Criminal Anarchy in Mexico
More people have been killed in the last few years in the border city of Juarez, Mexico than the total of American troops who have died in the entire country of Afghanistan since the war began.
To fight the war on drugs President George Bush Jr. promised Mexico substantial numbers of helicopters and other instruments of war, but America has actually come through on less than 10% of what Bush II pledged. Even if we had lived up to our word, it unlikely to have made much difference in the outcome.
The major problem that Mexico faces is corruption. Especially in the military, the police, the government(s), and worst of all in the Mexican judicial system. Very few law breakers ever get arrested. Of them very few ever go to trial, and of those that do very few are convicted and punished. Mexico is a country where you can commit serious crimes like murder and kidnapping with a high level of confidence that you will never be held accountable for your actions.
The Republican presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and the Bush dynasty have all enthusiasticly supported the militarization of the war on drugs. Apparently these right wing American Presidents and their advisers didn't see any solution to the endemic corruption throughout Mexican society, so they just ignored the problem.
Almost a carbon copy of this is taking place in Afghanistan. The government and the society as a whole are rife with corruption. The idea of a country-of-laws where the rich and the poor have to obey the exact same laws has never taken hold in either Mexico or Afghanistan. If you have money you are exempt from most laws in both countries.
Everyone knows that military leaders always want more troops and more weapons. This is just the mentality of military people worldwide. Why the American civilian leadership is so easily led around by the nose by these uniformed lifers is a bit harder to figure out.
It is time to totally pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan. All troops, all mercenaries, trainers, and all contractors. We may want to give one side or the other some financial support, but in retrospect looking back over the last 50 years, we need to recognize that America has supported the wrong side more often than not.
The war on drugs will never succeed. It has no chance, any more than the prohibition of alcohol consumption was successful.
The American government needs to get organized and tightly regulate both the growing/manufacturing and sales of all the various recreational drugs. And they need to tax these various horrible substances, just like they do with tobacco and alcohol.
Prescription drug addiction has now become common. The various heroin like prescription pain killers have been dispensed and sold as if by drug dealers in the wild west. Doctors have not shown any inclination to properly regulate or control these drugs. So big changes need to be made here too.
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