What’s it Worth?
Sep 27th, 2009 | By Michel Marizco | Category: General News, Organized Crime
Email
Facebook
Twitter 
Delicious 
Stumble This Post 
Buzz This Post 
Digg This Post
THE BORDER REPORT
How hard up would you need to be to sell someone’s life for $2,000? The question came up over coffee with an old friend this morning. The answer, I guess, depends on your situation.
One answer may be given during the corruption case against Richard P. Cramer, the high level Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent arrested earlier this month on drug trafficking charges out of Miami. The case creeps me out. Having been asked to work as a snitch in the past, an offer I happily turned down because being a journalist may pay less but A) gains me hard-earned trust B) isn’t mired in sleaze and self-loathing and C) is vastly more entertaining, my name could very well have popped up in the database queries Cramer is accused of sneaking into. A fine mess that would have made.
Court documents in the case reveal a man nearly beholden to a Mexican drug cartel. The former resident agent in charge of ICE in Nogales, Ariz., five years ago, was denied bond in federal court on Sept. 4. He is charged with trafficking more than 600 pounds of cocaine from Panama to Spain in a complex scheme that moved the narcotics up the Eastern Seaboard then across the Atlantic Ocean by merchant ship.
His alleged arrangements with the cartel suggest a man in need of money and willing to take tasks put forward by the cartel leaders, including retiring from his 30-year career as a federal agent in order to dedicate himself to trafficking drugs and laundering cash.
But it’s the secondary charges filed against Cramer that interest me. To be fair, nobody’s saying that Cramer was selling the identities of criminal informants. The charging documents say he had access to California law enforcement, ICE and DEA databases, able to run queries off those. It’s entirely possible he was selling the U.S. Code of federal law, and Peace Officer Standards and Training pamphlets, but I doubt it. If I was a cartel figure and you want to work for me and you have access to internal law enforcement databases, what else would I want to see except the names of those who’ve betrayed you?
Prosecutors charge Cramer with selling sensitive database queries from ICE and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Mexico. He sold one for $2,000, an amount that just seemed incredible to me. An old friend tried putting that succinct number in some perspective.
“He could have sold those documents for any number of reasons,” says a criminal defense attorney I had coffee with this morning. “He could have made those available as a teaser, just to show his new employers ‘hey, this is what I could do for you.’”
Maybe; as the guy points out, department stores have utilized that tactic the day after Thanksgiving since before I was born.
If he was selling snitches’ names, why haven’t prosecutors said so? Authorities said he educated the cartel on how American law enforcement flips informants and the processes behind warrants and record checks. Sometime before he retired from ICE in 2007, a lead figure in the cartel encouraged Padilla Cramer to leave the agency and, instead, go to work for the cartel, authorities said. Federal prosecutors have not identified publicly which cartel Padilla Cramer went to work for.
The Gulf Cartel has shifted its drug market to Europe over the past two years but Guadalajara, where Padilla Cramer worked, is under the control of longtime kingpins “El Azul,” Juan Jose Esparragoza, and Ignacio “Nacho” Coronel Villarreal. Eyebrows were raised across both sides of the border last February when Coronel allegedly visited the Ambos Nogales area. Coronel is wanted by the United States, which is offering a $5 million bounty.
Until he retired, Padilla Cramer led an illustrious career in law enforcement in Southern Arizona. Before taking over the ICE office in Nogales, Padilla Cramer worked in internal affairs for ICE, said law enforcement agents contacted for this story. Sources within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security say Padilla hired two agents to work alongside him in internal affairs.
Regardless of which cartel he was accused of retiring and going to work for, Padilla Cramer took another job, this one with the Santa Cruz County Detention Center. He took the job in May and even went through the Correctional Officers Training Academy in Tucson, sheriff’s office officials said.
According to the 11-page federal complaint, the case began with four unidentified informants working for the Drug Enforcement Agency. An informant within a Mexican cartel was negotiating the sale of 660 pounds of cocaine from Panama City, Panama, to Vigo, Spain, the complaint alleges. A second informant reported that Padilla Cramer and a fourth man were part of the job and had put up $450,000 to ship the cocaine, the complaint alleges. That second man was arrested in South Florida and persuaded to become an informant. He, in turn, gave agents four law enforcement database queries that Padilla Cramer had given him. At that point, he only knew him as “Richard.”
The queries were run off Drug Enforcement Agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and California law enforcement databases. Padilla Cramer would ask Drug Enforcement Agency agents to run queries, telling them he needed the information for drug cases he was working on, prosecutors allege .
The cocaine shipments were made to Panama in March 2007, and undercover Panamanian police officers observed the transaction. The cocaine was put on a Greek-flagged ship and sent north, stopping in Georgia, Virginia and finally, the Port of New York two weeks later. The cocaine made it to Vigo, Spain, where it was seized and five members of the cartel were arrested.
Negotiations broke down between Padilla Cramer and the head of the trafficking organization that was looking for someone to blame for the losses in Spain, prosecutors allege. A fourth informant finally approached American law enforcement officials and told them he spoke with Padilla Cramer on a push-to-talk phone. On Aug. 19, the Drug Enforcement Agency arrested Padilla Cramer at his house in a gated community in Sahuarita.
On Sept. 4, a judge ordered that Padilla Cramer be sent to Florida to stand trial on drug-trafficking charges in that state, said Alicia Valle, spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Miami.
His connections and work in Mexico are being investigated but not his work in Arizona, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Vincent Picard.
That, I’m given to understand, may not stay true. There’ll be some new names coming down the pipe, I hear. And Arizona-based federal agents are supposedly on the list. We shall see.
Why didn’ he run the search of the database on the guys he was working with to see if they were snitches? If he had done that he woiuld have known he was dealing with informants and not tried to push the deal through. So maybe he wasn’t selling informat information, or maybe he is just a fooking idiot.
[Reply]
Once you sell someones life for any amount, I dont think it matters anymore, if you could do it for 100,000 you could do it for 1000.
[Reply]
They have to have more. An informant has some queries and says Cramer asked a colleague to run them. So what? How are they connecting queries run by other agents in the possession of alleged cartel members and Cramer? Only the several informants’ word? The Feds rarely file a case until it’s ready and Cramer looked like he was settling in to a new job (great cover!). So if they didn’t have enough, I’m sure they would have held out a little longer. So what else did they have?
Speaking of Informants, the movie, The Informant! is pretty great. There is one telling scene where an agent asks the agents woking their informant, “What’s this guys agenda?” It brings the whole movie into sharp relief. Well worth it if you like the thin line cops and robbers walk.
[Reply]
Hans, the databases for informants of the different law enforcement agencies are not connected. Even if they were, not all of the snitches would be listed. Federal agents in particular jealously guard their snitches and don’t like to share. That’s because a good snitch can get you good cases, which will get you promoted quickly.
[Reply]
informants sooner or later will get exposed, it’s an ugly reality, i really dont think these federal agents care about there informants unless they make a case and then they look for a way to get rid of you when your no use to them anymore
[Reply]
So what was the deal with Dos Mil? He was captured then someone forgot to lock the jail again?
[Reply]
lol! oh my…for some reason this article and a couple comments makes me feel weird, like kind of pressured.
[Reply]
That’s a very, very, very strange comment…
[Reply]
link to pic of la barble http://www.altoalsecuestro.com.mx/Organizacion.htm
[Reply]
pues que suave se la pasa este guey! im in the wrong line of work……
[Reply]
dicen por ahi que el mayor is the ladies man, tiene pegue el guero.
[Reply]
i reckon that, my good friend, but there is no other way for me to say it, ya’ll have a nice weekend.
[Reply]
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2009/10/01/detiene-dea-a-93-narcos-y-requisa-150-mdd-en-efectivo-en-arizona
[Reply]
Comanche.
[Reply]
I got that invisible juice
[Reply]
Oh you’re good, especially if you are not using the internet to find the quotes.
[Reply]
I believe we watch the same stuff Vincent… lol
[Reply]
It could come back on me baby.
[Reply]
hey Michael, why do you abandon us, man?
[Reply]
fook that I will cap your skanky ass and throw it out that goddamn window
[Reply]
Call Colombia.
[Reply]
That’s Jose Yero…they are AUC.
[Reply]
You want to fook my partner? Or do business?
[Reply]
Drift, according to Micheal Mann that part where Sonny and Rico meet with Archangel de Jesus and he tells them I extend my best wished to your family, that was taken from a record of an informat the FBI had on Amado Carillo, and same shit, they closed down the city pulled them into the car made the deal, and said something similar, when the informant got home, his mother had called him to say thanks for sending the flowers and the nice cards…pack it up if that ever happens.
[Reply]
lol…Fujima is it in the bonus material?
[Reply]
Yes, director’s commentary.
[Reply]
I have a strange feeling Michel has been targeted and he is trying to slowly ease out.
[Reply]
nope, Michael doesn’t give a shit about threats and stuff of that nature, he’ll be back, you’ll see.
[Reply]
some meat for the dogs…Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio says he will continue his controversial “crime suppression operations” despite a Department of Homeland Security decision to strip him of authority to arrest suspected illegal immigrants based solely on their immigration status, the East Valley Tribune reports.
“It’s all politics,” says Arpaio, sheriff of Maricopa County.
Arpaio will still have the power to check the immigration status of people booked by his officers, but not the authority to conduct street patrols looking for illegal immigrants.
His “crime suppression operations” are saturation patrols in designated areas where deputies would find illegal immigrants by stopping them for traffic infractions and minor violations, the paper says.
The department of Justice and other federal agencies are investigating the sheriff’s office on accusations of racial profiling during the operations, the paper says.
Arpaio said he will be able to still conduct the crime sweeps under state human smuggling laws and an obscure federal law that allows local police to arrest illegal immigrants.
A spokesman for the Phoenix office of ICE declined to comment until after pending agreements with the country are signed.
[Reply]
Michel Marizco’s reading into the future is being seen. On October 8, 2009, the ICE Special Agent in Charge of Los Angeles, CA was suspended from his position, his badge, credentials, and gun were taken away for being under investigation for Embezzlement. On October 8, 2009, Debbie Schlussel reported the following:
“EXCLUSIVE: Man Slated to be Obama’s Top Immigration Agent Investigated for Embezzlement DebbieSchlussel.com has learned that Robert Schoch, the Special Agent in Charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for Los Angeles, is under investigation for alleged embezzlement and/or misuse of ICE funds used in undercover operations. Mr. Schoch and the Los Angeles Deputy Special Agent in charge, Jennifer Silliman, were escorted from the ICE federal offices in Long Beach, California, and had their badges and guns taken from them (standard procedure when an agent is under investigation and put on leave). They were both put on administrative leave pending a continuing investigation. A search warrant was reportedly executed on Agent Schoch’s home, and sources say his computers from both his LAX and Long Beach offices were seized.”
Here is the link to Debbie Schlussel:
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/10128/exclusive-man-slated-to-be-obamas-top-immigration-agent-investigated-for-embezzlement/
The Arizona ICE’s spokesperson sound more like he is defending Richard P. Cramer. Here are some of Vincent Picard’s comments as quoted by various news reporters:
“His connections and work in Mexico are being investigated but not his work in Arizona, said ICE spokesman, Vincent Picard.” – “Cramer left Nogales in 2004, ICE spokesman Vincent Picard said.” – “Cramer was the former resident agent in charge of the ICE office in Nogales, southern Arizona, said agency spokesman Vincent Picard, who did not know how long Cramer worked there or how many agents he oversaw.” – “Cramer served as the agent in charge of the ICE office in Nogales, Ariz., prior to 2004 before moving to Mexico, said Vincent Picard, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman. It is unknown how long he held that position, Picard said.” -
“It’s a criminal complaint, not a conviction,” Picard said.” – “It’s unclear if any of them ranked as high as Cramer, and Picard said his agency did not have that information.”
Sure ICE and its watchdog agency, the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) maintain any and all personnel files of special agents because of the security clearance level they have. Before Richard Cramer, another ICE top management official, Gerardo Chavez who had been the U.S. Customs Attache in Caracas, Venezuela was arrested at ICE’s HQ late in 2008. In February 2009, Chavez was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in the federal penitentiary.
On July 27, 2009, the Miami Herald reported:
“Pedro Cintron, a veteran Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, pleaded to taking more than $30,000 in kickbacks from two paid confidential informants who worked with him in 2004 and 2005. In addition to accepting illegal gratuities, Cintron was charged with theft, disclosing the name of a confidential informant and making false statements to authorities. Cintron, 53, of Weston, was eligible for retirement from ICE when he pleaded guilty in April, so he gets to keep his full pension and benefits despite his conviction and imprisonment.
One of the reasons Richard Cramer retired in 2007 is because it is possible he knew that his time was coming up and decided to retire in order to keep his pension. For Vincent Picard’s information, several years ago the U.S. Customs Srervice’s Commissioner William VonRobb was arrested in London, UK for solicitation of a prostitute. In 1998 or 1999, the U.S. Customs Assistant Commissioner for internal affairs was federally indicted for obstruction of justice and making a false statement. In the 1990s, Donald Watson, U.S. Customs Regional Assistant Commissioner for investigation evaded arrest and retired; the charges: raping young male Customs special agents. A few years ago, Frank Figueroa, the ICE SAC Tampa, FL was arrested by the local police for masturbating in front of a 16-year old girl in some upscale mall. Figueroa pled nolo contendere (same as guilty) and ICE allowed him to stay on the job until he became 50 and retired keeping his $100,000 per year pension. The Legacy US Customs and now ICE normally will go out of their way to make an administrative case against an EEO complainer or whistleblower employee wasting manpower, taxpayers dollars and resources while the real crooks are just laughing at the incompetence and ignorance of these so-called OPR special agents who are getting pay around $130,000.00 per year for following an ICE special agent on surveillance stopping at a local Circle K to get some coffee and nabbing him/her for misuse of the government car.
[Reply]
damn crooked ass bastards, that whole agency is incompetent
[Reply]
here’s something
http://www.diario.com.mx/nota.php?notaid=bec7a2e2f59bcaefeb3738ef0d5f7169
[Reply]
they say he was providing “el teo” and “el muletas” with drivers licenses with diferent names, but something happend between them because Sanches Jimenez leaked “el teo’s” picture to ZETA newspaper (you can still see el teo’s mugshot in it) and the results can be seen on drift’s link…
[Reply]
bulls eye! http://afntijuana.info/blog/?p=19483
[Reply]
Heard the feds are canvassing Home Depot parking lots taking pics, especially in the border states looking for illegals that are “wanted” has anyone else heard on this?
[Reply]
Anyone heard who the decapitated woman that was found in Juarez is? Her first name is Claudia, is it Triana?
[Reply]
here you go
http://www.elpueblo.com/notas/20091012/decapitada_podr__a_ser_activista_de_los_derechos_humanos
[Reply]
Also told there is speculation she may be the missing Claudia Garcia, Hills girlfriend.
[Reply]
Gary Hill?
[Reply]
Yeah, that one, who had an ex girlfriend found dead in Juarez around 14 months ago.
[Reply]
never heard that story before
[Reply]
Her name was McClintock, found the end of August last year brutally murdered, was suppose to stand trial against her ex-bo Gary Hill.
[Reply]
http://www.elimparcial.com/EdicionEnLinea/Notas/Noticias/13102009/407909.aspx ABOUT THE INFAMOUS 4th PASSINGER.
[Reply]
Your getting weak, no substance in your articles, or your chismes!!!!
[Reply]
You’re outta order.
[Reply]
The decapitated woman has just been positively identified as Claudia Garcia, the 2nd girlfriend of Gary Hill to turn up brutally murdered.
[Reply]
Esmeralda you a reporter, cop or lawyer? Can you tell me if this girl Claudia drove a white tiburon? Only nonsense I’ve heard lately of this guy is the gun he pulled out on a person over a road rage incident
[Reply]
smile…..dont know what she drove. Juarez is trying to keep this very tight lipped.
[Reply]
Hey Michel, when are you going into another topic other than the Cramer subject!!!!!!!!!!!
[Reply]
I thought we had already moved on….
[Reply]
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Watch-Out-Los-Zetas-Jax-prnews-2320413798.html?x=0&.v=1 here’s something to entertain yourselves.
[Reply]
Yeah…. at what cost? It will still be the same groups 4 hire that will then turn around and work for someone else and all the nonsense, atleast that’s what I think
[Reply]
that’s what i was telling friend of mine, they might be experts in weapons and counter terrorism tactics, but this $$$$$$$$ can defeat any sofisticated weapon, and the cartels have billions to spare, money controls the world, the zetas are the best example, they were trained to fight drug cartels, and they ended up defending one of them, how much can the contractors charge Calderon that the cartel can’t match it?
[Reply]
Who was Gino Beltran?
[Reply]
esmeralda, any more news on gary hill???
[Reply]
http://www.milenio.com/node/304327 this war is getting interesting…
[Reply]
No more news on Hill. Obviously this wasn’t suppose to come out. The murder of McClintock ( his ex gf) did not spread like alot of things, and now this girlfriend, watch it will be swept out of any limelight. Hill is in a powerful position to avoid being questioned. Weapons he pulls on people, ‘disappear’, witnesses ‘disappear’, girlfriends ‘disappear’, but we can just figure he is a victim and its all coincidental.
[Reply]
who has the upper hand in all this war, Chapo or Beltran? something’s got to give here, money & drug seizures like crazy everywhere and people taken out like crazy what the hell in the end the business aspect of it take’s it’s toll
[Reply]
i really can’t say whos got the upper hand right now, in guerrero, Arturo’s zetas and La Familia are killing each other like there is no tomorrow, in Mazatlan Chaguin Lizarraga and his Zetas are angaged in a “you kill one of mine i kill two of yours” war against Ivan Gurrola with the support of members of Chapo’s Gente Nueva, in Navolato somebody is killing cops as a sport, in Cuernavaca and Acapulco El Grande Villarreal is killing what Arturo considers “bad apples” among his zetas and the Pineda’s people, he doesn’t want nobody kidnaping and extorting inocent poeple and in Juarez, Chapo and La Linea don’t seem to give up anytime soon…thanx Vicente Fox for selling plazas that already had an owner.
[Reply]
check el debate de Mazatlan, there is a gunfight right now, cops against sicarios, this is incredible, lol!!!
[Reply]
but hey……. shit happens…. got to roll with it, adapt, darwin, eat chain……..
[Reply]
here you go vinotinto
http://policiacodesonora.blogspot.com/2009/10/ejecutan-al-gino-beltran-brazo-derecho.html
[Reply]
supposedly JL was caught in Sonora…….
[Reply]
“el dos letras” still free and alive.
[Reply]
Now, if I am being Santa Claus and you are being Pedro and one day Pedro came into his office and told jolly Santa Claus “I lost the list” how fcking furious do you think he would get?
[Reply]
What I’ve always wanted…to watch you die.
[Reply]
Oh….. you ordered the meatloaf……
[Reply]
Oh you were scared little pricks, both of youse… all of youse!
[Reply]
LOL, oh you’re good, that is one of those hidden jewel movies that is easy to forget, just like Collateral. Did you know that I tried to get Michel to watch The Wire, he said he watched the first 5 episodes of season 1 and called me and said it sucked, it SUCKED, can you believe that, I actually got mad at him for a few days. I hear nothing but great things about Breaking Bad, going to start the torrent for season one next week.
[Reply]
Then you go down for the dirt nap.
[Reply]
he said it sucked???????????? i would of boycotted this website after that remark!..ok so maybe i wouldnt of gone that far. I had a friend also who said he couldnt watch it and then he picked up some of season 5 and he stopped watching it so he could borrow all of the seasons from me and he loved them afterwards. but Sleepers is a very good movie i had my son watch it with me the other day and he liked it alot.
[Reply]
HEY!…….you going to pay for that you little prick!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI65_wPy2Sk
[Reply]
I lost control? Look at you! your fooking walking around like John Barrymore…a fooking pink robe & a fooking uh..uh.. cigarette holder!
[Reply]
Drift I’ll bet your son never act’s up again, you can tell him you’ll send him to the boarding scholl where Sean Nokes is the Headmaster, LOL.
I thought ole Miguel would like the story lines about the media and the press and all that good stuff in season 5 as well.
[Reply]
I want an equal amount of blueberries in every muffin, an equal amount.
[Reply]
LMAO!!!!!!!!
[Reply]
Hey dog….. did you see the size of that chicken?
[Reply]
Navajo, Navajo
[Reply]
It realized to me that we both messed up on the names for the quotes it was dirty steve, but these beers hit me already along time ago
[Reply]
Hey yo Wax hook it up with those links n grits I’m hungrier than a motherfooker!!!!
[Reply]
all of youse are myrons fuc king digenaretes get a life stay of the page micheal is getting annoyed
[Reply]
Michel who?
[Reply]
If the teacher wants to control the classroom, he needs to show up to class.
[Reply]
does that mean that without the teacher, the kids are a bunch of savages? have some fooking respect, the man has put his ass on the line so we can have info no one else can give us, FOR FREE, now, for some reason he hasn’t been able to updated his site, but that doesn’t mean he’s gone for good and we are free to turn his site into a pinche cantina, have some respect.
[Reply]
Is El Cadian the storyboy?
[Reply]
Yup that’s him Vincent, Mr Sensitivity (El Cadian, Storyboy) himself!!
Now storyboy if you didn’t notice we were talking of other things also in the comments: drug war,gary hill, el teo etc etc etc……. so get the fook over it!
[Reply]
No, it means without the teacher, everyone will eventually get bored and start doing things to fill that boredom
[Reply]
i’m not storyboy, or el cardian, can’t you guys read?
[Reply]
i see what your saying ilegal and i mean no disrespect to michael but this Cadian is very sensitive! i havent had a problem with you at all but when i find Cadian….. im going to take him to dinner and a movie, a movie with alot of memorable quotes
[Reply]
i’m sorry drift, i thought you guys were referring to me, fooking vicodin got me by the balls…
[Reply]
it’s cool, no need to apologize
[Reply]
In my home, in my bedroom, where my wife sleeps, where my children come to play with their toys.
[Reply]
Stugots!…. Clemenza promised them nothing!
[Reply]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH8biYZz2dg&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pgpYNQrEf8&NR=1 policia de nayarit, mexico,”to perpetrate and sever”
[Reply]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pgpYNQrEf8
[Reply]
lol…. i like the 2nd video better!
damn kids…you mess with the bull, you get the horns!
[Reply]
Hey Michel, we are getting tired of “What it’s Worth”, let’s get on another topic !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[Reply]
1st one is recent and 2nd link is old, but just wondering how some of these officials handle they’re informants
http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_13614613?source=most_viewed
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/node/1783
[Reply]
what’s the difference if Bruce Springstein is his shidoshi……
[Reply]
100th comment, what’s up bitches!!!! I just had coffee with McCauley half an hour ago.
[Reply]
LMAO!
i take it you didnt get #99
[Reply]
…then don’t take scores”
[Reply]
It took me a second look, man haven’t seen that movie in like 15 years. They used to run it on the UPN and WGN networks every other saturday afternoon. I wouldn’t be able to pull a quote from that w/o cheating, looks like you got me man.
Look for TV sitcom quotes next from such characters as Quagmire, Miss Chinandler Bong, Art VanDelay, Perry Pennypecker, and George Costanza…we’re living in a society people we’re supposed to be civilazed!!
[Reply]
Your going to mess me up on those 4 sure, cuz I really don’t watch TV, I spend too much time at my office helping my customers and playing poker and online and watching espn on justin tv
I think michael left a hint on his topic… What’s it worth to us for him to keep continiung on this website, or is it worth it for him to continue putting up with some of us or the risks he takes to report some of the stuff he does
[Reply]
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/kristin-bricker/2009/10/chiapas-government-tries-pin-narco-
[Reply]
who was “el yopo”? http://guerracontraelnarco.blogspot.com/2009/10/asesinan-en-sonora-lider-de-sicarios.html
[Reply]
Isn’t he one of Dos Mils people
[Reply]
LOL, “helping customers” haha, like your boss is reading the post or something hahaha.
To be honest last year was when I was soaking everything up I wasn’t doing shit, but now I’m busy as fook which is good, but wouldn’t mind being the guy on the couch again.
[Reply]
Make your shoes look like fooking mirrors.
[Reply]
Lol… some of them get pissed off also, cuz I tend to get distracted when its my bet on full tilt.
[Reply]
I don’t shine shoes no more!… maybe they didn’t go up there and tell you….. you’ve been away a long time
[Reply]
I’m, sorry…….
Now go get your fooking shine box!!!
[Reply]
superb cop and military job in Juarez http://www.elagoradechihuahua.com/Acribillan-a-uno-frente-a-policias,18914.html
[Reply]
Does anyone have any dimes? Someone has to go back and get a shitload of dimes.
[Reply]
Does anybody have any dimes? Someone has to go back and get a shitload of dimes.
[Reply]
You need to talk more like a brother… like HEY Man I’m not falling for the banana in the tailpipe!!
[Reply]
a little weak article
http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_13639449?source=most_viewed
[Reply]
i just talked to family members in the city of juarez, and for the gentlman dat said linea aint budging is absolutely right, they are in it to win it.chapo is having a hella of a time getting in and the locals are sick of them and starting to turn on them! they remember the calmer days.the trade in juarez has slowed especially at the street level, becuz they dont know whos gonna whack u. if u work for either faction and get known u get whacked.theres a sayin in the streets of juarez “a la v…. con los chinolas FUERA!!!” Ive got family all over state of chih and theyre all reportin similiar accounts!!
[Reply]
thanks drift
sorry took so long
[Reply]
i found me this baby somewhere…By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
When Matthew Hoh joined the Foreign Service early this year, he was exactly the kind of smart civil-military hybrid the administration was looking for to help expand its development efforts in Afghanistan.
A former Marine Corps captain with combat experience in Iraq, Hoh had also served in uniform at the Pentagon, and as a civilian in Iraq and at the State Department. By July, he was the senior U.S. civilian in Zabul province, a Taliban hotbed.
But last month, in a move that has sent ripples all the way to the White House, Hoh, 36, became the first U.S. official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war, which he had come to believe simply fueled the insurgency.
“I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States’ presence in Afghanistan,” he wrote Sept. 10 in a four-page letter to the department’s head of personnel. “I have doubts and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy, but my resignation is based not upon how we are pursuing this war, but why and to what end.”
The reaction to Hoh’s letter was immediate. Senior U.S. officials, concerned that they would lose an outstanding officer and perhaps gain a prominent critic, appealed to him to stay.
U.S. Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry brought him to Kabul and offered him a job on his senior embassy staff. Hoh declined. From there, he was flown home for a face-to-face meeting with Richard C. Holbrooke, the administration’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“We took his letter very seriously, because he was a good officer,” Holbrooke said in an interview. “We all thought that given how serious his letter was, how much commitment there was, and his prior track record, we should pay close attention to him.”
While he did not share Hoh’s view that the war “wasn’t worth the fight,” Holbrooke said, “I agreed with much of his analysis.” He asked Hoh to join his team in Washington, saying that “if he really wanted to affect policy and help reduce the cost of the war on lives and treasure,” why not be “inside the building, rather than outside, where you can get a lot of attention but you won’t have the same political impact?”
Hoh accepted the argument and the job, but changed his mind a week later. “I recognize the career implications, but it wasn’t the right thing to do,” he said in an interview Friday, two days after his resignation became final.
“I’m not some peacenik, pot-smoking hippie who wants everyone to be in love,” Hoh said. Although he said his time in Zabul was the “second-best job I’ve ever had,” his dominant experience is from the Marines, where many of his closest friends still serve.
“There are plenty of dudes who need to be killed,” he said of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. “I was never more happy than when our Iraq team whacked a bunch of guys.”
But many Afghans, he wrote in his resignation letter, are fighting the United States largely because its troops are there — a growing military presence in villages and valleys where outsiders, including other Afghans, are not welcome and where the corrupt, U.S.-backed national government is rejected. While the Taliban is a malign presence, and Pakistan-based al-Qaeda needs to be confronted, he said, the United States is asking its troops to die in Afghanistan for what is essentially a far-off civil war
[Reply]