Rick Perry Willing To Send U.S. Troops Into Mexico To Fight Drug War (VIDEO)

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, soon to be the leader of the Republican Governors Association, continued his argument Thursday that the federal government needed to halt their intervention in the private sector and refocus their energy toward securing the border -- even if that means sending U.S. troops into Mexico.

While pushing his small government economic message on issues such as the auto industry and social security during an interview with MSNBC, Perry seemed to express a willingness to massively increase the U.S. military's involvement in foreign affairs by deploying American forces across the southern border to fight in the Mexican drug war.

"I think we have to use every aspect of law enforcement that we have including the military. I think we have the same situation as we had in Colombia. Obviously, Mexico has to approve any type of assistance that we can give them," Perry said. "But the fact of the matter is these are people who are highly motivated with money, they are vicious, they are armed to the teeth, and I want to see them defeated. And any means that we can to run these people off our border and to save Americans' lives we need to be engaged in."

Perry has long painted the issue of border security as an existential threat to American citizens living along the border, and one that is not adequately being addressed by the federal government.

In August, Perry publicly announced that he was dispatching a squad of Texas Rangers to the border in order to cover this alleged security deficiency.

A poll conducted around the same time found that 87.5 percent of residents living in border cities from California to Texas "felt safe as they drove and walked in their neighborhoods." Under 10 percent said they did not.

WATCH:

Comments

[zack5]

03:10 AM on 01/03/2011

Talk about dont ask don't tell
/ LOOK \ at this guy Rick, from texas.

[DannyDiamond]

01:59 PM on 12/18/2010

How about we secure our border from this side and let them sort it out for themselves! Oh yeah, legalize all drugs to instantly dry up their cash flow for maintenance. Didn't our own government train many of these narco-killers back in the 80's & 90's?

[iratior]

09:40 AM on 12/04/2010

Bullets flying through University of Texas classrooms? Well, I'm surprised the conservative solution to that isn't to encourage the students and faculty to carry guns, so the next time bullets fly through classrooms, they can have bullets flying right back! If you believe in the mantra that government can't do anything right, I don't know why you would think there would be any point to getting troops involved. They're under the government's control, aren't they?

[waynesmyer]

09:00 AM on 11/23/2010

But! But! As any fool and Rickie Perry knows, we got's to invade Mexico cause Pancho Villa is a danger to our border! Pobre Mexico! Tan lejos de Dios, tan circa Tejas!

[Mx7777]

01:30 PM on 11/21/2010

Just another bad idea.

Why some Texans have the obsession to start another "Mexican War"?

Maybe their state is too small for them and want to make another according to their egos.

Everything in Texas is BIGGER including their nonsense.

[annie345]

12:52 PM on 11/21/2010

Wow! Let's go into yet another foreign country with troops and start yet another military conflict. That is a solution? I am all for securing the border. But from Stateside.

[BGosh]

11:04 AM on 11/21/2010

It's the beginning of Rick's formal entry into the Vice-Presidential campaign. He and Palin, bringing the hair stylists back to the White House. The Prom Night candidacy awaits, and by that, I mean the horror movie.

[Mike Johnson1234]

09:02 PM on 11/19/2010

So the solution is to invade yet another country, destroy it and have the US taxpayers rebuild it. Sweet idea! NOT Texas Gov. Rick Perry, soon to be the leader of the Republican Governors Association wants to invade Mexico. You can't make this shit up.

[hugoal]

09:49 PM on 11/19/2010

No you can't.

[elkhawk]

03:03 PM on 11/19/2010

Please secede Rick. It's really okay. We won't mind. I live in Oklahoma, so please just erect a REALLY BIG fence along our borders.

[RedWhiteBlue-abc]

06:53 PM on 11/19/2010

So, you don't live along the border and have first hand knowledge of the problem, right? I do! Are you aware bullets are going through our classrooms and Americans have been killed?

[MajorKong]

11:14 AM on 11/21/2010

In Memphis they call that a really slow Tuesday morning.

[rgilley]

02:41 PM on 11/19/2010

If he would just keep to his word and secede Taxas he wouldn't have to ask the United states for troops.
So how about it Gov you still going secede texas ot not!? Or was that just a way to round up the dullman votes ?

[robovike]

02:40 PM on 11/19/2010

Gov. Perry seems to believe his waking life is one long episode of "Walker: Texas Ranger."

[rgilley]

08:37 AM on 11/23/2010

Another Texas chickenhawk.

[elkhawk]

02:35 PM on 11/19/2010

Hey, Rick, let's invade Canada because they have free health care and low-cost prescriptions! That is just wrong and needs to be dealt with fiercely.

[rgilley]

08:39 AM on 11/23/2010

The United states should invade Texas and round up all the Rick Perrys and deport them and leave the Hispanics. They were afterall there first!

[Progress08]

02:32 PM on 11/19/2010

Let's invite Canada to come here and run our hospitals Rick.


What a friggin bloviating, unmitigated jacka$$

[RedWhiteBlue-abc]

06:55 PM on 11/19/2010

Are your capabilities limited to name-calling?

[Progress08]

12:14 PM on 11/20/2010

I won't dignify that with a response you friggin jack-wad:)

[rgilley]

08:40 AM on 11/23/2010

I think what 08 is trying to say is that Perry is an unmittigated idiot and an embarrassment to the United States And to Texas!

[b1rd67]

01:58 PM on 11/19/2010

I'm willing to give Rick Perry an M-16 and send HIM into Mexico to fight the drug war. He can take as many other chickenhawk Republican politicians as he wants. Let's see them walk the walk!

[RedWhiteBlue-abc]

06:55 PM on 11/19/2010

Please respect our country a little, ok?

[hugoal]

09:53 PM on 11/19/2010

No disrespect for the country there. He can take all the GOPee chickenhawks with him. It's not going to be their children going to war, they'll just simply rake the money in from their investments in the companies that make war goods.

[MajorKong]

11:16 AM on 11/21/2010

Now that's chutzpah!

The governor has talked openly of secession and his supporters accuse someone of "disrespecting the country".

[gwhitejr]

01:53 PM on 11/19/2010

All I can say is DO NOT DISMISS THIS GUY!!! I suffered the decline of this state under Bush and the rest of America made him President...Perry is on the same course, Texas has declined under his rule and he is on the same course to the White House...watch out America...this guy is a Theocratic, Corporatist shill that wants to give over the entire country to right wing religious fanatics and multinational corporations.

[b1rd67]

02:00 PM on 11/19/2010

The one thing in our favor in Perry's case is his secession rhetoric.

[RedWhiteBlue-abc]

06:57 PM on 11/19/2010

Texas has created more jobs in the past year than the other 49 states combined! Not bad, I'd say!

[gwhitejr]

07:11 PM on 11/19/2010

Taxes have gone UP...Insurance rates have gone UP...and education has gone DOWN...if job creation is your be all - end all standard...then move to China or India they are creating thousands upon thousands of jobs.

[rgilley]

08:45 AM on 11/23/2010

And THIS is what Texas sent to the rest of the country via Bush!!

The Lost Decade
Census Data Out lines
Bush Era Set backs in
Poverty, Income, and
Health Coverage

• Income and Jobs: Inflation-adjusted incomes fell further under George W. Bush than
under any president since reporting began. Unemployment rose 81 percent.

• Poverty: The poverty rate jumped 17 percent from 2000 to 2008, with over 8 million
more Americans living below the poverty line.

• Health Coverage: The number of uninsured Americans increased over 20 percent
to an all-time high of 46.3 million, including a dramatic 157 percent increase in the
population of uninsured Americans over the age of 65.

http://www.dlc.org/documents/TheLostDecade.pdf