Beheadings on the Border (Updated)
[Guest post by DRJ]
Tom Maguire considers Arizona Governor Jan Brewer “claim that the collapse of border security and spillover of violence from Mexico had led to beheadings in Arizona,” and finds minimal/vague support for her claim. Here’s an article from the November 24th, 2009, edition of the El Paso Times that may be related:
“In Juárez, daytime shootings on busy streets, massacres inside bars and grisly mutilations and beheadings have become a common occurrence as drug traffickers battle for control of a lucrative smuggling corridor.
***
Phil Jordan, a retired U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official from El Paso, said the safe city label for El Paso is misleading because cartels operate on both sides of the border.“The narcotraffickers will not kill somebody in El Paso unless they absolutely have to,” Jordan said. “They will kidnap an individual, take them to Mexico, torture and kill them. There won’t be an investigation and the person will simply disappear.“
I don’t know what’s happening in Arizona but in the border areas of Texas, it seems murders and beheadings are occurring in Mexico but that doesn’t mean the victims are all from Mexico.
[EDIT: Note that Maguire was responding to a column by WaPo’s Dana Milbank questioning and criticizing Brewer’s claims as “tall tales.” H/T daleyrocks.]
— DRJ
UPDATE — Mark Tapscott at the Washington Examiner has a report of an American-side-of-the-border beheading:
“A friend on the Hill read Milbank’s piece and pronounced it “utter BS,” then produced a copy of a July 8, 2010, letter to Brewer from Arizona rancher J. David Lowell describing a recent incident involving one of his ranch hands:
“In January 2010, Congressman Rob Bishop visited our ranch here in Santa Cruz County, Arizona. During that visit, I related to him an incident that occurred on June 27, 2008, in one of our pastures west of the ranch house.
“On that day, one of our ranch hands was working horseback and discovered a human head near a trail believed to be used by drug and alien smugglers.
“Although the head was missing the lower jaw, it was immediately apparent that much of the mass and flesh of the head was still present. The cowboy searched the area in hopes of finding the remainder of the body to no avail.
“The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office was notified and they took possession of the head on that same date. We suspect that the head may have been placed along side the trail as a warning to other drug and alien traffickers using the trail.”
A spokesman for Rep. Bishop told me they had confirmed the details of the incident described by Lowell.”
H/T commenter Mark.
DRJ
You’re such a racist.
(yes, that is a joke.)
Aaron Worthing (A.W.) (f97997) — 7/11/2010 @ 12:16 pmVia Fausta
If you, dear readers, can read Spanish, read the Narcotráfico section of Mexican newspaper El Universal. The reports of beheadings are not tall tales at all. Beheadings are a form of execution by the drug cartels operating across Mexico and in the US-Mexico border area. It behooves the governor of a state bordering with a drug war zone to ensure the safety of her state’s citizens by enforcing the law.
How many decapitated heads found would Milbank consider acceptable in order for the Arizona governor to justify enforcing the law? One? Fifty? Ten thousand?
Dana (1e5ad4) — 7/11/2010 @ 12:34 pmDRJ – Wasn’t it Dana Milbank from the Wapo who questioned the support for Brewer’s claim?
daleyrocks (1d0d98) — 7/11/2010 @ 12:50 pmYes, as discussed at the link, Milbank raised it and Maguire considers it.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 7/11/2010 @ 1:03 pmDRJ – I’m under the impression that Milbank is getting soundly thrashed for his arrogance and lack of research numerous places around the dextrosphere.
daleyrocks (1d0d98) — 7/11/2010 @ 1:11 pmThe drug smugglers are cruel to humans and animals.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 7/11/2010 @ 1:11 pmUntil Milbank actually lets the locals host him and he spends time on that border, it might behoove him to keep his ridicule to himself.
Mark Tapscott at Washington Examiner takes him to task.
Fausta makes the point that we can easily be missing the big picture only reading English rags and blogs. Seems to make sense.
Is it too far fetched to think that perhaps our media reporting is soft-pedaling given this administration’s push for amnesty?
Dana (1e5ad4) — 7/11/2010 @ 1:17 pmmilbank confidence
ColonelHaiku (9cf017) — 7/11/2010 @ 1:23 pmtestament to knowledge he
has nothing to lose
Tom Maguire considers Arizona Governor Jan Brewer “claim that the collapse of border security and spillover of violence from Mexico had led to beheadings in Arizona,” and finds minimal/vague support for her claim.
Maguire and Dana Milbank remind me of the clueless, idiotic people (almost all of them of the left) who prior to September 11, 2001 would have said: “An act of terror will bring down New York City’s World Trade Center?! Only in bad fiction! Only in a bad movie! And such an event is supposed to be carried out by people of Middle Eastern descent?! UNKIND! XENOPHOBIC! RACIST!”
I wouldn’t be so annoyed with limousine liberals like Milbank (I don’t know enough about where Maguire’s ideological sentiments originate from) if they weren’t happily wiling away the hours in some protected enclave — eg, Washington DC’s Georgetown or one of DC’s snug little suburbs? — far removed from the harsh reality they’re being so kissy-kissy about.
He and the misses truly deserve a one-way, all-expenses-paid trip to a beautiful vacation retreat like this.
Mark (411533) — 7/11/2010 @ 1:42 pmWhy is it that the border can be used as a line of demarcation when arguing that beheadings and mutilations don’t happen in America but when it comes to amnesty, borders don’t define citizenship? That America is not just the US?
I don’t have much sympathy for El Paso either. Last week, their city hall was shot at yet the city council voted to boycott Arizona over AZ SB1070.
Pasadena Phil (7bc659) — 7/11/2010 @ 1:46 pmThanks for the link, Mark. I updated the post to add Mark Tapscott’s article that I found at your link.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 7/11/2010 @ 1:55 pmThanks to Mark in #9 for bringing the Teaparty Dumb.
Smart people should note that Brewer referred to incidents occurring in AZ, not MX. In order for her to maintain credibility, she has to be sure to only make statements that she can back up, and so far the strongest point in her favor is the Congressman’s statement in the post. There’s nothing else. Pretending that there is only helps the other side. And, that’s Teaparty Dumb.
24AheadDotCom (4627c9) — 7/11/2010 @ 2:16 pmdaleyrocks:
First, you raise a good point that Dana Milbank’s column is the current focus of this story. I added a link in the post.
Second, I agree there is push-back to what Milbank wrote but I’m not sure how much attention they are getting.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 7/11/2010 @ 2:19 pm24AheadDotcom,
I would appreciate more disagreement and less being disagreeable.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 7/11/2010 @ 2:22 pmDRJ – At least 24AheadDotcom wasn’t pimping his own blog in his comment again this time.
daleyrocks (1d0d98) — 7/11/2010 @ 2:26 pmThanks to Mark in #9 for bringing the Teaparty Dumb.
I’ll tell you what. I’ll worry about Tea Partyism, you worry about limousine liberalism—and, btw, one does not have to be wealthy to be guilty of that type of phoniness and two-faced idiocy.
Mark (411533) — 7/11/2010 @ 2:27 pmDRJ: what would you consider #9 and #16 to be examples of? If you don’t see a problem with those comments then perhaps that indicates something you should work on. Would you prefer to enable truthiness (#9) and the ‘partier technique of lying and smearing (#16)? I don’t know what your goals are, but at least the first technique – because it keeps happening – isn’t helping with my goals.
Also, you might want to compare my discussion of the Milbank column to that offered by others. I didn’t have that much to go on because I had to admit that he got some things right. However, I also went after him on a few other things that others (AFAIK) didn’t go after him on. I also tweeted that to him and a couple others who’d linked his article favorable. I also tweeted the link to Brewer.
And, I signed up for a new account (because the old one had been banned) at Crooks and Liars and dropped the Examiner link there.
Now, compare that to what Mark and DRJ did. Did they help the situation or not?
24AheadDotCom (4627c9) — 7/11/2010 @ 3:15 pmSome of the more moronic Dana Milbank thoughts from just the last few months…
“Seems …the rest of the gun lobby are fighting for terrorists’ right to buy firearms. Are they so absolute about the Second Amendment that they’d risk national security by fighting for the right of would-be terrorists to own guns? Alarmingly, they are.”
– Dana Milbank
“For those craving strong presidential leadership, it was reassuring to hear unequivocal words such as “certainty” and “won’t tolerate” on Obama’s lips — and even more reassuring that he was acting on those sentiments. The president, too often passive in the face of challenges to his authority, correctly recognized that McChrystal’s insults to him and his advisers threatened to weaken his administration. For 36 hours, he flirted with a Carter-esque response — expressing anger in words but not deeds — before finally taking decisive action.”
– Dana Milbank
“Obama’s best moments as president — pushing health-care legislation across the finish line and defying his own party to escalate the fight in Afghanistan — have come when he resisted his cautious instincts and took bold action. He had another such moment in the Rose Garden on Wednesday.
He vowed anew to “do whatever is necessary to succeed in Afghanistan.” He encouraged the skeptics, many from his own political base, “to remember what this is all about: Our nation is at war.” As important, he let his critics know that there are limits to how far he can be pushed.”
– Dana Milbank
GeneralMalaise (9cf017) — 7/11/2010 @ 3:33 pmand the ‘partier technique of lying and smearing (#16)?
What the hell are you talking about?! I couldn’t care less about “Tea Party” this, “Tea Party” that, or “partier” this, “partier” that. I’m only interested in the phoniness of the left. The left that tries to sound so tolerant and compassionate about immigration (undocumented or otherwise) — and so resentful and indignant about Arizona’s anti-illegal legislation — while running far, far away from the socioeconomic mess that is the Mexican border, the Mexican narco-trade (which is taking on the trappings of pre-medieval or Dark Ages type terror and brutality), and the never-ending dysfunction that has been roiling our neighbor to the south for decades.
Mark (411533) — 7/11/2010 @ 4:21 pmPasadena Phil makes a good point. Any violent acts that occur even one foot inside the Mexican border do not count in the mind of libs. It’s the type of absolutism in which they specialize, as in, a fence won’t keep everybody out, so why build one? They love to parse Brewer’s remarks to death, but it is just a variation of the old “Look, something shiny ploy…”
Gazzer (800a42) — 7/11/2010 @ 5:33 pmIt’s the type of absolutism in which they specialize…yet they put locks on their doors and windows, and scream bloody murder if someone breaks in.
AD - RtR/OS! (f4b0b9) — 7/11/2010 @ 5:51 pm“Now, compare that to what Mark and DRJ did. Did they help the situation or not?”
24AheadDotCom – Are you looking for a Gold Star? You previously came here and called this place a low wattage blog, endearing yourself to the regulars. Your act of pimping your own blog while telling everybody else they are doing it wrong is obnoxious and tiresome.
How many blogs actually welcome your comments these days? I know the folks over at Ace of Spades love you.
daleyrocks (1d0d98) — 7/11/2010 @ 5:51 pmThe full article from the New Yorker is firewalled, but having read it in the on-dead-trees version, I can vouch that it’s consistent with this blurb from the online abstract:
With this level of violence, it would be amazing if dismemberments didn’t spill into the U.S. from across its border with Mexico.
Beldar (e06e5f) — 7/11/2010 @ 6:06 pmDRJ:
I was kinda hoping you’d weigh in. Do you think #19 is helpful? Do you think the mindset of those like Mark should be encouraged, or is that something that you should work on moving people away from?
As for #22, which do you think is more important to it: smearing me, or helping me do things like what I outlined above? If you actually think about it, isn’t that stupidity that you want to move away from? Aren’t the comments from Mark and from daleyrocks examples of the low-wattage activity I’ve previously mentioned at this site?
Note: I’m assuming of course that you want to actually do something about illegal immig. instead of playing around.
I’d really like to hear your thoughts about this. Are those like Mark and daleyrocks helping against illegal immig., or are they just making the situation worse (albeit in very, very minor ways)?
P.S. A good place to start discovering what I’ve covered in thousands of posts since 2002 is my topics page.
24AheadDotCom (4627c9) — 7/11/2010 @ 8:49 pm“As for #22, which do you think is more important to it: smearing me”
24AheadDotCom – Help me out here. What part of #22 was an actual smear?
daleyrocks (1d0d98) — 7/11/2010 @ 8:58 pmgraphic open at your own risk http://republicbroadcasting.org/?p=8419
brenda (6e9900) — 7/11/2010 @ 9:20 pm____________________________________
Do you think the mindset of those like Mark should be encouraged
Not sure if you’ve taken on the role of the oddball rightwing martyr (“woe is me! This cause is totally on my shoulders and no one is able or willing to help!!”). Or a liberal — a closeted one? — who, at least when it comes to the subject of immigration, is like the proverbial broken clock that tells the correct time twice a day.
But methinks doth protest too much about “Tea Party,” Mark and daleyrocks. So I suspect the second description is more likely to be accurate. Even more so since you penned the following, which apparently passes muster with you because it’s genericized enough to not cast a bad light on the left (or “progressives”).
I will say that for a “leftie” to have made such an assessment is surprisingly unexpected.
Mark (411533) — 7/11/2010 @ 9:51 pm
Mexico is undergoing the same kind of meltdown that Colombia had 20-25 years ago, it’s right on our border, instead a 1,000 miles way. the guerillas
ian cormac (93d17d) — 7/11/2010 @ 9:59 pmhaven’t been as involved as with the former case, but Hezbollah and other islamist elements, still lurk in the background
24AheadDotCom,
I appreciate commenters who make substantive comments and avoid personal attacks, but it’s up to each person to decide how they want to speak to others and what they want to say.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 7/11/2010 @ 9:59 pmgraphic open at your own risk
Whoa! I thought the link I posted previously perhaps was too explicit and should have come with a warning. But that link went to a page that is child’s play compared to the site you’ve pointed out.
I recall a few years ago there was a video posted on the Internet that showed the beheading of Nick Berg. I never could get myself to watch that. I still can’t. But the images on that Republic Broadcasting page are sort of a primer for people like me.
The Dark Ages violence in Mexico is not much more sickening and grotesque than when certain folks (mostly of the left) observe such acts of barbarity, pause, go “hmm,” then mull over in their mind the mantra that “America is imperialistic, greedy and racist!,” and immediately proclaim “Arizona’s new law is cruel and inhumane!!”
Mark (411533) — 7/11/2010 @ 10:08 pmHere’s more evidence of beheadings. And it’s much worse than we imagined:
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6848672&page=1
In fact, kidnappings and other crimes connected to the Mexican drug cartels are quickly spreading across the border, from Texas to California. The majority of the victims are either illegal aliens or connected to the drug trade.
An ABC News’ investigation uncovered horrific cases of chopped-off hands, legs and heads when a victim’s family doesn’t pay up fast enough.
“They’re ruthless, so now they’re ripping each other off, but doing it in our city,” Anderson said.
Port (075ac5) — 7/12/2010 @ 2:30 pmAnd all this violence will end immediately if only we would legalize drugs.
AD - RtR/OS! (809c7f) — 7/12/2010 @ 2:48 pmGet informed! Those who wish to distort the truth will tell you lies. Do not trust the general media, as they are suppressing the truth about the border. Those that control want to remain in control and they will whitewash the news to hide the images of the border killings, and make those that voice and show those images and truth of the border killings as kooks and lairs. The illegals are the new vote, they are the new police, they are the new America, they will be the future, if we do not stop them NOW., You and your children will be the slave. You and your children will be the minority. You and your children will be destroyed and buried along with FREEDOM. usborderpatroldotinfo borderpatroldotbiz
Usborderpatroldotinfoborderpatroldotbiz (7f7530) — 9/15/2010 @ 10:27 am