Pubdate: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 Source: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR) Copyright: 2010 The Oregonian Contact: http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/324 SHIFTING APPROACHES IN THE DRUG WAR Protect the population while relying on better human intelligence: Where have we heard this before? Some 16,000 people have been killed over the last four years in violence among factions in Mexican drug cartels, but the murders this month of two U.S. citizens in the border town of Juarez helped spur the governments of Mexico and the United States to rethink the ways they combat the problem. When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano met with their counterparts Tuesday in Mexico City, they said they had agreed to reshape the Merida Initiative launched by President George W. Bush to combat drug violence. They decided to focus less on technology and infrastructure -- such as border walls and helicopters -- and more on supporting communities plagued with violence, disrupting trafficking and increasing economic opportunities. In other words, no longer would the governments rely on a strategy of sending in the Mexican Army to clear neighborhoods and kick in doors. Because that hasn't been working. President Bush made a similar calculation in Iraq three years ago, and President Barack Obama has done the same in Afghanistan. Each embraced a counterinsurgency strategy that emphasized protecting the local populations above heavy-handed military sweeps. Bush's conversion may have salvaged what appeared to be a lost cause in Iraq; Obama hopes for similar progress in Afghanistan. While they share a generally gentler approach, the campaigns will be distinguished by the kinds of evils arrayed against them. The United States is much more a part of the problem in Latin America than in Iraq or Afghanistan, as American drug demand fuels much of the shadow economy that Latin druglords are killing people to control. The United States bears a heavy responsibility for the bloodshed on its doorstep and doesn't have the option of walking away from Mexico's efforts to grapple with it. In addition to sending money and technical help to Mexico, it is obligated to review the ways it intentionally or unintentionally spurs demand for illegal drugs. Mexican President Felipe Calderon, to his credit, has never shied away from prosecuting the war over drugs, sending 45,000 Mexican troops into some of the scariest neighborhoods in the hemisphere in an effort to stem the killings and interrupt the flow of weaponry and narcotics. But the Mexican populace has begun to sour on that approach, giving the government unfavorable marks for its inability to turn the criminal tide. The latest spree of killings -- lowlighted by the execution in January of 15 teenagers attending a party in Juarez -- has led Calderon to broaden his crackdown beyond purely military efforts. Now, as Mexican states develop law enforcement tools to help prosecute drug crimes, both national governments acknowledge that they must shape an alternative future for Mexicans who despair at the lack of economic opportunity. A shared border is always a shared responsibility, but the stakes on this border have grown particularly high. It is welcome to see three U.S. cabinet secretaries fly to Mexico City to help Calderon open a new front in the battle for his country's securit - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake