The drug war in Mexico… is not going very well. If you saw this item: (http://www.townhall.com/news/world/2008/07/25/mexican_military_losing_drug_war_support) in TownHall you must be as concerned as I am. President Felipe Calderón sent 20,000 Mexican Army troops to cities on the U.S. border where the civil authority had broken down and the territory was under the effective control of the narco trafficante gangs.   The dismal news is that the soldiers have gotten bored, frustrated and unhappy with their duty. They are breaking into private homes and conducting warrantless searches. Suspects are being beaten and tortured. All you have to do to get even with that neighbor who plays loud music after 10 is to send in an anonymous “tip” that the guy next door is holding meth. The Army will break down his door, toss his house thoroughly and, if you’re lucky, put a bag over his head, beat him senseless and crush his testicles with pliers.

    All this puts the United States in a sticky position... We are the root of the problem, with our insatiable appetite for drugs. We are the source of the money that gives the narco trafficantes their power. If not for the millions we send down south for drugs, Calderón would not have to fight it out with the narcotics lords for civil control of the border cities.
    Congress has approved $400 million for Mexico’s drug war. It’s the least we can do. At the same time the thought of the Mexican Army imposing a brutal martial law on the border is disquieting, to say the least. One hopes that the Mexican Army will be disciplined enough in the future not to abuse the civilian population.
    It may be a vain hope: For as long as the army is at the border there exists the possibility that the drug gangs can subvert individual soldiers (through bribes and extortion) and even whole units.
    Where are the narco trafficantes getting the military weapons and sometimes military uniforms that have been spotted on our side of the border? A recent shootout in Phoenix, Arizona, between narco gangsters and police is said to have involved at least one Mexican soldier.
    As Americans our souls should be troubled by all this. Because of our demand for illicit drugs, Mexico may lose control of her border states. Right now, and for quite some time in the past, Mexico has been losing the lives of its citizens in this war.
     Every death of an innocent civilian, every honest cop slain, every woman abducted, raped and slain in Juarez; every child caught in the crossfire, was victimized directly by our selfish demand for drugs.
     We have given our wealth to the enemies and assassins of the Mexican people. Our drug habit has brought misery, violence and death to a people already struggling against poverty.
    So much for narcotics abuse being a victimless crime. Who was it who said, “I shudder for my country when I recall that God is just.”