Underwhelmed is an Understatement

[Rick Oltman]

The plan proposed this week by DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to address the Mexican drug war can be politely described as, underwhelming.

Offered additional funds by the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Napolitano said she thought that existing funds would cover the cost of policing the border with Mexico.

“These actions so far are designed to be budget-neutral,” she said. “What I have done is identify other activities that are less urgent ... to be able to move these resources where I think they are needed most.”

Hmm. I had a visceral reaction when I heard her say, “…activities that are less urgent…” Activities like what? Just what activities at the Department of Homeland Security, a Cabinet level bureaucracy that was created as a result of the devastating attacks on 9-11 whose job it is specifically to defend our country, are “less urgent”? Did you say “worksite enforcement”? Because I would bet dollars to donuts that that is the “less urgent” activity she is talking about.

News update for those just returning from the planet Mars: There is an orgy of government spending going on in Washington, DC. Budgets are bursting, the deficit is ballooning, the national debt is soaring, the government is growing like on steroids and this bureaucrat just turned down the offer of more money to help secure our border with Mexico when they are experiencing more horrific violence than Iraq and Afghanistan combined. Well, stop the presses!

And then there is Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who traveled to Mexico to tell them exactly what they wanted to hear; it’s all America’s fault. America’s addiction to drugs absolves those drug pushers of all responsibility. That must have been music to their ears, still ringing from all the gunfire.

500 officers from various agencies headed to the border? Why do anything at all? This sham response to the border security problem is worse than doing nothing. It signals the cartels that we are still not serious about border security regarless of the bloodbath in Mexico. The puny deployment of 500 additional officers for a 2,000 mile border will do nothing to stop them from smuggling in drugs or…people. And that is the point of the lack of border security, to let those people in. Because, if you can stop the drug traffic you can stop the human traffic. And, we all know that the federal government would never do that because of another addiction in our country; the addiction to cheap, foreign, illegal alien workers.

Our drug use isn’t responsible for the current violence in Mexico. America’s drug use peaked in the 70s when the baby boomers occupied the age demographic for drug use, basically under 30 years old. Since then America’s drug use has steadily declined. It is currently estimated that approximately 20 million Americans use illegal drugs. That’s about 6.5% of our population of 308,000,000. So, don’t be saying “we are responsible” for the Mexican drug war. It isn’t “we,” it is a small percentage of our population that uses illegal drugs.

The pushers share responsibility with the users. For example, in the 1990s the Mexican drug cartels did what you might call a “market survey” for American cities that didn’t really have a drug problem. One city they targeted was Des Moines, Iowa, an unexploited market. So the Mexican drug gangs moved in and started the methamphetamine business in Des Moines. Soon enough addiction problems grew to such a proportion that Ted Kopple’s Nightline did a two part story on it. During that period 80% of Des Moines’ crime was meth related.

Certainly there is a shared responsibility for the demand for drugs. But, it is really a chicken and egg question that, this far down the evolutionary path, is totally academic. You need both to make an omelet, that's it. And, the violence hasn’t been going on for the past three decades, but only for the past few years. There is another cause. The Mexican government made the drug cartels rich by taking payoffs and allowing them to operate with impunity. It was just another way to make money off of America. Well, now it is coming back to bite them. The cartels want more power and have made enough money to buy all the guns and government officials they need. The drug business has been so lucrative that there are so many gangs right now they are fighting over the access routes into America. That is what makes border security that much more important, now.

Mexico wants to blame every problem they have on us, so when the chattering class in our country starts yakking about reducing our drug use and we need more treatment centers, etc., etc., Mexico applauds. Does anyone seriously think that the answer to ending the Mexican Drug War is to “reduce our demand for drugs”? Then there are those who think we need to legalize drugs to end the violence. Regardless of the merits of that argument, which would take a long time to implement, if ever, we need to take action that will have an immediate result. Yes, we should work to “reduce America’s demand for drugs.” Almost everyone except for drug pushers would agree with that statement. And we have. And the record is actually quite good. But that isn’t going to stop the horrific violence in Mexico.

What the U.S. needs to do right now is secure the border. SECURE THE BORDER. Put enough manpower and logistics on the 2,000 mile border to shut down the illegal traffic. That is the most important thing we can do right now to help Mexico deal with the problem. And we can do it. It will prevent the smuggling cartels from moving their poisonous loads north and getting paid for them. If we can shut off the drugs coming in, there will be no money to intercept going south.

Think of what Secretary Napolitano has proposed. 500 agents spread over three 8 hour shifts comes to an additional 166 people per shift for a 2,000 mile border. That’s one additional agent for every 12 miles. I don’t really think that is going to do it. And I can't help but wonder about those “activities that are less urgent” that she mentioned.

I wish I could wave a wand and perform an experiment, but I will have to settle for proposing one and letting you judge. Here it is.

All those that want to “stem the use of drugs” and create care and treatment programs, go ahead and good luck. Any progress you make will reduce human suffering if only at the local level. But, that isn’t going to stop the drug war.

I want 12,000 people to put on the border, tomorrow. (4,000 for each of the three shifts is an agent every half mile.) Cops, National Guard troops, soldiers, you name it. We’re going to arm them and give them radios and binoculars and night vision goggles. We will back them up with vehicles, surveillance cameras and air support with Aerostats, Black Hawk helicopters, light aircraft and medivac. And, we are going to tell the Mexican smuggling cartels that we are doing this all along the border and they better not mess with our people. A little Sun Tzu.

I am not opposed to, “militarizing the border.” I don’t even know what that means. Call it defending the border. Call it defending our sovereignty. Call it what you want. It is the way to secure the border and dramatically reduce the influx of drugs and illegal aliens (some of whom are drug traffickers, terrorists, common criminals and kidnappers.)

The goal will be to interdict everything and everybody illegally entering our country. And the rules of engagement for those on the line will be simple. They are to defend themselves at all times with whatever response is necessary to deal with the threat at that time.

We are currently preparing troops to deploy to the deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan. And the southern border is mostly…desert. It would be good training for them.

We have the best special operations helicopter pilots in the world; The 160th S.O.A.R. Flying along the border with night vision, forward looking infra-red and GPS equipment would be good training for them, too. We are already paying for the fuel they will be burning in training exercises at Army bases around the country. Let them train on the border. Double duty, as it were.

That is my experiment. Which of the two do you think will stem the tide of drugs and cut off the money supply to the drug cartels that is paying for thugs and guns and corrupt politicians?

It will take time. And, it won’t be easy it will be tough. It will take courage and fortitude to succeed. Oh, not courage and fortitude to take on murderous villains who prey on people for a living. We can take them on and win, no doubt. I mean it will take courage and fortitude to stand up to the businesses that don't want their access cut off to that cheap labor or the hand wringers who worry about every politically incorrect faux pas. And then there will be the complaints from the Mexican government. Yes, it will take courage and fortitude.

Human history has shown that when problems are ignored they become harder and more expensive to deal with, monetarily and body-count wise. This problem has been festering for some time. If it is not dealt with now, the response to it in the future will be more harsh than what I propose we start doing tomorrow.

Now, there is a plan that should help reduce the violence in Mexico by cutting off the money financing the war, giving that government a chance to defeat the cartels. And maybe it needs some fine tuning. But let’s get started and make adjustments as we move forward.

As for what this government has just proposed, underwhelming just isn’t descriptive enough. You pick a word.

CAPS homepage http://www.capsweb.org