Mexico drug war opens bloody new front on U.S. border

[Nomad]

By Ignacio Alvarado Wed Mar 26, 4:50 PM ET

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - Brazen Mexican drug gangs are escalating their war with the army and each other, murdering a record 720 people this year and opening up a gruesome new battle front on the U.S. border near Texas.

Nationwide, the pace of drug killings is well ahead of last year, when President Felipe Calderon's military crackdown on the country's powerful smuggling cartels began in earnest.

As the army struggles to contain bloodshed in hotspots from the border area to the Caribbean coast, murders in rundown Ciudad Juarez, over the border from the Texan city of El Paso, have flared to unprecedented levels.

Some 200 people have been killed in drug violence in Ciudad Juarez so far this year, a tenfold increase over 2007, some shot dead on busy avenues or strangled after being tortured. Over the Easter weekend alone, 22 people were murdered in the city.

Police say Mexico's most wanted man, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who leads a consortium of traffickers from the Pacific state of Sinaloa, has taken his fight for control of smuggling routes to Ciudad Juarez, targeting the dominant Juarez cartel amid a much lighter army presence there than in other cities.

Story continues here

[Nomad]

This part here made me cringe:

Mexico is, meanwhile, waiting on a $1.4 billion pledge by U.S. President George W. Bush to fund new equipment for the drug war. The plan is pending approval by U.S. lawmakers, who are concerned about a lack of detail on spending

Concerned? How about terrified that the funds will be used to further undermine our sovereignty as a nation, using the purchased equipment for criminal purposes!

[Rangerguru]

This part here made me cringe:

Mexico is, meanwhile, waiting on a $1.4 billion pledge by U.S. President George W. Bush to fund new equipment for the drug war. The plan is pending approval by U.S. lawmakers, who are concerned about a lack of detail on spending

Concerned? How about terrified that the funds will be used to further undermine our sovereignty as a nation, using the purchased equipment for criminal purposes!

Maybe we should use that $1.4 Billion and beef up border security and then we wouldn't have to care about their drug problem as much.

[Chiron]

This part here made me cringe:

Mexico is, meanwhile, waiting on a $1.4 billion pledge by U.S. President George W. Bush to fund new equipment for the drug war. The plan is pending approval by U.S. lawmakers, who are concerned about a lack of detail on spending

Concerned? How about terrified that the funds will be used to further undermine our sovereignty as a nation, using the purchased equipment for criminal purposes!

Maybe we should use that $1.4 Billion and beef up border security and then we wouldn't have to care about their drug problem as much.

This is the only thing that makes sense. You don't give monies to a known currupt society.

[EvilCouch]

This part here made me cringe:

Mexico is, meanwhile, waiting on a $1.4 billion pledge by U.S. President George W. Bush to fund new equipment for the drug war. The plan is pending approval by U.S. lawmakers, who are concerned about a lack of detail on spending

Concerned? How about terrified that the funds will be used to further undermine our sovereignty as a nation, using the purchased equipment for criminal purposes!

Maybe we should use that $1.4 Billion and beef up border security and then we wouldn't have to care about their drug problem as much.

I wonder how many bouncing betties we could buy for 1.4B.

[Rock Island Ranger]

And we wonder why the people think GWB is nuts. 1.4 billion???? Thats like handing a criminal a wad of cash, a gun, and a 12 year old girl and expecting him to protect the girl, build a Church, and use the gun only to protect himself.

[RANGER513]

1.4 billion would buy ALOT of artillery rounds.

Problem solved !

[RangerBob275]

Concertina and minefields work both ways, but I am okay with that on the Mexican border, but they do have to be overwatched with direct fire weapons.