Battleland

A Real War on the Homefront

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While we’ve been busy focused on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, we’ve failed to pay heed to the war now underway along the U.S.-Mexican border. Frankly, it’s on the cusp of an invasion, says retired Army major general Robert Scales. He joined retired general Barry McCaffrey in authoring a report on this third front for the state of Texas, released earlier this week. Its title is enough to generate the heebie-jeebies: Texas Border Security: A Strategic Military Assessment.

“In effect, the cartels seek to create a `sanitary zone’ inside the Texas border — one county deep — that will provide sanctuary from Mexican law enforcement and, at the same time, enable the cartels to transform Texas’ border counties into narcotics transshipment points for continued transport into the continental United States,” Scales tells Battleland. “To achieve their objectives, the cartels are relying increasingly on organized gangs to provide expendable and unaccountable manpower to do their dirty work. These gangs are recruited on the streets of Texas cities and inside Texas prisons by top-tier gangs who work in conjunction with the cartels.”

To grasp the daunting challenges posed by these moneyed and heavily-armed drug lords — and what Scales and McCaffrey recommend be done in response — check out their report here.