Pubdate: Mon, 02 Mar 2009
Source: Investor's Business Daily (US)
Copyright: 2009 Investor's Business Daily, Inc
Contact:  http://www.investors.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/682
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mexico

MAKE MEXICO'S WAR A HIGHER PRIORITY

Border: Now that Phoenix has become a kidnap capital, it's official:

Mexico's drug war is spilling over into the U.S. The administration vows
a strong response, but so far seems to be putting special interests first.

Trouble from Mexico is cropping up in the usual place: the border, a
nexus of illegal immigration, human smuggling and drug trafficking,
all of it interlinked. It's all about illegal routes into the states.
As they grow scarcer, traffickers' war on the Mexican state
intensifies.

It might be easy to view this as a distant problem, but police say
Phoenix is the second worst place for kidnapping on earth, after
Mexico City; 359 people were kidnapped there last year, all of them
with links to trafficking.

But it's getting worse all over. In New Mexico last week, police
unearthed a mass grave of 13 bodies, reminiscent of 1990 Medellin.
Other cartel-linked crime has been carried out in San Antonio,
Anchorage, Atlanta, Las Vegas, San Diego and Tucson, with huge rings
operating. Also last week, the Drug Enforcement Administration busted
52 people linked to the Sinaloa cartel, bringing the total for its
probe to 755.

The U.S. seems to recognize the gravity of the problem , or is at
least paying it lip service. A recent Pentagon report cited a risk of
a sudden collapse in Mexico if cartels win. A Homeland Security report
vows to ready a response if Mexico's war spreads here. Last Friday,
the State Department's global counternarcotics report called the
cartels "a significant threat."

But for a threat this grave, the Obama administration places it below
other priorities. Yes, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano
calls the violence "a top priority." But how does that jibe with her
response to the Texas governor's request for more border troops? "We
do not want to militarize the border," she said.

Is she not aware that El Paso borders Juarez, which on Friday was sent
6,000 troops after 1,600 people were gunned down, burned in their
cars, dissolved in acid and otherwise slaughtered?

Not wanting to militarize the border when there's a real war on sounds
nice to the pacifist left, but doesn't sound like an emergency.

Secretary Napolitano also second-guessed an Immigration and Customs
Enforcement raid on a human smuggling ring in Washington state last
week that yielded 28 arrests. Activist groups complained, prompting
her to call for a review of the action as if it were something to be
ashamed of.

She said ICE should go after businesses that hire illegal immigrants
instead of applying pressure across the spectrum. Score one for the
illegal immigrant lobby.

Then there's the gun issue. Mexico blames much of the traffickers'
firepower on border smuggling from the U.S. Instead of speeding
border-fence construction , a surefire solution ,  the
administration explores the reinstatement of a semiautomatic "assault"
weapon sales ban for Americans and non-Americans alike.

Anti-gun lobbyists are happy, of course, but the move will accomplish
nothing. Fact is, Mexican drug lords don't buy normal weapons used by
Americans for mere self-defense. When they aren't stealing them,
traffickers prefer to buy rarified war weapons unavailable to ordinary
Americans on black markets here. Gun-grabbing won't solve this. Score
another for special interests.

Other Obama officials also send mixed messages. The new drug czar,
former Seattle police chief Gil Kerlikowske, stresses "harm reduction"
instead of tough action. Sounds humane, but it essentially expands
cartel market bases by enabling users and expanding the buyer base for
the cartels.

"Harm reduction" distributes new needles, legalizes medical marijuana
and puts pot at the bottom of enforcement priorities. Legalization
lobbies are happy. But cartels have one more reason to smuggle.

Congress also leaves much to be desired. Its Merida Initiative offered
Mexico only $465 million in aid. It delayed the cash and instituted
human rights benchmarks, as if these were more important than
putting out a fire in a neighbor's house that threatens ours as well.
Mexico's cost of fighting this war is now $7 billion.

If we don't get help to Mexico fast, the cartels will only get
stronger and the problem worse. Is it too much to ask the
administration to put achieving victory ahead of satisfying
special-interest groups?
- ---
MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin