The original headline of this New York Times article was:
US Drones Fly Deep in Mexico to Fight Drugs
I immediately had an image of a dogfight between a flying Cheech-and-Chong-sized joint and an unmanned drone.
Apparently, someone was awake and mildly aware at the Times, and they changed the headline.
The content is disturbing enough without the joint dogfight.
Mexican and American officials say Mexico turns a blind eye to American wiretapping of the telephone lines of drug-trafficking suspects, and similarly to American law enforcement officials carrying weapons in violation of longstanding Mexican restrictions.
Officials on both sides of the border also said that Mexico asked the United States to use its drones to help track suspects’ movements. The officials said that while Mexico had its own unmanned aerial vehicles, they did not have the range or high-resolution capabilities necessary for certain surveillance activities.
One American military official said the Pentagon had flown a number of flights over the past month using the Global Hawk drones — a spy plane that can fly higher than 60,000 feet and survey about 40,000 square miles of territory in a day. They cannot be readily seen by drug traffickers — or ordinary Mexicans — on the ground.
But no one would say exactly how many drone flights had been conducted by the United States, or how many were anticipated under the new agreement. The officials cited the secrecy of drug investigations, and concerns that airing such details might endanger American and Mexican officials on the ground.
Inviting another country to send spy planes over your soil to spy on your citizens. Hmmm…. That’s another kind of mental image.
Shocking: US Federal Agency Armed Mexican Drug Lords
May Have Led to More Than 1,000 Deaths
A Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms operation allowed guns to be trafficked south of the border with the hope they would lead to high-level cartel operatives. full story
Killer Cop Walks in Massachusetts Drug Raid Death Mar 15 2011
The Framingham, Massachusetts, SWAT team officer who shot and killed a 68-year-man lying prostrate on his apartment floor during a drug raid will face no criminal charges. full story
A Drug Warmongers Toll on Americans 03/31/06
“If we continue as we have for the past 20 years in California,
in the year 2020, everybody in the State will either be in prison or running one”
~ Judge James Grey,
Orange County Superior Court, Santa Ana, CA,
at the DPF Conference, November 1996
US Asked To Stop False Information on Medical Pot April 14, 2009
Spying on other people’s business, and in this case, in Latin American countries is nothing new. It has been done for donkey years, be it physically or virtually, be it on the ground or by air, be it “openly†or covertly. So, no one should be surprised with the “invitation†of the Mexican government and even less, with the “acquiescence†of the U.S. government to such “requestâ€. The really nauseating aspect of all this is not just the mental imagery, but the real possibility of using drones to carry out extra-judicial executions, i.e. killing suspected traffickers.
The rule of law, no matter what the crime may have been, is paramount to the viability and sustainability of any democracy. No matter what the crime may be, one cannot go killing people willy nilly just simply because we deemed them criminals.
The use of drones by the U.S. and other countries to carry out extra-judicial executions in foreign countries is nothing more that cold-blooded murder and should not be tolerated by any democratic society.
Gart Valenc
Agreed.
Wait until the gangs get surface to air missiles
Any RC enthusist with jets? Ever think of attaching guns and cameras to those jets? LOL !!
Spy on me will ya!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IXQVh5IbHc