Thread: U. S. Government May Be Primary Suppliers of Mexican Drug Ca

U. S. Government May Be Primary Suppliers of Mexican Drug Cartel Guns

by Tom Stilson

With Operation Fast and Furious headlining the news, there is no doubt civilian arms have been trafficked into Mexico. However, many of the arms used by Mexican cartels are NOT supplied by civilian gun outlets in the United States. Based upon the statistics I have compiled, our State and Defense Departments may be the premier suppliers of weaponry to Mexican drug cartels — not the US civilian.

From 2003-2009, over 150,000 Mexican soldiers deserted from their ranks.

Army desertions hurting Mexico's war on drugs
March 11, 2009|By Rey Rodriguez CNN
http://articles.cnn.com/2009-03-11/worl ... tels_N.htm

Drug cartels became so confident in their recruitment of military personnel that they posted help wanted ads for hit men, traffickers, and guards.

Mexico cartels post 'help wanted' ads Updated 4/24/2008
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008 ... tels_N.htm

When these soldiers desert, their US-supplied weapons (grenades, sniper rifles, assault weapons, etc.) often accompany them over to the cartels. In 2008 and 2009, 13,792 and 20,530 small arms were exported to Mexico from the US.

UNCLASSIFIED
REPORT BY THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE
PURSUANT TO SECTION 655 OF THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE
ACT OF 1961, AS AMENDED
Direct Commercial Sales Authorizations for Fiscal Year 2008
http://www.pmddtc.state.gov/reports/doc ... 5_FY08.pdf

REPORT BY THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE
PURSUANT TO SECTION 655 OF THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE
ACT OF 1961, AS AMENDED
Direct Commercial Sales Authorizations for Fiscal Year 2009
http://www.pmddtc.state.gov/reports/doc ... 5_FY09.pdf

Over 92% of these arms were civilian legal semi-automatic or non-automatic firearms, a number eerily similar to the debunked 90% number echoed by the ATF.

The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come From U.S.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04 ... z1epeUM4tN
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04 ... xico-come/

A 2008 State Department memo to then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi shows a $1,000,000 shipment of select fire M4A2 assault rifles to the Mexican Federal Police Force, (AKA Federales) one of the most corrupt Mexican government agencies.

The most recent numbers from 2010 show the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) — the State Department agency responsible for overseeing the exportation of military goods — authorized the transfer of 2.5 million units of small arms, weapon optics, silencers, and related components. In that same year, over 11 million units of ammunition and 127,000 units of explosive ordnance were cleared for exportation to Mexico. This amounted to $25 million worth of small arms, ammunition, and explosives shipped to Mexico authorized by our State Department.

In recent months, allegations have surfaced that the State Department’s US Direct Commercial Sales Program and DDTC may have directly shipped arms to the Zetas, the Gulf Cartel’s hit squad.

Drug cartel sending U.S. weapons to Mexico
Published: July 13, 2011
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/07/ ... z1epg9ugsh

The Zetas were at one time trained and supplied with American weaponry by our own 7th Special Forces Group in the early 1990s.

Mexican Drug Kingpins Trained by Uncle Sam
Posted on Friday, 22nd April 2011
http://huffingtonpostunionofbloggers.or ... uncle-sam/

These claims against the State Department arose even after the DDTC recognized the Americas Region in 2009 as having the highest rate of unfavorable traces for their Blue Lantern Program.

End-Use Monitoring of Defense Articles and Defense Services
Commercial Exports FY 2009
http://www.pmddtc.state.gov/reports/doc ... FY2009.pdf

The Blue Lantern Program involves traces performed by the DDTC to ensure exported military weaponry does not end up with an unauthorized nation or organization. For the Americas, 80% of traces where unauthorized end users were identified involved small arms. Data specifically for Mexico was unavailable from the State Department.

From 2008 to 2009, when President Obama entered office, Defense Department expenditures to Mexico have increased from $12 million to $34,000,000 and State Department expenditures increased from $7.2 million to $356 million. While 2010 data is currently unavailable, it appears our foreign aid to Mexico has continued to increase for 2011.

U.S. Troops Increase Aid To Mexico In Drug War
http://www.npr.org/2011/10/06/141128178 ... =141128178

These statistics imply the State and Defense Departments may very well be the top suppliers of small arms to Mexico’s drug cartels and not civilians. Only the information obtained from ATF Firearms Traces will tell. However, those records are not public. After the DOJ and the White House knowingly pursued attempts at new gun control legislation, we are left to ask the question; is this just another case of government stupidity or is this something more premeditated?

http://biggovernment.com/tstilson/2011/ ... rtel-guns/

I've long believed supplies "military" we send to Mexico some fall into hands of the cartel weapons are no exception. We gave them 4 new Blackhawk copters this year let hope the Mexican government can hang on to those.