Posted on 05/14/2008 10:33:14 AM PDT by IBD editorial writer
Diplomacy: When a neighbor's house is on fire, it makes sense to send water, not argue about building codes. Except to Democrats. As Mexico reels from its drug war, Congress is withholding critical help. It's a lethal logic.
The Merida Initiative, proposed to Congress by President Bush after consultations with Mexico last fall, is a three-year, $1.4 billion program to help Mexico wipe out drug traffickers and terrorists.
For years they've scourged Mexico, but never as now, since President Felipe Calderon dispatched 36,000 troops to fight them in 2006. Taking these barbarians on is critical to Mexico's future and an act of courage that has been shown by no other Mexican leader.
It's a hard war that Mexico has fought alone and paid big.
(Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorial.com ...
Build the fence, have an anvil for the Mexicans to hammer the druglords against. Then cry 'havoc!'.
I think the left doesn’t care about anyone but themselves
I would agree if the government had any success at our own drug fights. How can you fix Mexico’s when you can’t fix our own problems? You can’t. Mexico could shut down the borders and the drugs if they wanted to.
Pissing away more money in the “War on (Some) Drugs”.
We’ll never learn.
I'd much rather spend that $Billion right here in America on the border fence.
Since it’s Mexico, have they released the Bribe/Benefit Ratio yet?
Since it’s Mexico, have they released the Bribe/Benefit Ratio yet?
When I see the Mexican military conduct effective and lasting counter-drug operations instead of running publicity stunt show of force ops while, in many cases, aiding the very drug gangs they are supposed to be after for profit- then I'll know they are serious.
In the meantime, we piss away billions of dollars to a regime that manages to fuel the problem instead of solve it? To hell with that.
The Mexican government is a parasite and we are its hosts.
Write that in your next editorial.
No way, cause the Dems are trying to STAKE the border doors open (as is McCain). But once in, the Dems are offering so much more: welfare, hospitalization, housing, blah blah blah. SO even if they do care about the drugs, they're willing to forgive that blockade.
Relieve the suffering of the masses still remaining in Mexico. Liberate the country from its cruel rulers in the cities and pervasive anarchy in the countryside, and work for the change to a regime to a more responsive form of government. Until this is achieved, annex Mexico to the US and administer it as a territory, much like Puerto Rico.
There aren’t enough honest politicians in Mexico to make it cost effective to throw money down that hole.
Relieve the suffering of the masses still remaining in Mexico. Liberate the country from its cruel rulers in the cities and pervasive anarchy in the countryside, and work for the change to a regime to a more responsive form of government. Until this is achieved, annex Mexico to the US and administer it as a territory, much like Puerto Rico.
“The Mexican government is a parasite and we are its hosts.”
Great post, well said.
Why are we sending money to one of the RICHEST countries in the world???????????
I already wrote it in this one. Why don’t you read it?
I agree. As corrupt as the Mexican government is at all levels we might just as well drop the money by parachute.
Hummmmm - wasn't that idea suggested to deliver aid to Burma? Imagine that!
I have lived 1 mile north of the U.S. Mexican border for 53 years and worked here as a Border Patrol agent and Customs officer. Believe me it is a cesspool over there. Their government is beyond help.
Depends upon what the money is being spent on.
Handing money over to the Mexicans directly, no.
If this is funding some kind of joint-force where US spec ops is coordinating Mexican military attacks on drug lords, then fine.
The point is, if you’re not careful you could be handing the money directly to the people you are trying to shut down. Remember the Zetas? Or you could be funding someone’s Swiss investment portfolio.
We shouldn’t send a dime that we can’t verify how it is being spent. I know they are touchy about their sovereignty. I also don’t care. The drug gangs are the great threat to their sovereignty. If they want our money, they should be prepared to enter into a real security relationship with us, as the Colombians have done. Its working there. It can work in Mexico. Not everyone in Mexico’s elite will want it to work. And there is your problem.
I see it as part of our effort in the war on drugs. Just as America forgave Western Europe’s war debts as part of its contribution to defeating Hitler, so should America foot part of the bill as is being proposed. Oliver Stone’s and the rest of Hollywood’s cocaine appetite is the reason it’s happening. If we don’t foot part of it, the Mexicans would have reason to say ‘why should we do all the fighting and dying when the gringos just keep buying the drugs? Maybe we should go back to doing nothing as we did in the past.’ I think it’s very important that we pitch in and help them when their house is on fire like this. Democrats just want to throw gasoline on the fire and then pat themselves on the back about it afterward.
Isn't that the goal of the North American Union? Onlly thing it is more likely to drag us down with them rather than help them.
Write it again then- in bold CAPS.
I spend about two months a year working in central Mexico and I agree. San Luis Potosi is beautiful, but you can’t escape the corrupt local and federal cops.
Thanks Marron.
It’s a valid concern but I had a look at the breakdown of what’s being spent - it’s eight helicopters, and a bunch of training by special forces and professionalization of the cops. It would be run by the State Department’s drug people who are the same ones who run the Plan Colombia program. It really hard to steal any of that, the American presence would be all over the whole thing. I talked to Boehner’s office for the editorial and they said they were confident the Mexicans were cool with US oversight to make sure nothing gets stolen. It’s really a lot like Plan Colombia and with that the case, it’s going to work.
The bulk of it goes to border security which has the added benefit of keeping the illegal count down - which in fact is closely linked to the drug trade anyway. The whole thing, hashed out by Bush and Calderon last October, is ok by both sides.
Think about what kind of guy Calderon is, anyway - he’s quite a bit like Uribe in his willingness to confront dopers and he knows how successful Uribe has been. I think he wants to be a second Uribe.
All of this makes me think this thing could really work. If you know how happy and joyful a place Colombia now is in its cities, and all its economic growth, you can’t help but think this would be an awesome thing for Mexico, too.
LOL! A very good point.
and to ours.
$1.4 billion would make some Senators sister’s third cousin’s nephew’s son in law, a nice government contract with a good kickback to an offshore acct. No experience necessary, nor production of any product.
Why waste the cash on Mexico?
Thank you. That was my question, and my point. A lot of what we call "aid" money never leaves the US, its actually funding some US mission or operation, and that I am fine with. What you are describing is exactly what we should be doing.
The Mexicans who are trying to stand up are being gunned down like animals in the street. Courage, they have. They need backup, and what you describe provides exactly some of that backup. Training, intel, coordination, backup.
Think about what kind of guy Calderon is, anyway - he’s quite a bit like Uribe in his willingness to confront dopers and he knows how successful Uribe has been. I think he wants to be a second Uribe.
I see Calderon in much the same light. I am surprised by his willingness to take the fight to the enemy. He speaks plainly, there is none of the mealy-mouthed political-speak you hear from most pols including most especially our own pols. He speaks boldly, you know exactly where he stands, and like Uribe he shows a clear understanding of right and wrong. And the guts to back it up.
The title represents the wrong question.
The correct title should be: “Why are the political and business elites in Mexico letting the drug cartels win in a war with Mexico’s law enforcement agencies”.
Mexico does not need a dime from the U.S. to defeat the drug cartels on its own turf. It needs a business and political class willing to put in the resources needed for the job.
With the billions their illegals repatriot from the U.S. to Mexico alone, they’d have more than enough revenue if they’d just collect it.
Most nations have the sense to pound sand into a rat-hole.
We, on the other hand, house, feed and doctor los ratons.
Thats easy. Its because a lot of them are complicit. That includes elements of the military as well, as we know.
This is very similar to the situation in Colombia not far back. There are people who have the courage to stand up, and they are being gunned down right in front of their homes, in broad daylight. If you work through the system, and the normal chain of command, you are already beaten, because the chain of command is already corrupted and infiltrated.
The only chance is to build a new chain of command, and give those people who are willing to fight the backup they need. Like in Colombia, it will take a partnership between US spec ops, US intel, working directly with those Mexican who are prepared to fight.
Nothing in Colombia worked until we did that, and until we had someone like Uribe who was willing to fight. Remember his predecessor (during Clinton's time) who essentially surrended a third of Colombia to the baddies? And still the war went on. Now the baddies have been pushed back into their rear bases in Venezuela, thanks to this coordination between US intel, US spec ops, US trainers, and the Colombians who are willing to fight.
The Escobars are dead, and the guerrillas running for cover.
Thats what has to happen in Mexico. Calderon is that kind of man, but it won't work unless we build the alternate military and the alternate police from the ground up, without our guys handling coordination, training, and intel, just the way we did in Colombia. We know how to do it, because we've already done it successfully. Not that the papers will admit it, or our political enemies in Congress.
With the billions their illegals repatriot from the U.S. to Mexico alone, they’d have more than enough revenue if they’d just collect it.
Not only that, but their country is sitting on top of a mountain of oil. They have more than enough resources to fund this on their own. They choose not to and allow ingnorant politicians in Washington DC to fund it with OUR TAX DOLLARS !
Sending a $Billion to Mexico will buy about six rifles, the rest will flow to the oligarchy running Mexico, corrupt politicians, their cronies and the leaders of organized crime in Mexico.”
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True, sadly enough.
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