In November of 2012, Michael McCaul, now the new Chair of the U. S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee issued an update of that Committee’s regular assessment of events in Mexico and on the U.S.-Mexican Border that affect security. Here is the repeat of an interesting news story involving the Mexican Cartel, los Zetas, and an effort an Iranian to contract for one of the Zetas to conduct an assignation in Washington, D.C. reflecting the likely broadening of threats near the border:
From Page 13 of the report “Iran and Hezbollah have been involved in the underworld of Latin America long enough to become intimately familiar with all of its inhabitants and capitalize on their capabilities. Former DEA executive Michael Braun has an interesting way of describing this dynamic:
“…If you want to visualize ungoverned space or a permissive environment, I tell people to simply think of the bar scene in the first “Star Wars” movie. Operatives from FTOs (foreign terrorist organizations) and DTOs (drug trafficking organizations) are frequenting the same shady bars, the same seedy hotels and the same sweaty brothels in a growing number of areas around the world. And what else are they doing? Based upon over 37 years in the law enforcement and security sectors, you can mark my word that they are most assuredly talking business and sharing lessons learned.”
Braun says as Europe’s demand for cocaine continues to grow and TCO’s operate in West and North Africa to establish infrastructure to move the drugs:
“These bad guys (cartels) are now routinely coming in very close contact with the likes of Hezbollah, Hamas, Al Qaeda, who are vying for the same money, the same turf and same dollars. It’s really a nightmare scenario. And my point being is if anyone thinks for a moment that Hezbollah and Qods Force, the masters at leveraging and exploiting existing elicit infrastructures globally, are not going to focus on our southwest border and use that as perhaps a spring board in attacking our country then they just don’t understand how the real underworld works.”
Iran attempted to leverage this capability in October 2011 with the foiled plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the United States. According to a federal arrest complaint filed in New York City, the Qods Force attempted to hire a drug cartel (identified by other sources as the Los Zetas) to assassinate Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir for a fee of $1.5 million. The terror attack was to take place at a popular restaurant in Washington, D.C. without regard to collateral deaths or damage.
The Qods Force made this solicitation because it knows drug traffickers are willing to undertake such criminal activity in exchange for money. Moreover, if this terror attack had been successful, the Qods Force intended to use the Los Zetas for other attacks in the future. Had it not been for a DEA informant posing as the Los Zetas operative, this attack could have very well taken place.
It has been suggested that this assassination was directed by the Iranian government in retaliation for a Saudi-led military intervention in Bahrain against an Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim majority that was protesting a Saudi-backed Sunni Muslim minority government.There are also indications that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has ordered the Qods Force to intensify terror attacks against the United States and other Western countries for supporting the ousting of Syrian President and Iranian ally Bashar al-Assad.”