Texas Gov: US Should Consider Invading Mexico

Focus on 'Border Security,' Drugs Behind Call for Troops

Speaking today on MSNBC, Texas Governor Rick Perry said the United States ought to consider a military invasion of his neighbor to the south, Mexico, arguing that it was needed to fight the drug war as well as to secure the border between the two nations.

Perry, who is also the incoming chairman of the Republican Governors Association, said the Mexican government would have to approve the invasion, but didn’t see this as a serious obstacle, adding that the new war might be an important part of immigration reform.

The US Military has been talking about a prospective invasion for quite some time now, warning that the drug cartels in Mexico are “on par” with that nation’s military and that Mexico’s government was at risk for a “rapid and sudden collapse.

Obviously Mexico has been struggling with its drug war for years, but the nation seems unlikely to accept a full-scale US military occupation as an alternative. Given the US is already in the midst of two major wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, on the verge of another in Yemen and constantly threatening another still in Iran, it seems a new Mexican War would be extremely difficult.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.