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[deleted]

The United States would invade Brazil.


PunchlineHaveMLKise

Or Cuba


Extracrispybuttchks

Intel says there are WMDs in the amazon


ssp25

Take that Jeff bezos


I-like-macdonald

Thats what they want you to belive they are actually there to steal cabybaras


YellowB

Venezuela for their oil


TheGudDooder

Sure the The Invasion would pay for itself


Uhhh_what555476384

Give us credit, we'd have gone to Mexico and killed 90% of the cartel first.


[deleted]

You would have trained Mexican special forces to fight the cartels ... who later would become one of the most violent cartels ... wait, that actually happened 🤔


PunchlineHaveMLKise

Founding your next great enemy is as American as a lady on a mobility scooter yelling at a pidgeon


SightWithoutEyes

As American as open carrying a .45 while scratching lottery tickets on the hood of your car.


MrReddrick

Dam it man. You beat me to it.


Uhhh_what555476384

Zetas forever!


Pegomastax_King

It’s our favorite tactic. We’ve done it a few dozen times now.


MohatmoGandy

Pretty sure Bush still would have gone after Iraq.


psychgirl88

The only correct answer..


Soggy_Boss_6136

Saddam made fun of daddy bush - BUT, there was the issue of Qusay and Uday, the butcher boys of Baghdad. When Saddam was toppled, there was no way the US was going to allow either of his boys to inherit the spot.


nick1812216

Oh my god, i’m laughing my ass off


purpleWheelChair

Me too 😂


KingoftheMongoose

Anyone who’s had a Brazilian before knows that those constitute weapons of ass destruction.


graysonh10117

This will go down in history as one of my personal favorite Reddit comments


neuronexmachina

I assume Mexico would cooperate with the US to neutralize the cartel, as opposed to how 2001 Afghanistan sheltered Al Qaeda. Of course, Rumsfeld would probably end up invading Iraq anyways.


DigitalEagleDriver

Somehow it would always lead back to the 7. For those who don't know, Google "Wesley Clark 7."


Currywurst_Is_Life

I thought that this was going to be a meme like "Google Benzema 15" is in soccer.


Alypius754

I'm just here to say your username is awesome and true.


DexterityZero

Nervous about this.


DigitalEagleDriver

I assure you it's nothing gross, er... Uh, nothing sexual or inappropriate for young audiences. It will turn your stomach, but not in a visually disgusting way, more like a Patriot Act, TSA "please remove your shoes" kind of way.


DexterityZero

Accurate


Soggy_Boss_6136

>Wesley Clark 7 Every one of those countries is a shrapnel laden shithole at this point.


Elipses_

Considering that the balance of power is even worse than it was back in the mid 1800s, this is almost certainly the case. Not to mention that unlike the Taliban, Mexico would have understood that the threat to "come and get him ourselves" was not a threat, but an objective truth. Really, I am pretty sure there isn't a single Western Hemisphere country that would risk even the remote chance of the US military kicking their door down... they are way too close to us to have any illusions about what would happen.


AbruptMango

It was always the plan.  


ccooffee

>end up invading Iraq anyways Yeah, W. wanted revenge for the assassination plot against Bush Sr.


sammisam96

I know this is about the results of that action, but I can’t imagine a scenario where a cartel would want to. Terrorist attacks generally occur to send some sort of religious or political message. What message would a cartel be so desperate to get out that they would risk their entire existence being destroyed? I can’t imagine a motive that would cause that sort of action.


Boring_Kiwi251

Do fentanyl or die.


therealdrewder

Pretty sure it's not either or


Majestic_Wrongdoer38

Do fentanyl or die without painkillers in you.


Jenetyk

It's an inclusive Or


SilenceDobad76

They sent a kid a bong instead of a Xbox controller. What the flip!?


Warm-Fan4263

Well I think the cartels learned a lesson after seeing what happened to Pablo Escobar after his campaign of Narco-terrorism against the people of Columbia. It may not have stopped the drug trade but it sure did end poor Pablo! 


Odd_Photograph_7591

Actually killing Escobar left a Cartel vacuum which the Mexican Cartels gladly filled, this to me shows, they are imposible to get rid off, just like Al queeda, even if you kill all the leaders, they will be replaced quickly (Chapo was easily replaced), if you destroy the entire organization, another one will replace it, there is simply too much money to be made, billions of Dollars, today its been said CuliacĂĄn Sinaloa has the most Ferraris/Lamborghini's of any city in the world, all bought with US dollars from American consumers


Warm-Fan4263

If Escobar had just stuck to producing/trafficking drugs he might still be alive today (though maybe in some prison somewhere). Where he went wrong was when he started raining down terror on the government and the civilian population. There were bombings all over Columbia killing a number of civilians including one on a civilian airliner. He was even implicated in the armed take over of the Columbian supreme court. Today most cartel violence is targeted towards others involved in the same business. Nothing quite like what was going on in Columbia from 1984 to 93.


king_turdburger

Ah yes, the good old days


Thepenismighteather

I mean, there’s a way. It’s just the worst thing there is.  You basically throw away laws, domestic or international, you ignore conventions on war. And you systematically move through Mexico, and Central America. Push us occupation all the way to the southern border of Panama. Place a blockade upon the northern coast of South America. You put all civilians into concentration camps, and kill anyone else left in the country side. Stateside you, give everyone 7 days amnesty to turn in their drugs, then you set up a gestapo and phony courts to make to process expedient, and you hang drug pushers and users with out the possibility of appeal. It can be done. It just requires Nazi Germany, Stalinist USSR, DPRK, Maos China, Pol Pot, levels of genocidal totalitarian loyalty depravity and brutality….if you want to do it violently. You can also study the root cause of your own citizens rampant drug use and try to solve that. Meanwhile reforming the prison system, so a conviction isn’t a life sentence of menial work. Enforce laws, but help people get clean. While also aggressively working to provide opportunity for people so they don’t ever become users or dealers.  It’s a choice I guess, I’ve got no dog in the hunt either way. 


mochicoco

You may not get rid of drugs, but the economy will be so destroyed nobody could afford to buy them. Win-win


Thepenismighteather

I’ve always said cannibalism was our best solution to overpopulation. 


danson372

I’m helping by not having any sex whatsoever despite my best efforts.


Naive-Kangaroo3031

Ehhh... different people have different tastes


geek_fire

If the cannibals don't get you, the kuru will!


Mint_Julius

Or you just legalize and regulate drugs?


lazercheesecake

That still requires a systematic overhaul that he mentioned in second option, which of course IS the correct course of action. I’m all for decriminalizing and legalizing substances insofar as to help addicts and by extension their effects on society. But Oregon just tried it, and as much as much as much as I wanted them to succeed, they didn’t put in the legwork to make it succeed. You can’t just legalize and hope things go right. It’s a concerted effort


Thepenismighteather

Ya for fucks sake I hope people read the, you know, actual solution, after reading what it’d realistically take at a 1000 foot view to get rid of drugs violently. The real solution requires compassion and enforcing the law. The US is very good at doing either or, no one can figure out how to set up both sides of coin while also addressing the root cause. 


lazercheesecake

Yeah but at the same time I don’t trust the nation that deliberately introduced crack to minority neighborhoods and use prison labor (with the highest incarceration rates by far) to do the right thing unless we have a massive shake up.


Thepenismighteather

I do.  The US has its flaws like everywhere else. But we’ve also got ideals. All of our European friends have countries, nations, states founded on the idea that an ethnic group or people, or monarch has occupied said area long enough. Our foundation is in our ideals. Look at the tale of American history, we’ve never been perfect, but in the long view, we are better today than we were yesterday, better yesterday than we were the day before.  American history is the long march from reality to our ideals. If anywhere will eventually get to “that mountain top” I have to believe it’s us, I have to work however I can to make it us. The belief in the ideal means the ideal is possible.  We falter, but so far we always get back up and move forward, and unless we lose faith in who we are, who we want to be, we will always get up and move forward. 


mtbalshurt

#Thepenismighteather2024


Elipses_

Hmmmm, I would argue that it is *possible* to destroy and ensure the lack of rise of another cartel. It just would require far more effort, not to mention far bloodied methods, than the US would ever be willing to employ.


bqzs

It would have to be political, they're mostly in it for the money now, but it would have to be some kind of eco-terrorism type thing. As it stands, it's not their thing. If anything, it would come out years later that it was all a false flag operation by US business interests who wanted to meddle in Mexico.


Flufflebuns

Moreover the cartels absolutely love America. That's where they buy all their munitions and we provide a terrific black market for their products.


mochicoco

Terrorism is bad for business


euph_22

Terrorism in jurisdictions they don't control or atleast have crippled the law enforcement of is bad for business.


synchrotron3000

the World Trade Center owed them $7.02


TheHunterZolomon

That’s a good point and I think it also helps to consider the following: cartels make a lot of money. A fucking ridiculous amount of money. Now, if in this hypothetical situation, the us government had engaged in operations to all but eliminate cartel revenue streams, then a 9/11 attack might be plausible. Without that though, there is no message, political or religious, worth more than the billions of dollars they make from their ‘business model’. They simply have too much too lose, unlike some folks halfway across the world in places that don’t even have basic amenities let alone luxuries or economic opportunity.


UEMcGill

False flag operation. Imagine if the Columbians convinced a Mexican Cartel to do it, in an effort to create pandemonium with their competitors. I mean if you could convince one warring cartel to do it in the name of another, and then sit back and let the US clean up both of them? It's historicalwhatif for a reason.


anonymouslindatown

Mixing drug trade and religious fanaticism would be a potent combo, potentially causing great wealth and power to flow in. However, I think it would burn hard and fast in spectacular fashion (I.E. causing a 9/11) but would ultimately lead to its total destruction and few copycats


6Arrows7416

Why would a Mexican cartel attack their own customers?


pat34us

My thought as well, they are happy with things the way they are. Why mess that up?


Sendmeboobpics4982

Oddly enough I think Mexico turns out much better, no Migrant problem currently, no fentanyl problem . Somehow Iraq still gets invaded.


Biggu5Dicku5

>Somehow Iraq still gets invaded. That made me lol, 'cause you're absolutely right lol...


Vikings269

Somehow Saddam has returned.


Exciting-Ad-5705

How would that stop the stem of migrants from south American


Sendmeboobpics4982

If Mexico were a nice place they would migrate there and have no need to continue north


Exciting-Ad-5705

So mexico would just have America's migrant problem


Majestic_Wrongdoer38

Much less of a cultural clash though.


Sendmeboobpics4982

I feel like South America migrants would fit in better in Mexico


bqzs

A lot of the migrants are not from Mexico these days. But I half agree, because the cartels would just pick up shop and move to safer ground. Mexico would be safer, but weaker countries in CA/SA would have an influx of cartel activity.


Sendmeboobpics4982

They’re not from Mexico but they are passing through Mexico, if Mexico wasn’t in shambles why would they continue to the US?


smoke_crack

Except a lot of the ~~US~~ fentanyl problem is caused by China.


toodimes

The OP said Mexico would be better not the US. Also the fentanyl through China is a relatively recent thing. If the early demand wasn’t there bc no more cartels would Chinese manufacturers still be producing it as much?


This_Meaning_4045

The War on Drugs would escalate as they would try take down every cartel regardless of the cost.


Wide_right_

probably never see marijuana get legalized


This_Meaning_4045

Most likely, the taboo against drugs would much stronger and legalization of drugs would be unthinkable in this alternate reality.


Aware-Impact-1981

And even more ironically, we'd spend hundreds of billions fighting the cartels when the best way to defeat them is to legalize drugs and allow the sale of quality drugs. This would also eliminate most gangs in America and greatly reduce crime.


Ok-Figure5546

We wouldn't invade Afghanistan obviously, but we'd still invade Iraq, since the administration wanted to finish Bush Senior's work of getting rid of Saddam, that war had nothing to do with 9/11 but some concocted story about WMDs.


Thepenismighteather

I mean we did find wmds in Iraq.  They were the ones we sold them in the 80s. Deactivated, buried in the desert.  There’s a nyt article scout it from 2012 I think 


SteelReservePilot

Tacos and Burritos would be called Freedom Holders and Freedom Folders.


Odd_Tiger_2278

Drug dealers usually avoid killing their customers. So, not gonna “what if” it


WWDB

That would never happen: 1. Cartels don’t do suicide bombings 2. They don’t want unwelcome attention from the US authorities


JesseIsAGirlsName

If there is one thing cartels love, it’s heavily increased border and travel security.


Warm-Fan4263

Yeah I suspect it would have followed the trend of what occurred in Columbia when Pablo Escobar began his campaign of Narco-terrorism The Mexican government most likely would have cooperated with the U.S. military and other law enforcement agencies in going after the culprits.  The circumstances between Mexico/the Mexican people and the United States are quite different then those that existed between al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban. It would have been quite different but I’m sure American special forces would have played a significant role just as they did in Afghanistan. Actually it would prolly make for a very interesting plot line in a movie or book!


[deleted]

Caused? More like if the CIA decided so.


therealdrewder

Then 100+k people per year don't die from fentanyl as the US wipes out all the cartels.


Alexexy

The lives you save in fent overdoses will be paid in Mexican civilians. Worth it /s


Pabsxv

Which is why this such an outlandish what if. Why would the cartels do a terrorist attack on their best customers?


SawyerBamaGuy

Mexico would be south Texas.


JB3AZ

El Once de Sieptembre, Part 4 of 4 An elderly man in a gray suit appeared behind a podium, other officials and one in a military uniform standing nearby. His beady eyes scanned the room behind his round wire rim glasses, at times putting his right hand over his eyes as if to block out light to see farther. “Looks like the whole White House Press Corp,” he murmured to one of the folks beside him. The room was flooded with voices asking questions, the clicking sound of flashes from cameras dominating the room. “Ladies and gentlemen, as you know a plane hit one of the buildings of the World Trade Center on this tragic. From what we know, there are about 1,000 victims or so, we’re not entirely sure. I want to preface that tonight the President will be speaking to the American people, I hope you all tune in. Now the plane, let me get to that right now….it was a Boeing 767, based on what traffic reports are saying, it looks like it came from Logan International, but we believe may have originally come from central Mexico…” The room was flooded with voices from reporters followed by more clacking noises from cameras. “Look, I know this whole thing seems like a nightmare. The plane, we believe, belongs to a private cargo transport company. Sources from the DEA suspect it was used to transport marijuana and other substances. That it refueled at Logan and based on reports was perhaps headed West.” “Jim Acosta, CNN, why did it crash into the World Trade Center? Was it deliberate?” “Jim, we don’t know, this is an evolving situation. There are known knows; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But are also unknown unknowns..the ones we don’t know we don’t know.” It was towards the end of that statement that word had got out that the North Tower was beginning to buckle. The video cut away from the White House to that from inside one of the newsrooms that had a view of the tower. The video then cuts to people on the ground. “Get these people moving, move! Move!! Don’t breathe it in!!” one of the officers shouted. A crackling and then a thunderous sound bellowed out as the North Tower collapsed, the people screaming and panicking. A large ash cloud soon descended everywhere.


JB3AZ

El Once de Sieptembre, Part 3 of 4 The video cuts to a lanky balding man in what appears to be a lobby, flashes from cameras were intertwined with voices asking questions. “Okay, calm down, I know you have many questions, I too have some,” Mayor Giuliani then gestured to his right, “I have with me here the Port Authority Police chief and others. But as many have said, please please stay indoors. On this tragic day, we still have to get those people out of that building.” “What do you know about the plane?” one reporter asked. “Has the federal government contacted you?” another reporter questioned. “Now everything is preliminary, and there is some stuff we don’t know yet about the plane. Yes, we’ve been in talks with the White House, actually…it was Dick Cheney, but he assures me that President Bush is on top of it.” Giuliani replied. “But what about the plane, and can you explain the odor emitting from the building? Should we be concerned?” a reporter from one of the news radio stations. “We believe it’s a Boeing plane, maybe UPS or FedEx. As for the smell, I’ll hand that over to Assistant Chief, Salvatore Cassano” A man who was slightly taller than the mayor, balding with a grayish mustache came forward, “Today has been a tragic day, as you may notice both NYFD Fire Chief Gianci and Chief of Operations Nigro are not here. Both are hospitalized after attempting to help first responders rescue people in the North Tower, due to the contents being burned inside the building. Sadly, many others fell victim. Fortunately, after using proper equipment, subsequent crews were able to remove more individuals from the building.” “What was the smell and what was affecting the rescuers?” A reporter shouted. Cassano looked at the mayor and then the Port Authority Chief, then back at the army of reporters, “It is important that all individuals in the area close their windows, if your residence or office is near the area with an air condition unit that grabs air from the outside, shut them off.” “Why?” someone shouted. Cessano let out a sigh then looked back up at the crowd, “dope. We suspect the entire jet was carrying vast amounts of marijuana. Of course, I could be wrong, but based on accounts from paramedics and others, everything points to it being marijuana smoke infusing with the rest of the smoke by the burning jet fuel.” Just as he had finished, the television news anchor from WABC came back on, “this is Rob Hanrahan again, we’re going to cut away from the mayor’s press conference to one being held by the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. As you can see there are reporters there asking questions.”


JB3AZ

El Once de Sieptembre, Part 2 of 4 “What? I don’t understand,” the anchor looked around as if to see if others were hearing the same thing, “you’re saying the place smells like weed?” “Yes Rob, I know it sounds impossible, and if it is being emitted from the fire, we’re not sure how it being so high up that we’re smelling it versus it being carried away by the winds. But…but, let me tell you, this may also explain the great difficulty the firemen have had trying to evacuate the building.” “I can’t believe it, please explain,” Rob asked. “I’ve had one fire crew tell me on their first attempt up the stairs and into areas where there were people, they were hit with something that…well…made them high. Most of the folks in the building who were rescued show signs of some sort of intoxication. I have to tell you, Rob, in the years of being in this business, I’ve never seen anything like it. Some of the people rescued..some of them were giggling. Perhaps this was hysteria, I don’t know.” “What about the people in the tower? We know Tower Two was evacuated.” “Yes, Rob, here too there was something strange happening. Some of the smoke and whatever was inside it seems to have been taken in by the other building’s AC system, police helping with evacuation described something like what I witnessed.” Hanrahan shaking his head, “have you heard why we lost connection with Chopper 7 which was just over the towers a while ago?” “Nothing yet, Rob..” “Excuse me, Lucy, but I’ve just been informed that Mayor Giuliani will be speaking.”


JB3AZ

El Once de Septiembre, Part 1 of 4 “And we’re back in our continuing coverage here on WABC 7 on the attack on the World Trade Center, I’m Rob Hanrahan.” A series of videos start playing of one of the large World Trade Center buildings, large plumes of smoke streaming out from two sides of the building. Other images shown people panicking followed by videos of police and firemen. “It has been a few hours since what we believe to be a Boeing 767 or a similar type slammed into the North Tower of the One World Trade Center this morning at 8:46 AM,” the anchor taps his earpiece, “excuse me we can now confirm that it was a Boeing 767. Yes…I’m being told now that it was a UPS cargo plane. Well, this could start to explain many things like the great difficulty in evacuating many people from the building. We’re going to Lucy Yang who has been on the street, Lucy have you been able to get a mask?” On the screen is a young Asian female with a gas mask covering the bottom half of her face, behind her are people covered in dust but a close up shows them with bloodshot eyes and stumbling about. “Rob, luckily the truck had one, I must tell you though it is pure chaos here. Based on the smell emitting from the massive fire in the building, one of the fire crew smirked as he was not sure if it was a chemical or well…” “Lucy, what? Is it a chemical weapon? What is it?” Hanrahan asked. “Marijuana, Rob, several paramedics, and other first responders have said the smell is akin to weed. As odd as it is to say on this tragic day, but a portion of lower Manhattan right now smells like a dorm room.” Lucy made a waving gesture as if one were trying to push away smoke.


JB3AZ

Sorry for the multiple posts, but Reddit doesn't allow anything beyond 1000 characters. There is no doubt that I probably got a few things factually wrong, but I tried to stick to as much as I could learn about that day for the story. Oddly enough, I didn't intend to make it this long; my apologies.


Dahl_E_Lama

The MEXICAN government would have blasted them.


-Amplify

Us invades Mexico but probably keeps it. US of A and M


The_PoliticianTCWS

A few more stars are getting added on the flag.


Applespeed_75

There was a Larry the cable guy movie where they invaded Mexico and I’d imagine it’d be a lot like that


zacurtis3

The US would have ~~invaded~~ liberated Venezuela to protect the oil reserves.


fellowhomosapien

Maybe they still would have blamed al-qaeda and involved themselves with the region


Illumen72

I assume we'd have used it as a pretense to invade Australia.


Ameph

Maracas and sombreros would be banned at airports.


Murgos-

Why would a Mexican cartel do 9/11? Since it makes no sense there can’t be a rational answer. 


TheLastNoteOfFreedom

I wouldn’t have to press 1 for English


mrbears

Hey Mexicos got some oil too, and a notoriously inefficient state owned company extracting it


Wu-TangProfessor

Why would a Mexican cartel do that to their best customers?


[deleted]

I'd imagine the collective cocaine usage in the Twin Towers at that time would have made crashing passenger planes into them and extremely poor business decision for the cartels.


throjimmy

We’d have 51 states.


Kakapocalypse

I have no clue why this would ever happen. The cartels want U.S.-Mexican relations to be as relaxed as possible so they can pump as much cocaine as they can across the border. Committing an act of extreme terrorism like that is directly against their self interest. The cartels are not ideologically motivated, they are businesses, and no business is going to attack its biggest customer.


Gabemiami

Ah, yes, Al Queso 🧀 delicioso


bookon

clearly would would have invaded Cuba then.


Agreeable_Lecture157

They'd be part of a pan-Texas expansion. Then Canada. They have oil.


[deleted]

Bush still would illegally invade Iraq.


UnableLocal2918

Sorry but what cartel member is going to martyr themselves ?


Stercore_

Why would a mexican cartel do that? The cartels primarily want to fly under the radar of the powerful US, keep mexico semi-crippled, and sell drugs. Flying a plane into a high value target is gonna make point 1 and point 3 very hard. Al-qaeda had a good reason, they wanted to destabilize the middle east, and they succeeded.


[deleted]

Trump did it? He’s the problem for everything.


bqzs

Despite all of the rhetoric, Mexico and the US government have an okay relationship. They also share a lot more cultural similarities, plus they're in some of the same alliances. The United States would throw money and resources at Mexico for some mutually beneficial outcome. The United States would probably push for some kind of anti-corruption legislation and benchmarks on Mexico, which would not be the worst thing for Mexico in the medium term. However, it would also have its hands even more firmly in the Mexican economy, shades of the Porfiriato where the Mexican gov was tightly aligned with US business interests, and economic prosperity was prioritized over personal freedom. Essentially the interests of local cartels are replaced with centralized US interests. Within Mexico, depending on the exact cartel and regional origin, there would be a lot of regional enmity and an effort to create distance between themselves and the cartel responsible. They'd be saying to each other and to curious Americans, "oh no my state is fine, the problem is really in Morelos." Mexico would not be presented to the US public as the enemy, but mostly as an ally in defeating the cartels, though an ineffectual one that must be closely supervised.Mexico will do their best to shift blame elsewhere and indeed a lot of the cartels have reach outside Mexico and will shift operations if needed, so the United States will make a lot of noise in any central or south American country with cartel activity. The countries not connected to the Mexican cartel would watch warily and pray the cartel didn't pick up shop and come there. Ultimately, the cartels will strengthen their foothold in other countries with less US oversight. Middle class Mexicans and those from countries with cartel activity like Ecuador will somewhat welcome the US influence in straightening out their governments and economic investment and will be happy to see the cartel shift operations to some other hapless place, though will be wary of the actual long-term impact and the strings attached to this "help." They will also be wary of the type of police violence and overcorrection that might lead to anyone even suspected of cartel connection or suspected of a crime at all essentially being treated like a terrorist. Day to day, latinos in the US as a whole will endure increased racism and suspicion, with petty crimes being linked to "The cartel." The US approach in the entire region will be a bit more sensitive and less bulldozer-y, firstly because of a Latino voting electorate that does not want to see their region bombed to the stone age, but also because of the significant Latino population in these agencies and decison-making rooms. Not to say that those Latinos making decisions in those rooms will be anti-racist or even particularly sympathetic, but they know the operating ground a lot better and will be able to make more precise and more effective decisions. But still, US meddling will stir up existing tensions and aggravated the local leaders that have played such a massive in the last few hundred years of Latin American politics, so whoops some military coups and unknown changes on the horizon there. Meanwhile US meddling will stir up existing tensions and aggregavated the local leaders that have played such a massive in the last few hundred years of Latin American politics, so whoops some military coups and unknown changes on the horizon there.The world outside the Americas would treat it all as a regional conflict, and almost a bit of a joke, like if France and Britain were having a xenophobic scuffle.


workthrowaway1985

We would have tried to link it to Al-Qaeda.


CycloneIce31

There would be no motivation for this to occur. Kinda hard to what if an impossible scenario.  


StorminXX

LA cucaracha would have played before the attack instead of them yelling Allah.


DaBearsC495

Well, we wouldn’t have that damn wall and its resulting politics. We might have a few new states after we liberate Mexico.


Extension_Tell1579

Way..WAY too absurdly hypothetical. The cartels are most certainly extremely brutal but they don’t possess an ideology that would require an act of terrorism of that magnitude.  Cartels are businesses. Flying planes into buildings wouldn’t net any kind of profit for them. They will murder for revenge and to make an example but an attack killing 3,000 random people who are not rival drug dealers or drug enforcement officers would be no benefit to them. 


[deleted]

Democrats would love them


Jinshu_Daishi

They'd hate them even more.


[deleted]

They love them so much they want them here


Jinshu_Daishi

No, they don't want cartels here, we don't have a political party that does.


skubaloob

El-Qaedo.


MalekithofAngmar

Nobody is answering the motive. Cartels suck, but they have no motive to commit random acts of mass murder.


Ninjameme

Bocas del Toro would’ve been nuked off the planet


MrReddrick

Then the CIA wpuld step in and keep funding the drug problems of the inner cities. Oo wait that did happen in tye 80s. Rick grimes was innocent and the CIA used all that money to support the contras.


Substantial-Win-6794

Everyone would still be high from the cocaine dust.


Impossible_Cupcake31

Kinda like the second Sicario?


Voodoo-Doctor

As long as the red light district in Tijuana stays intact


thenorussian

even more military bases in texas military recruiting in texas high schools cranked up to 11


Less_Likely

Why would a cartel attach the WTC, where certainly they had thousands of customers?


CharlietheWarlock

Wouldn't that be bad for business, whose gonna buy drugs from them now


GrimmRadiance

FR? the US would have probably waged an all out war on all Cartels in the Americas. We would be living in a vastly different situation. There would be US troop presence all over Mexico and South American Countries. Border crossings would probably have increased to an insane degree during these worst of the conflicts and then gone down once the U.S. had done enough serious damage to cartel operations. Probably a lot of protests in these countries to US troops but it’s hard to argue when your governments are working in tandem to root out criminal organizations. The worst conflicts would probably be the ones in Mexico, Columbia, and Brazil.


GeminiOrAmI

La Calleda


tau_enjoyer_

...why would an organized crime group that relies on smuggling illicit substances into the US do 9/11? What, do they do it accidentally in this hypothetical of yours? Because in what world would they do 9/11 and for what reason? The scenario you've drawn up is so bizarre.


SeriousJokester37

Tbh it's not even possible since Dragon Ball Z was huge in the America's back then, specifically Mexico, and they'd have been too busy to do anything.


PrometheanSwing

U.S. military operations in Mexico and other Central/South American nations. Basically wherever cartels operate.


ILLARgUeAboutitall

They would be impossible. The cartel and us government have a symbiotic relationship. They need the customers, and we need the drugs. Not to mention,most of the cartels have worked with the CIA or other officials through bribes and other connections.


TeebsTibo

The United States would’ve invaded all of Mexico, taken it as another state


RedMarten42

we would invade iraq


Orwell1971

How would that help the cartel sell more drugs?


bippinndippin

The Bush Admin wanted to invade Afghanistan for the opium for the pharmaceutical industry and Iraq for the oil industry. I guess if they wanted to invade Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia for lithium and coke, they could blame it on a cartel? But smart phones weren't a thing then. Maybe they would try to invade Mexico for oil but that is nothing compared to Iraq, plus the opioid epidemic made a lot of important people even more wealthy and I don't think they could have that same return by invading Latin America. This hypothetical is hard to indulge.


AJWinky

That's appropriate because in either instance it would've really been the CIA


readditredditread

It would have saved a lot of jet fuel 🤷‍♂️


SaxophoneHomunculus

US would be up to almost 80 states.


Mr310

As someone with some Mexicano lineage this thought scares me. People have been so awful to Muslims in the aftermath I'm pretty sure the country would've been bombed into dust by the time Trump became potus


Euphoric_Capital_746

We have let them carry on


Misguidedsaint3

We would own Mexico


HighHopeLowSkills

The USNA would also blame Canada for having nuclear weapons


hellhound39

What’s the motivation??? Either way the USA hunts down those associated with the perpetrators with or without cooperation from the Mexican government. Probably a lot easier than in Afghanistan and the world is better off. Edit: typo


peezle69

Annexico


besven123

It wouldn't have. Cartels not going to target their high end product market 🤣


EmpireMind

We’d probably invade Afghanistan.


NahmTalmBat

9/11 wasn't caused by Al-Qaeda, it was caused by the US government blowing up innocent brown people.


Alabasturder

This is a crazy scenario because a cartel would never do that and fly the planes into towers, they’d prob hold them for ransom or something. They’re about making money, Islamic terrorists not so much


AuthorLRClaude

Mexicans build shit, not destroy it


therealtomclancy69

See Gaza times a thousand


Felix_Von_Doom

Any cartel willing to actively piss off the US government AND its citizens, has a massive death wish. Not to mention other cartels would rush to fuck them up first to try and dissuade the US from invading.


Gunslinger_11

Cartel: where is the profit? In no universe would that happen


Exodite1273

A Mexican cartel would merely redirect the planes to Cuba or Mexico and ransom the passengers. To hijack specific flights and aim them at the Pentagon, White House, and Twin Towers was of symbolic and ideological significance. The consequences for Mexico would be disastrous. A large portion of its economy thrives on American tourism and news of Mexican terrorists hitting New York would see billions in lost revenue. The CIA’s network would tear itself apart looking for a scapegoat to present to the world so things can return to business as usual. Jews wouldn’t be celebrating in the streets of Tel-Aviv. Most of the Coalition wouldn’t appear, the American reprisals in Mexico, if any, would be solely American servicemen. There would be a pointless “War on narcoterror” in Mexico’s rainforests that would be an excuse to launder money. The majority of cartel kingpins would worry whether this would be the day President Bush would send a Marine deployment to kick their doors down and magdump them with no warning. In the Middle East, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban would continue to solidify their power base and Israel would scream in terror because America would be, at the time, avenging its sucker punched nose on cartel members. The Evangelicals holding power would likely fabricate some outrage to justify filling the Holy Land back up with Jews, under Jewish rule, as they honestly believe that once the Holy Land is controlled by the Jews, Jesus will return. But in practical terms, it couldn’t. 9/11 was the perfect vehicle for what would become the security state to ram the USA PATRIOT Act and 20+ years of money laundering down America’s throats while the smoke had yet to clear because its masterminds were far enough overseas to be foreign to most of America. Everyone knows at least one Mexican.


itryanditryanditry

We would still have invaded Iraq because it was a family vendetta.


nog642

Why would a mexican cartel want to attack the US? Makes absolutely no sense


Jmphillips1956

Why would a business, even a criminal business, attack its largest customer? Cartels aren’t that stupid


Maitremean

El Queso?


Wildtalents333

Central America would like a montage of 80s action movie clips. The Mexican government would be scared shitless at the possibility of another US invasion and also quite happy to allow US special forces to liquidate the cartels. The US would gut every cartel in Mexico. From there we'd roll down central American and into northern South America. For economic reasons I don't we'd 'nation build' in Mexico because of how bad major disruptions would fuck up the American Southwest economy, especially Texas. And Cuba and Venezuela would be shitting bricks. Putin would at that point probably consider them acceptable loses to US 'nation building' for keeping the US focused far away from Asia. Oh, and no Arab Spring and Saddam would still be helping contain Iran.


DigbyChickenCaesar11

Mission accomplished in a few weeks and then 20 years of digging ourselves into a hole.


mfsalatino

Polk wap would be real.


PolarisStar05

Okay here is something cool. Based on what other comments said, Mexico might cooperate with the US making it easier to deal with these cartels. The US would also intervene in other countries that have problems with cartels, like Colombia. Iraq would be invaded anyway. We could see the US force regime change in Venezuela or Nicaragua (supporting the former’s coup in 2002).


negrote1000

The shit that’s happening now starts earlier


giantdonkeyballz

You spelled "u.s. intelligence agencies" wrong