Border Sheriff on Mexican Cartels: ‘If Decapitating Police Officers Is Not Terrorism, What Is?’
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
By Edwin Mora
Washington (CNSNews.com) – The federal government should designate Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations under U.S. law, according to the Republican sheriff of an Arizona county near the U.S.-Mexico border.
But a Democratic judge in Texas disagrees, saying such a designation would achieve little. Instead, said the judge, attention should be focused on illegal drug consumption by Americans.
Asked by CNSNews.com whether he would support designating Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) – as some lawmakers are suggesting as a way to target their finances – Sheriff Paul Babeu of Pinal County, Ariz. replied, “Absolutely.”
“They are terrorists,” said Babeu, a Republican elected official. “Literally 35,000 people have been brutally murdered in Mexico. The president just articulated we went and bombed Libya because we didn’t want possibly 1,000 civilians just killed – it would have been blood on our hands.”
“Wait a minute,” he continued. “That’s half way around the world. Look south –35,000 people killed and they’re not just regular people [but] judges, police chiefs, you know, anybody who stands up in their way.”
“They’re cutting police officers’ heads off, killing them, laying them in front of the police station,” Babeu said. “If that’s not a terrorist act, what is? They have destabilized Mexico to the point where it’s caused great concern here.”
Pinal County is located south of Phoenix, about 70 miles north of the southwest border.