Romney Criticizes Perry’s Idea To Send Troops To Mexico

Taking yet another opportunity to distinguish himself from his fellow Governor, Mitt Romney is criticizing Rick Perry’s idea to send U.S. troops to Mexico to help with that country’s drug gang problem:

Sending U.S. troops to Mexico to help fight drug cartels is a bad idea, Republican presidential contender and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said Monday, rejecting an idea thrown out by his GOP opponent, Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

“Let’s build a fence first,” Romney said in an interview with the New Hampshire Union Leader, “and let’s have sufficient border patrol agents to protect it. And if the Mexican government want us to help it with logistics, intelligence, satellite images, I’m sure we can provide the sort of support we provided in Colombia.”

“Mexico has its own military,” Romney continued. “And it think it’s a bad idea to send American troops into Mexico. I think Mexico would consider it a bad idea. I consider it a bad idea.”

Mexico’s Ambassador agrees:

On Monday, Mexico’s ambassador to the United States, along with Romney, rejected Perry’s proposal.

“The issue of participation, or the presence of, U.S. troops on Mexican soil is not on the table,” the ambassador, Arturo Sarukhan, told reporters on Monday, the AFP reports.

Not entirely surprising that Mexico doesn’t wish to be invaded.

 

FILED UNDER: 2012 Election, US Politics, , , , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Vast Variety says:

    Ah come on, I can’t understand why Mexico wouldn’t want our troops traipsing around blowing stuff up. We have done such a great job with Iraq and Afghanistan it should prove we could get the job done.

    /end sarcasm

  2. legion says:

    “Let’s build a fence first,” Romney said

    I guess Perry’s best purpose is to propose the truly insane ideas, so that the merely stupid and unworkable stuff looks reasonable by comparison.

  3. Tsar Nicholas says:

    It appears Team Perry has determined they need to throw a few bones towards the John Birch Society rejects. This is a major mistake.

    As McCain in 2008 so clearly proved when the actual voting starts you can portray a rational set of viewpoints on immigration-related matters and yet still garner the GOP nomination. For every Michelle Malkin-style wing nut out there foaming at the mouth and acting out like a loon there are 2-3 moderate to conservative adults who vote in GOP primary contests and who are not obsessed with the issue of immigration.

    If Perry keeps this up he’ll either hand the nomination over to Romney or he’ll seriously damage himself for the general, perhaps beyond repair.

  4. David says:

    Not that the fence idea works in any real sense.

  5. Herb says:

    We already have a fence and border agents to protect it. Too bad he’s not thinking of more creative approaches….like working on the demand side.

    If I were president, I’d legalize marijuana grown in the United States. Then I’d get assassinated….

  6. NBH says:

    @David:

    That’s what makes it so funny. An ineffective, security-theater solution (building a fence) looks sane and reasonable when compared to the insanity of getting soldiers and civilians killed in Mexico (and probably the US when the violence expands) by pretending the US military is a police organization.

  7. Tlaloc says:

    I’m pretty sure Mexico has some oil left somewhere…

  8. Mario Barrera, OD says:

    I guess I’m the only one who actually lives on the border. I am also the only one who deals with Mexicans from all over Mexico on a daily basis. Publicly they all say the same thing about Mexico’s sovreignty and patriotism. Privately they all say the same thing…. the corruption is so pervasive and all consuming that they cannot do it by themselves. From the local “police” force to the politicians to the Mexican army, there is no one to call for help. We here on the border of Texas are starting to see a sprinkling of what goes on in Mexico. The Mexican press no longer reports on any violence due to the number of journalists who have been killed. Baghdad is a safer place, there is at least one or two decapitated bodies hung from overpasses in our border town of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico per week! Our own dumbass congressman wants to give more of our borrowed money to the Mexicans to fight the drug war and even the Mexicans I talk to laugh at that idea.