What Else Do the Zetas Need to Do to Qualify as Terrorists?
The part of this article that truly made my eyes bug out is here:
Rep. Michael McCaul, Texas Republican, has introduced legislation seeking to place six Mexican cartels, including the Zetas, on the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list — a designation that would limit their financial, property and travel interests, and impose harsher punishment on those who provide material support.
I had not realized they were not on the FTO list. Is there any conceivable definition of "foreign terrorist" that would not include the Zetas?
While the beheadings and dismemberments are used to punish those who oppose or betray them, to establish turf, to terrorize the citizenry against testifying against them, and to press political leaders to collaborate, random killings also have become the gang’s trademark — used by the Zetas, Mr. Grayson said, to demonstrate that no one is beyond their reach, that they can kidnap, torture and kill anyone they choose.
“Their brutal attacks on Mexican military and police personnel and their kidnapping and killing of civilians are meant to intimidate the civilian population and increase their successes in extorting funds from street vendors, business owners, political officials and others,” he said. “The mere mention of the word ‘Zeta’ in Mexico conjures images of brutal murders and decapitations.”
You can't imagine applying the idiocy "one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist" here, can you? I can't even imagine Chomsky calling the Zetas freedom fighters. I can't even imagine them being invited to speak at Columbia University. That they're terrorists seems utterly inarguable. Clearly they're foreign, and clearly they're an organization. What more do they need to do to qualify?
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Dec '10
Re: What Else Do the Zetas Need to Do to Qualify as Terrorists?
Ironically, in order to qualify as terrorists, the Zetas need to claim to be freedom fighters. Right now, they're simply an organized crime syndicate that happens to be so powerful that it dominates local governments. If they claim to be the legitimate government of those provinces independent of the Mexican state, then they become a group using terror for political ends and thus terrorists.
Look at the pirates off the Horn of Africa: are they terrorists, common criminals, the special subclass of criminals called pirates, or naughty, errant fishermen?
Re: What Else Do the Zetas Need to Do to Qualify as Terrorists?
Stuart, I don't see that a group needs to be claiming to be a legitimate government to qualify; it seems the criteria for designation under Section 219 of the INA as amended are:
Looks like the whole trifecta to me.
Dec '10
Re: What Else Do the Zetas Need to Do to Qualify as Terrorists?
(iii) As used in this chapter, the term “terrorist activity” means any activity which is unlawful under the laws of the place where it is committed (or which, if it had been committed in the United States, would be unlawful under the laws of the United States or any State) and which involves any of the following:
(I) The highjacking or sabotage of any conveyance (including an aircraft, vessel, or vehicle). (II) The seizing or detaining, and threatening to kill, injure, or continue to detain, another individual in order to compel a third person (including a governmental organization) to do or abstain from doing any act as an explicit or implicit condition for the release of the individual seized or detained. (III) A violent attack upon an internationally protected person or upon the liberty of such a person. (IV) An assassination. (V) The use of any— (a) biological, chemical, or nuclear weapon or device, or
(b) explosive, firearm, or other weapon or dangerous device (other than for mere personal monetary gain),
with intent to endanger, directly or indirectly, one or more individuals or cause substantial damage to property.
(VI) A threat, attempt, or conspiracy to do any of the foregoing.
Dec '10
Re: What Else Do the Zetas Need to Do to Qualify as Terrorists?
Claire, the bolded words in the foregoing text are the "escape clause" for the terrorism definition.
If you do it "for mere personal monetary gain," it's organized crime. If you do it for a political purpose beyond monetary gain - for some cause that won't necessarily enrich you or your family - then it's terrorism. The motive matters as much as the methods.
Aug '10
Re: What Else Do the Zetas Need to Do to Qualify as Terrorists?
The Mexican ambassador has called the Cartels "businessmen" .
Businessmen my foot ! These bloody coqueros will meet their enemy soon enough.
La Gente will rise up, they always do in Mexico.
Dec '10
Re: What Else Do the Zetas Need to Do to Qualify as Terrorists?
flownover: The Mexican ambassador has called the Cartels "businessmen" .
Businessmen my foot ! These bloody coqueros will meet their enemy soon enough.
La Gente will rise up, they always do in Mexico. · Apr 20 at 11:11am
I think I have suggested before a remake of The Magnificent Seven set in the modern day, with six Yanqui caballeros responding to the plea of an emissary from a Mexican town to liberate them from a cartel (the six being joined along the way by a macho local youth wanting to prove his credibility as a gunslinger),
Feb '11
Re: What Else Do the Zetas Need to Do to Qualify as Terrorists?
One reason I want to end the war in Afghanistan is that the US military may be needed inside Mexico....
God help us if this comes to pass. A last resort for sure.
And "The Magnificent Seven" was a terrible remake of "Seven Samurai".
Apr '11
Re: What Else Do the Zetas Need to Do to Qualify as Terrorists?
Clarie, they tried to blow up a dam and still have not been labelled terrorists in this country, for heaven's sake.
Part of that has to do with that a counterinsurgency strategy like they are doing in Mexico means they need NAFTA money, which means US investment, people who might be a little skittish if the Zetas were actually labelled what they actually are.
However, I am afraid that as far as I have seen here in this country, the farther one is from the problem, the less anyone wants to wrap their minds around what is going on, not only in Mexico, but here as well. Phoenix is the kidnapping capital of the Americas, and while the Zetas and Coyotes have been thoughtful enough to only kidnap one another I can assure you it will occur to them to do otherwise at some point.
What actually bothers me is the Coyotes are actually-- and literally-- enslaving Mexicans they brought over here and many of them are seriously underage girls who are now sex slaves to the Mexicans here in the States. And slavery is slavery. I don't care who does it.
Dec '10
Re: What Else Do the Zetas Need to Do to Qualify as Terrorists?
Steven Zoraster: One reason I want to end the war in Afghanistan is that the US military may be needed inside Mexico....
God help us if this comes to pass. A last resort for sure.
And "The Magnificent Seven" was a terrible remake of "Seven Samurai". · Apr 20 at 1:14pm
No movie starring Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn and Eli Wallach (as a Mexican bandido!) could possibly be considered terrible. Especially not with a score by Elmer Bernstein, which is in itself enough to make any Western a triumph.
Besides, why would seven samurai want to help liberate a Mexican village from a drug cartel? Although... it WOULD make for a really trippy movie.
Oct '10
Re: What Else Do the Zetas Need to Do to Qualify as Terrorists?
http://dailycaller.com/2011/04/20/obama-snubs-issa-on-subpoena-for-atf-documents/
For the first time since Republicans took control of the House and gained the power of congressional subpoena, the Obama administration has declined to comply with a subpoena issued by top GOP oversight official Rep. Darrell Issa.
In the face of a subpoena by Issa, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) provided no documents by the April 13 deadline, according to an April 20 letter from Issa to ATF’s director, Kenneth Melson.
Issa is threatening contempt proceedings if ATF does not comply.
At issue are documents related to Project Gunrunner and Operation Fast and Furious, in which ATF allowed American guns to be smuggled into Mexico and sold to Mexican drug cartels. The goal of the program was to track the illegal weapons and drug markets after they were used in crimes and abandoned using ballistics information and serial numbers for the guns.
Edited on Apr 20, 2011 at 8:12pmJul '10
Re: What Else Do the Zetas Need to Do to Qualify as Terrorists?
Stuart Creque
I think I have suggested before a remake of The Magnificent Seven set in the modern day, with six Yanqui caballeros responding to the plea of an emissary from a Mexican town to liberate them from a cartel (the six being joined along the way by a macho local youth wanting to prove his credibility as a gunslinger), · Apr 20 at 11:15am
Though I'm usually opposed to remakes, I would see that movie.
Elsewhere in the culture, the upcoming installment of the Call of Juarez series of Old West-themed video games is going to be set in the modern day, with Mexican cartels as the villains. Politicians in Mexico, naturally, are calling for the game to be banned.