| | |  Editorials | Opinions | November 2008 
Fighting the Narco-Insurgency
 Tad Trueblood - The Spectrum
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What did I tell you? I've been pressing alarm buttons since 2006 about the narco-insurgency burning out of control in Mexico. Now the story's going mainstream. Sunday's L.A. Times reports the "spillover" from Mexico's drug war into the United States and gives sobering numbers. Mexican narco-cartel activity in 195 American cities - such as Seattle, Atlanta, Boston and Honolulu - their deadly tentacles reach across the nation.
In a Wired magazine interview, John P. Sullivan talks about insidious liaisons between cartels and "3rd generation gangs" in the United States. Sullivan, respected founder of Threats Watch Group, is essentially an intel analyst for the Los Angeles Sherriff's Department focusing on emerging threats. He said the cartel/gang nexus is "potentially more lethal than al-Qaida or any jihadist group."
On the Global Guerrillas blog, dark futurist John Robb has a new piece called "The Switch," talking about the merging of insurgents/terrorists with criminals. Amid "black globalization" they're switching from ideological to purely profit-driven motivations, increasing their power and "hollowing out" more states. The Haqqani network on the Af/Pak border, Somali pirates and MS-13 in Baltimore fit right into this model.
On the Small Wars Journal Web site - professionals discussing insurgencies and counterinsurgency - a returned Iraq vet has posted a forum thread on "Gangs, Narco-terrorism, and the U.S.A." He describes the problems he sees in Salinas, Calif., where law enforcement seems outspent, outsmarted and outmaneuvered by gang culture.
He talks about the northern California gang (quasi-gang?) "Familia Norteno," or "Generation of United Nortenos," which is very strong in Salinas, with lots of neighborhood support. "The original organization was not a gang or shadow government," he said. "Originally, it was a community organization focused on the social, political and economic progress of the perceived disenfranchised Latino/Hispanic community." The group's charter was "two-thirds Che' Guevara, one-third Chairman Mao, sprinkled with some Ghandi."
From there, the thread gets interesting. This veteran combat leader in the fight against al-Qaida in Diyala province wonders how he might help local law enforcement in their anti-gang task force. What kinds of lessons can be passed on to them - soft-knock tactics, interagency cooperation, working with local leaders - as they tackle the same kinds of "counterinsurgency" challenges here at home? He gets thoughtful answers from colleagues, leading to more fascinating tangents - some scary ones.
So what's my point? Well, like this column, things are disjointed but interconnected at the same time. The interweaving relationships between Mexican drug cartels, new-generation "hybrid gangs," economic and social dislocation in Latin America and U.S. cities and towns all add up to more clouds on the horizon.
Tad Trueblood has more than 20 years experience in the U.S. Air Force and the national security community. He blogs at www.thiscouldgetinteresting.com. |
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