MANCHESTER, N.H. — Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Saturday that he would consider sending U.S. troops into Mexico to combat drug-related violence and stop it from spilling into the southern United States.
“It may require our military in Mexico,” Perry said in answer to a question about the growing threat of drug violence along the southern border. Perry offered no details, and a spokesman, Robert Black, said afterward that sending troops to Mexico would be merely one way of putting an end to the exploding cartel-related violence in the region.
Black said Perry’s intention is to work with the Mexican government, but he declined to specify whether Perry is amenable to sending troops into Mexico with or without the country’s consent.
“If he were president he would do what it takes,” Black said. “The governor said, ‘I’m going to work with the Mexican government to do what’s necessary.’ ”
The remarks prompted speculation about exactly what Perry meant and the implications of his remarks for the nation’s relationship with Mexico.
The issue also opens the door to scrutiny of Perry’s position on U.S. military intervention generally. The governor has criticized President Obama’s management of military operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere; on Saturday, at the same campaign appearance where Perry made his remarks about Mexico, he promised never to send troops into another country without a detailed plan for winning and withdrawing quickly.
The issue is a timely one, with stories of rampant drug-related violence being reported out of Mexico — including the dumping of 35 tortured bodies last week onto a street in the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz. In addition, Mexican President Felipe Calderon pleaded with the United States last month for more assistance combating the drug cartels. At the U.N. General Assembly, Calderon said “consumer nations” such as the United States, the world’s largest consumer of illegal drugs, must do more to address the violence.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/perry-send-us-troops-to-mexico-to-fight-drug-wars/2011/10/01/gIQA2qDGDL_story.html
