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The State Department under new chief Marco Rubio — himself just back from providing a humiliating history lesson to CBS News’s Margaret Brennan — today slapped the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) label on no fewer than eight Latin American gangs and drug cartels.
ThenewFTOsincludeTrendeAragua,MaraSalvatrucha,CarteldeSinaloa,CarteldeJaliscoNuevaGeneracion,CartelesUnidos,CarteldelNoreste,CarteldelGolfo,andLaNuevaFamiliaMichoacana.ThosegroupsnowfindthemselvesinthesamelegalcompanyasalQaeda,ISIS,Hamas,andBokoHaram.
Sowhatdoesthatmeaninpractice?
Theshortversionis:“Nobodyknows.”ThoseIslamicterroristgroupsarestillinbusiness.AlQaedajoinedthelistin1999,yetstillmanagedtopullofftheterrorattacksof9/11/2001andsurvivedtwodecadesofwarinAfghanistanandglobalmanhunts,albeitindiminishedform.
Despitehaving“Terrorism”rightthereinthetitle,anFTOdesignationdoesnotautomaticallymakeitlegaltoshootorblowupmembersofanFTO,whichseemstobewhateverybodyistalkingaboutonXtoday.
“IthinktheaverageAmericanisGREA
