Obama takes on the Mexican drug cartels

The First Post ^ | March 12, 2009

[Lorianne]

As if he doesn't have enough domestic issues to deal with, Barack Obama is being forced to confront the escalating drugs war in Mexico that threatens to spill across the US border. In interviews with regional newspapers yesterday, the President revealed that he had contemplated the idea of sending an armed American force to patrol the border.

"We're going to examine whether and if National Guard deployments would make sense and under what circumstances they would make sense," said Obama, who also praised Mexico's President Felipe Calderon for "taking some extraordinary risks under extraordinary pressure to deal with the drug cartels".

This follows a request from Texas governor Rick Perry for 1,000 US troops to be be sent to the Mexican border to bolster what he says are inadequate security arrangements. He describes the situation on the border as "a state of war".

The drug cartels have been responsible for more than 10,000 deaths since 2001 and other members of the Obama administration have already made it clear Obama wants to help the Mexican government. Attorney General Eric Holder has described the cartels as "a national security threat," and warned: "We simply can't afford to let down our guard". Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has said the drug violence in Mexico is "something that deserves our utmost attention right now".

Earlier this week, Vice President Joe Biden announced that Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske would become the new administration's 'drugs tzar' – a cabinet level position under George Bush but not given the same high status under Obama. "Violent drug trafficking organisations are threatening both the United States and Mexican communities," said Biden.

The White House has signalled its intent just as a fugitive Mexican drugs baron makes it onto the new Forbes rich list. The 54-year-old Joaquin Guzman Loera, (pictured), known as 'Shorty', heads the Sinaloa Cartel. He famously escaped from a Mexican jail in 2001 by hiding in a laundry cart, just days before he was due to be extradited to the States. There is still a $5m US government reward out for his capture, a paltry sum compared to Guzman's own wealth, which Forbes estimates at $1bn. He appears on the rich list at number 701, with his business listed as "shipping".

An editorial this week in USA Today said that a large part of the problem is that American drug users don't associate their actions with the situation in Mexico. "For Americans who live far from the border, the fighting seems remote, something happening down there," says the paper, "a reason to think twice about a spring break trip to Cancun or Acapulco, maybe, but little more...The Mexicans alone can't solve this problem. If Americans don't work out a way to stop making it worse, Mexico's crisis will soon be our own."

[screaminsunshine]

Those gangs bust be invading the turf of the CripsHoods and Avenues.

[Names Ash Housewares]

Translation...

Obama will use this as an excuse to ban so called “assault” weapons.

[babubabu]

clever ploy. I think the mexican govn is already asking us to water down the 2nd amd.

[LukeL]

How is this the fault of America? The only way we are to blame is that Americans are big drug users, but the same is true for every country in the world.

[blackbart.223]

"An editorial this week in USA Today said that a large part of the problem is that American drug users don't associate their actions with the situation in Mexico."

Do you think we could include Obama in this category?

[TKDietz]

Mexican cartels make most of their money from marijuana. The government estimates that better than 60% comes from pot they ship here. Our drug czar, John Walters, said marijuana is their “bread and butter,” the “center of gravity” for Mexican drug cartels. The government says Mexican cartels bring in 90% of the cocaine consumed here and better than 80% of the meth and heroin, but the total amount of those drugs brought in is in the hundreds of metric tons compared to several thousand metric tons of marijuana. We should just legalize pot and regulate it like alcohol. That would deprive these organizations of most of their money and make it harder for them to get the other stuff to end consumers here because there won't be all those pot dealers selling Mexican pot that these organizations tap to sell their other drugs. Pot smokers will be far less likely to come in contact with the other stuff, these organizations would be smaller, less powerful and less of a threat, and we'd clean up on tax revenues instead of blowing a fortune trying in vain to keep up the ban on pot.

Short segment from Glenn Beck's show on Mexican cartels and marijuana:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFmtirw5io8&eurl=http://blog.mpp.org/?cat=9

Article on drug trade violence in Mexico with interview of John Walters:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/022208dnintdrugs.3a98bb0.html

[dajeeps]

“We’re going to examine... whether and if National Guard deployments would make sense and under what circumstances they would make sense,”

The key word is ‘examine’. It doesn’t say he is doing it, just that he’s contemplating. It’s also watered down with ‘weighing whether they make sense’ instead of saying we’re contemplating doing it.

He is contemplating alot of things, none of which I’ve seen any action on. It’s just lip service and he’s going to let all the BS continue to go on down there without so much as a lost night of sleep. That man has no soul.

The governor of Texas needs to get troops down there even if they have to give Obama the one-finger salute to do it.

[beagleone]

Obama takes on the Mexican drug cartels

...into his Cabinet?

[upchuck]

If nobama does decide to deploy the National Guard, I hope they will be allowed to shoot the drug-running basards and not be forced to just hang around with unloaded rifles trying to look tough.

[gwilhelm56]

**be forced to just hang around with unloaded rifles trying to look tough.**

That’s how ALL DEMOCRATS do it. Carter sent troops with worthless helicopters, Sent our troops to HAITI with NO BULLETS.. so I’ll expect NO LESS FROM NOBAMA!!!

[blackbart.223]

"If nobama does decide to deploy the National Guard, I hope they will be allowed to shoot the drug-running bastards and not be forced to just hang around with unloaded rifles trying to look tough."

And if they have loaded weapons and shoot some bastard I hope they are not prosecuted.

[ari-freedom]

“If nobama does decide to deploy the National Guard, I hope they will be allowed to shoot the drug-running basards and not be forced to just hang around with unloaded rifles trying to look tough.”

while they are there, they could also deal with those $^&@! illegals

[Centurion2000]

Governor Perry can activate and deploy the State Guard at will.

[This_far]

“Obama will use this as an excuse to ban so called “assault” weapons.”

Nancy already said that it won’t be brought up. She has more control than 0 does.

(not that I trust either of them on the subject)

[blackbart.223]

"Not that I trust either of them on the subject."

Trusting people is dangerous at best. Trusting the current bunch in DC is betting against an inside straight.

[Gondring]

But didn't GWB do this? He was really big into Homeland Security and protecting Americans, I hear. Surely he wouldn't have left our border unguarded! </sarc>

[DMZFrank]

He wants the Feds to pick up the tab. The guv has to pay for a state call-up. If Federal expenditures are ever appropriate for anything, it oughta be for this.

[tallyhoe]

How about a citizen militia they don’t have to follow the same rules as law enforcement. Like what happens on the border stays on the border!

[LegendHasIt]

What a joke.

In addition to the laughable thought of 0bama taking on ANY opponents who believe in the direct application of violence; I get irritated at the constant blaming of America for mexican drug cartel violence because of our Second Amendment law, when Chinese ships dock weekly at mexican ports and offload shipping containers full of full auto AK’s and type 67s & type 88s machine guns that they sell to all comers at 1/4 the price that semi auto AKs sell for in the US