  At the Champions for Change, Southwest Border Region panel discussion that was almost concurrent with the UTB/TSC seminar, Mayor Martinez stated:  "I understand the rhetoric of those with political aspirations in our state, but there is no need for additional personel on our border."
     Unfortunately, fairy tales seldom come true.  Pretending border problems do not exist is a disservice to border residents and doesn't make anyone feel safer

Two Radical Ideas for the Drug War, Border Security That Won't Be Implemented; One Dumb Idea That Was

 

by Jim Barton on Saturday, October 1, 2011 at 7:06am

   
     As we sat on the second row at the beautiful UTB/TSC Arts Center earlier this month for the Border Security Seminar, T.J. Bonner, a retired Border Patrol official, expressed his own personal suggestion in dealing with the drug cartels.  Air strikes.  He said, of course, that U.S. troops could never be deployed, but he hoped the U.S. military would be allowed to perform strategic air strikes on the cartels, saying simply "We know where they are."  It was one of those moments where you look around to see if anyone else is falling out of their chair, shocked or thrilled.  But I saw no visible reaction from the audience or panel on stage.  It was as if the man had said drugs are harmful or that water is wet.
     Of course, even so-called surgical air strikes with near flawless intelligence would have collateral damage.  A nursery or school could be hit, killing innocent ones.  Certainly, the Mexican government would not favor this nor the U.S. government.  But the fact that something like this was even mentioned may speak more to the level of desperation than anything else.
 

     Another idea thrown out there would be to bring the training of National Guard troops to the border.  They have to be trained somewhere.  Putting the training of at least some troops along border areas might have some side benefits.  Of course, it's good for the local economy. But do you think it would have an effect on drugs running north or guns running south?  Would the cartels or other thugs dare engage U.S. troops.  Then what?
 

     A dumb idea that was implemented was "Operation Fast and Furious", sending 2,000 automatic weapons into Mexico with the weapons being tracked so we can find out who the killers are.  1,400 of those weapons are still unaccounted for.  No telling how many civilians and Mexican military learned the hard way who the killers were because of these U.S. imported weapons.