Rick Perry throws another wild punch

Political pundits have long said that vice president Joe Biden has a God-given knack for saying just the wrong thing at just the wrong moment. But Texas Gov. Rick Perry is giving him a run for his money.

Yesterday candidate Perry casually told an interviewer that the Arab terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah are conducting operations from Mexican territory. One way the governor will help keep an eye on them - after he's president - is by flying unmanned surveillance drones up and down the border. "I know how to do it," said Perry, referring to his experience as Texas' chief executive.

Hamas was founded in 1987 as an Islamic fundamentalist movement. Today it's a political party which governs the Gaza Strip. However, it still has a military wing which has been responsible for numerous attacks and suicide bombings that have killed many Israeli civilians and military personnel. Hezbollah is a Lebanese based political party founded in 1982, which also has a paramilitary wing. Both organizations are on the U.S. State Dept.'s State Sponsored Terrorism list.

If anyone in the U.S. government has confirmed that either of these organizations has bases or logistical operations in Mexico, I'm unaware of it. The Mexican government has not so alleged, although there are periodic stories that terrorist organizations are training drug cartel operatives, and/or selling them arms. In the case of the latter claim it's more likely the other way around. A U.S. Justice Dept. official testified earlier this week that in recent years Mexican drug dealers got their hands on 64,000 assault weapons from the United States, so if anyone's selling arms, it's probably the Mexicans to the Arabs.

All of this latest Perry trumpet blowing follows close on the heels of his plan to send U.S. troops right into Mexico. That one didn't go over too well with anybody. As politicians get more desperate and elections draw closer, the rhetoric gets more bizarre, and certainly more entertaining.

Sept. 10, 2012 - Maybe the governor was right after all . . .

More Perry-isms: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/09/texas-governor-rick-perrys-big-threat.html; and:
http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/10/texas-gov-rick-perry-says-hed-send-us.html; and:
http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/10/no-us-troops-in-mexico-says-ambassador.html.