Mexico's president rules out joint raids with U.S. in drug war--good or bad?

News item: Mexican President Felipe Calderon said Monday he has ruled out joint raids with the United States as part of the effort to minimize violence among drug cartels the border.

Calderon instead asked for more cooperation, equipment and logistical support, and implored President Barack Obama to do more to reduce demand for illegal drugs and stem the flow of weapons across the border.

Reaction: Fine for now. Mexico's ramped-up efforts to fight the cartels have been substantial and the U.S. should focus on contributing factors on this side of the border.

Unfortunately, the Obama administration will be unable to slow  demand for illegal drugs and will have powerful gun lobbies to contend with regarding the weapons issue (gun sales have been brisk these past several months because of fears Obama will enact stricter gun-control measures).

But that's where the U.S. effort in the drug war belongs at this point: in the U.S.

--Pete Thomas

Photo: Mexican soldier stands guard over an arsenal of sophisticated weaponry captured last year during a raid across the border from Texas in Reynosa. Credit: Associated Press 

Comments

[Mark Montgomery]

We could end the Mexican drug cartels overnight by legalizing drugs.. A group of very serious policemen have formed a group to legalize ALL drugs,

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (leap.cc)

They see what happened when we legalized alcohol in 1932 as a good example of how drug legalization would work. We can't stop drugs. They're sick of chasing drug users and sending innocent people to prison for decades just because they like to get high. This foolish war on drugs has lasted 37 years and cost us over a TRILLION dollars and we are not an inch closer to stopping drugs. How many millions of Americans are we going to lock up in prison for decades? My brother, Spencer Montgomery III would still be alive if heroin had been legal. He overdosed because He didn't know the actual strength of the heroin he injected. If he could have bought a known amount of heroin in a pharmacy he would still be alive today. Legalize ALL drugs now. Mark Montgomery

[Jon K.]

Mark is right, but it will never happen because there's too much inferred morality in the problem. I wish people would simply be more level-headed and pragmatic in their problem-solving abilities. Prohibition didn't work either. All it did was empower organized crime and turn our cities into war zones.

We could also just send Delta Force into Mexico to hunt these cartels. That would work (to an extent), but Mexico will never let that happen. The Mexican government has too much false pride to allow that.

[rogerg]

Mexico has 22 military installations within 50 miles of the border with the USA and yet whenever we speak about sending troops to the border, he cry's about "sovereignty? What about our sovereignty?
Double fences with razor wire and half fed dogs in between, end of problem!

[MIKE S.]

The senate committee's hold hearings, the President and Lady Hillary jump in, and everyone has their undie's in a bunch.
150 more Border Patrol agents sent to the border!! Yaaaaaa Hoooooo!
We'll show them!!
Do the math fools...150 officers divided by three shifts, is only 50 more officers per shift across the entire border!!! Not accounting for sick days, days off, and court days and vacations.
If BO really wanted to send a message to the Mexicans, he would have sent 10,000 Marines,or National Guard troops to the border.....Oops! They're tied up in Iraq and Afghanistan....my bad.

All of this is a dog and pony show to make the voters feel like Washington is responding to our valid concerns about U.S. sovereignty. But they are not serious about really accomplishing anything.

[James Raider]

Prohibition strains the Constitution and The War on Drugs has been a misguided failure. END IT.

http://pacificgatepost.blogspot.com/2009/04/war-on-drugs-time-for-change.html

Time to regain control of our streets and our sanity.