Invade Mexico?

 I’ve heard second and third-generation Mexican-Americans in Manhattan call in frustration for the United States to invade northern Mexico. I did not expect to hear it from the Governor of Texas. (Hat tip: Gancho.) This is the same guy who has called for secession, and in the linked interview he doesn’t, well, come across all that well. “Shermanesque? Help me on that one,” said Governor Perry. When told that it meant that if nominated he wouldn't run, and if elected he wouldn't serve, he came back with, “How about Perryesque?”

 

But Governor Perry’s record of odd statements doesn’t make the idea less worth debunking. First, the U.S. is not menaced by what’s happening across the border. Second, while the U.S. Army is increasingly designed around counterinsurgency, that is not quite the same thing as policing, and it is hard to see what the soldiers would actually do. Conduct investigations? Arrest malefactors? Patrol streets? I’d favor allowing U.S. law enforcement personnel to operate in Mexico, but when Perry says “Any means we can to run these people off our border and to save Americans’ lives, we have to be engaged in,” you get the impression that he means something more expansive. Like a free-fire zone? It isn’t clear. Finally, well, Perry didn’t call for American troops to help reduce violence; he called on them to “defeat” the cartels. What does that mean? The complete disappearance of organized crime in northern Mexico? Well, by that yardstick, organized crime is undefeated in Texas.

In short, a non-threat, fought with unclear tactics, for a vague goal.

Comments

[Scott]

I hate Perry as much as the next left-thinking American, but since Perry makes it clear he's only thinking bout it if the Mexican government invites America in, is this really an invasion?

[Scott]

In fact, Mexico is deploying troops to the very regions Perry's discussing.

"The Mexican government announced Wednesday it is ordering a significant boost in military troops and federal police in the northeastern border state of Tamaulipas and neighboring Nuevo Leon, home to Monterrey."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/27/monterrey-mexicos-wealthi_n_788745.html

Are they making a mistake doing so?

[Noel Maurer]

You're strangely contrarian at times, Scott! I like that. My impression is that Perry added the “only with their permission” as an afterthought, being smart enough to realize that he had just said something that could cause a diplomatic incident and that making a forced entry into Mexico was a stupid idea. Of course, even with Mexican permission, sending the U.S. military into the country would be unwise at best.

This post gives some indication about my thoughts about the wisdom of using the military to fight organized crime. Without a detailed operational plan, excellent intelligence, and scrupulous attention to human rights --- in other words, without turning them into a police force --- troops are pretty damn close to useless, as Ciudad Juarez has discovered.

I do think that allowing American federal police to operate in Mexico, outsourcing the operation of Mexican jails to American public authorities, and inserting U.S. officials into the Mexican chain of command might all be helpful. But such actions are also politically impossible, and not just from the Mexican side. After all, since the U.S. faces little threat from the criminality south of the border, it would be hard to sell American voters on the need for greater involvement.