Saturday, June 19, 2010

So Far From God, Part 5

We now resume this series with a brief overview of the current situation along the US/Mexican border.

First, from southern Arizona, Sheriff's report shows rancher in Douglas called about undocumented immigrant before murder, by Christina Boomer, updated June 19, 2010:

DOUGLAS, AZ - In a heavily-redacted Cochise County Sheriff's Office report, ABC15 has learned that people in the area told investigators they heard Rob Krentz talking to his brother over a two-way radio. One person said Krentz asked his brother to call Border Patrol because he had come "across an illegal alien who was injured and Rob was giving assistance." Another woman told detectives, "Rob sounded normal on the radio and she didn't feel he was in any distress when he was talking." That was the last anyone would hear from Rob Krentz.
Krentz was killed in March; the Krentz case has become a high-profile example of why the situation along the border is so intolerable.
When investigators found Krentz's body his dog "Blue" was nearby. The protective dog was still alive but suffering from a gunshot wound. The report stated that family members asked authorities to euthanize him. Both Krentz and his dog were found near an ATV that was still running. One detective thinks the murder happened more than 1,000 feet away from where they found his body. The detective speculated that Krentz was on the moving ATV with Blue in the back until he lost consciousness and then slumped over beside it. Nearly entire paragraphs, detective narratives, and lists cataloging evidence collection have been blackened out by CCSO.
(BTW, underneath the article is the statement "This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed." Below that is a button to share it, including to Blogger. I claim fair use, in compliance with the intent of the publisher.) So, let's see if we got this right. An illegal was hurt, so this gentleman tried to render assistance, and apparently got ambushed - then, the Cochise County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) essentially pulls a "State Secrets Privilege" (do an internet search if you don't know what that means) to kill the story. This man was obviously a good guy, and he paid for his kindness with his life. I wonder if he didn't walk into a drug-smuggling operation. And, why is CCSO blanking out so much of the report? Speaking of drugs, from Albuquerque: Man nabbed twice for heroin in 3 days, by reporter Ian Schwartz, dated June 18, 2010:
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Albuquerque Police Detectives arrested a man this week with more than $30,000 worth of heroin and guns. Benedicto Rios got out, and then police got him again, this time at a place where you would not think people would bring drugs. Detectives first arrested the 24-year-old Tuesday after they said he was peddling heroin from a Motel 6 near Coors and I-40. "He sells the drugs to high school students," said Officer Nadine Hamby of the Albuquerque Police Department. Hamby said Rios has a lengthy arrest history for DWI, domestic violence and narcotics. She said he was main supplier of heroin to his two friends, who admitted to police they sold heroin at Cibola High School.
Heroin to high school students... now what blogger do I know that blogs about heroin? Heroin isn't a major US product. I wonder how it got into the US? You don't suppose across a relatively unprotected border, do you? You know, these guys crossing the border illegally with their illegal drugs are fairly heavily armed. A recent story entitled Continued drug violence has Pinal sheriff renewing call for help by Sergio Avila, updated June 12, 2010, references Deputy shot near Casa Grande by Brian Pryor and Craig Smith, April 30, 2010:
CASA GRANDE, Ariz (KGUN9-TV) A Pinal County Sheriff's Deputy was shot by drug smugglers along Interstate 8 near Casa Grande Friday afternoon leading to a multi agency manhunt for the shooters on the ground and in the air. Lt. Tami Villar with the sheriff's office says that the deputy was shot after investigating a load of marijuana in the desert around 4:30 p.m. Friday. A short time later the deputy transmitted to his dispatcher that he had been shot by illegal immigrants who confronted him with AK-47 rifles. Radio contact with the deputy was lost and dozens of cops from all area law enforcement area rushed to the scene. Several law enforcement helicopters began searching for the shooters and the wounded deputy. According to ABC affiliate KNXV their news helicopter while overhead the scene was told by the police helicopters that the shooters had started to shoot at them. A short time later a Arizona Department of Public Safety located the deputy and evacuated him to waiting emergency crews. Paramedics transported the deputy, identified as 53 year-old Louie Puroll to an area hospital for treatment, the wound is described as a graze-wound above his left kidney and he is expected to fully recover. After 6 p.m. several blackhawk helicopters from Customs & Border Patrol arrived on the scene carrying tactical law enforcement officers who immediately began scouring the desert looking for the shooters. As of 9 p.m. Friday, the shooters were still on the loose in the desert near Arizona 84 and Interstate 8.
I'll bet the guys guarding Obama are more heavily armed than just having 9mm pistols. But, then again, Obama is the elite; he is the one who will sit on Mount Olympus and send good things down to us as he sees fit. We mortals are expected to live under gun control, and even the police upon whom we are supposed to rely to protect us are often barely able to survive, they are so outgunned. You know, in France, Sweden and other places in Europe, there are no-go areas that the police dare not venture into, except briefly and in force. Is the US-Mexican border getting like that? Knowing 1) it's their job to protect it; 2) heroin and other drugs are being trafficked in, and this, in turn, kills Americans and destroys American communities; and 3) innocent Americans, such as ranchers and even police, are getting ambushed and killed as the contraband is moved north into US territory - knowing all this, why would government officials leave that border unprotected?
From U.S. Military has Special Ops "Boots on the Ground" in Mexico, posted by Bill Conroy, June 12, 2010 (please see original for links and further information):
Task Force is Embedded with Mexican Troops, CIA Operative Claims A special operations task force under the command of the Pentagon is currently in place south of the border providing advice and training to the Mexican Army in gathering intelligence, infiltrating and, as needed, taking direct action against narco-trafficking organizations, claims a former CIA asset who has a long history in the covert operations theater. [snip] As evidence of his claims about the U.S. special operations task force operating in Mexico, [former CIA contract pilot William Robert "Tosh"] Plumlee in early April last year provided Narco News with information he said he obtained from that task force detailing the Mexican Army's investigation of a mass grave site located outside of Palomas, Mexico. About a month later, in early May 2009, the first press reports appeared in Mexican newspapers indicating that a mass grave containing at least seven bodies had been discovered at the same site identified by Plumlee. At the time of the unearthing of the Palomas mass grave, Narco News chose not to release specific information about the U.S. task force for fear that it might compromise lives. Since that time, however, Plumlee says task force members have become convinced, due to corruption and leaks within the Mexican government, that their presence in Mexico is now known to narco-trafficking organizations. In addition, in recent weeks, there have been a series of reports in mainstream newspapers, such as the Washington Post and The Nation magazine, indicating that U.S. special forces teams are operating in numerous foreign countries.
Government corruption? Imagine that... but only down south, right? In an exclusive story he provided to the San Diego Reader in 1990, Plumlee discusses how he helped the government run drugs during the 1980's. This makes me wonder - those government guys that were running drugs back then... are they controlling the show now? If so, that would explain a great deal. Perhaps the reason our people on the front lines of the "War on Drugs" can't win is because their moves are being manipulated from above - not to end drug smuggling, but merely to control it, and make sure certain people profit from it with less competition. That would explain why we can't get our border under control, despite 1) the necessity to do so, 2) having the resources to do so, and 3) the outcry calling for it. Here's a quote I am going to take completely out of context. From Former FBI Translator Sibel Edmonds Calls Current 9/11 Investigation Inadequate by Jim Hogue, May 7, 2004:
JH: Here's a question that you might be able to answer: What is al-Qaeda? SE: This is a very interesting and complex question. When you think of al-Qaeda, you are not thinking of al-Qaeda in terms of one particular country, or one particular organization. You are looking at this massive movement that stretches to tens and tens of countries. And it involves a lot of sub-organizations and sub-sub-organizations and branches and it's extremely complicated. So to just narrow it down and say al-Qaeda and the Saudis, or to say it's what they had at the camp in Afghanistan, is extremely misleading. And we don't hear the extent of the penetration that this organization and the sub-organizations have throughout the world, throughout their networks and throughout their various activities. It's extremely sophisticated. And then you involve a significant amount of money into this equation. Then things start getting a lot of overlap -- money laundering, and drugs and terrorist activities and their support networks converging in several points. That's what I'm trying to convey without being too specific. And this money travels. And you start trying to go to the root of it and it's getting into somebody's political campaign, and somebody's lobbying. And people don't want to be traced back to this money.
Maybe it's not just Al Qaeda's narcodollars that are "getting into somebody's political campaign, and somebody's lobbying."

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