wow I never knew that things were this bad! and even with the mexican military involved, the inside source says that it doesn't matter! that the drugs will still flow because the "demand is too high, and the money too good".

how sad is it that we're so hooked on drugs.. i mean really, its not like it's cheap!! LOL and its not even REMOTELY good for you..

any opinions on this subject?

In Pakistan ..Government encourage militants to trade drugs

really???

Many things wrong with the current government line...

All mexicans are not drug dealers and scum.

We are not all drug users.

Weapons used by drug dealers in mexico are NOT manufactured in the US of A. (Mexican offical stated on news last night that drug dealers were using AK47'S)

The amount of guns being used to equip drug cartels exceeds the amount of ak47's that do manage to make the rounds in the US of A.

WE are NOT supplying them cartels with weapons as is claimed. We are NOT their sole source of income as is claimed.

We ARE being LIED to by either the Media, the Government (or both).

Wonder what the agenda is. (perhaps the removal of 2nd amendment... after all you ARE selling your guns to mexico right?)

that's easy to say when you live in Ohio and don't have to see it every day

try moving to Texas or New Mexico or Arizona or California

The cartel war is out of control and we are paying the price. I personally doubt that the Mexican military can get control of it either

I don't think their military can do it either.

One instance:

"In December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon took office, he sent tens of thousands of soldiers and federal police to confront Mexico's powerful drug cartels.

The cartels responded brutally. A few months ago, the heads of eight soldiers and a former police chief were found in plastic bags just north of Zihuatanejo. Major gun battles, at times lasting for hours, have erupted from the Guatemalan border to the interior highlands to the Chihuahua desert."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102188685

on the local news last night they said that the border patrol is confiscating 2000 guns a day from going into Mexico

A day?!

Yikes!

That's sad.

That's a tough battle when poor people can make more money growing poppy. They are the highest distributor of opium.

What channel was that on?
I'd like to check the archive. I'm down in Fort Stockton and haven't heard that.

ummmm channel 2 (Odessa) KMID, I think. I was just flipping channels and caught most of it

they said that since the Mexican military took over Juarez that killings are down from 10 a day to "only" 3 or 4 a week

But the Juarez Chief of Police still has to live in El Paso for safety. The Juarez cartel promised to kill a police officer a day until he resigned so he quit and moved to El Paso

EDIT: I'm outta here. gots to drive into Odessa for dialysis. I'll check this later when I get home

What I saw was, Juarez reports there are 2,000 guns a day smuggled in. Sounds a bit preposterous. If they knew there were that many, they would show the collection. No proof, just claims.
For all we know, ak's could be sent from Russia. It'd be cheaper and run less a risk of getting caught.
FYI, when Mexican TV reports busts, guns or drugs, they display the criminals and what is confiscated.

People....really? As a former pusher dealer of over twenty years....let me tell you. This is very real. It was always real. The drug trade has grown to such astronomical heights here...because people are addicted to these drugs and they know it. If usage among us would cease...this would go away slowly...but it would go away. Supply and demand keeps this going. Sad really....Americans are such an influance for so many deaths. You would not believe what I have seen and know. The columbians used to be all we worried about...even if they were your friends. Now they are in Mexico and combined....make a force to be reconed with.
These guys will force their own people to make, package..deliver these drugs or die. These cops that have moved are not safe. These guys have arms so long that they will reach whomever they want in time. Even the families of these wanted by cartel are not safe anywhere.

Kat

You blame usage on these problems? Riddle me this, would we ever have had an Al Capone if it wasn't for Alcohol Prohibition? No, because he wouldn't have had the avenue to make the money that gave him the initial power.

No matter what you do, you are not going to stop a certain segment of humanity from altering their minds with chemicals. The way to handle it is to regulate and tax, treat addicts like their sick, just like we do with the Alcoholics and end the escalation that has caused all this violence in the first place. When you take the drugs out of the hands of the black market you all but eliminate their ability to make money, which cuts their ability to purchase weapons. For the record, these cartels are in possession of Grenades, rocket launchers all kinds of insane munitions that they just simply aren't getting from the U.S., at least not by the means that you or I could get weapons.

Really, who exactly is responsible for this? Bush/Clinton/Bush/Obama have all had an opportunity to get serious about the southern border and none have chosen to do so. Why?

Nevermind it begs the questions, why should I take this so called war on terror seriously, why should I believe it isn't anything but an excuse to crack down on civil liberties, when you could sneak anything you wanted across that southern border?

Don't think the terrorists aren't aware of that? How hard would it be to learn some spanish, shave the hair down and pass an Afghani off for a Mexican?

Nevermind the CIA links to running drugs.

Who Is Arming the Mexican Drug Cartels?

Michael Gaddy
Lew Rockwell.com
Friday, March 27, 2009

The state, Mexican authorities and their US propaganda arm, known in most circles as the Mainstream Media, have recently embarked on a huge disinformation campaign to demonize the American gun owner as the supplier of weapons to the Mexican drug cartels. Everyone in the media, with the possible exception of Lou Dobbs, has joined in the campaign of lies.

Shown here, on a CBS special, is video proof of the lies and disinformation by CBS, US and Mexican authorities. Anderson Cooper and Janet Napolitano are either ignorant or complicit in the myth that M-203s, RPGs and hand grenades are readily available to the American gun consumer. Most intelligent folks, and those without a state sponsored agenda, realize these weapons are usually only available to the military.

This week, Secretary of Homeland Defense, Janet Napolitano, announced a new plan to curb the alleged flow of weapons from the US into Mexico. This program, which will cost the overwhelmed US Taxpayer another 700 million dollars plus, includes machines that employ what is referred to as “virtual strip search.” This plan will supposedly slow down the number of guns traveling south from the US to the drug cartels in Mexico. If this program has the same success rate as the government’s efforts at stopping the flow of contraband north into the US, the Mexican drug cartels will have nuclear weapons by the end of April!

While not stated as such, I am sure this will eventually morph into “the war on guns.” Funny, is it not, every time our government “declares war” on something, it always increases exponentially! Whether it is poverty, drugs, terrorism or guns, when the state declares war, rapid growth and expansion of that which is the object of that war is inevitable.

Napolitano stated, “70% of the weapons in the hands of the drug cartels are coming from the US.” The implication is obvious she is referring to private gun owners. The MSM sucks up this propaganda like a large-mouth bass takes a worm, and regurgitates it to Boobus without ever questioning the truthfulness behind the claim. Neither Mexican, nor US officials, has ever produced an ounce of proof to back up these wild accusations.

Wednesday, on MSNBC, in an interview by Andrea Mitchell, New York Congressional Representative, Nita Lowey stated 97% of the guns in the hands of the Mexican drug cartels originated in the US. Representative Lowey, in her support for a new Assault Weapons Ban, alleges these firearms are coming from the American gun owner. She is correct in her assertion many of the firearms being used by the cartels are coming from Americans. They are, but, from the American taxpayer, not the American gun owner!

The fact is: the Mexican authorities have refused to release the serial numbers of weapons confiscated from drug cartel members. Releasing the serial numbers would implicate the corrupt governments of the US and Mexico and their involvement in arming the drug cartels.

Considering the above, it is my belief the Mexican drug cartels are procuring a large percentage of weapons from the world’s largest supplier of these weapons: the United States government!

The type of weapons confiscated and the unwillingness of those involved to supply weapon serial numbers is a clear indicator.

Because of the “narco-wars,” the US government supplies the Mexican military with arms and training. The Mexican military has trained at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, and the arms budget from the US to Mexico is in the billions.

Drug profits realized from the sale of drugs in the US by Mexico’s violent drug cartels are estimated to be as high as 40 billion dollars per year. With that amount of money, is there any question as to the ability of the cartels to purchase military weapons provided by the United States government from corrupt Mexican government officials and members of their military?

In the mid 1990s, U.S. government statistics revealed at least six billion dollars a year was spent by the cartels in bribes and payoffs to officials in the Mexican government and military.

In February of 1997, the Clinton Administration announced it was certifying the Mexican government as a “full ally” in the war on drugs. Clinton’s Drug Czar, Army General Barry McCaffrey, described Mexican General Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, who headed up the Mexican National Institute to Combat Drugs (INCD) as a “man of absolute unquestioned character.”(Emphasis added) Shortly after McCaffrey’s statement, Rebollo was arrested for taking bribes from one of the largest drug cartels in Mexico. Rebollo had been present at secret meetings involving the White House, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Drug Enforcement Agency.

When speaking of drug cartels and military weapons, one would be remiss in not covering the involvement of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and their decades-long involvement in worldwide drug trafficking. The evidence produced at the Iran Contra hearings proved the CIA was involved with smuggling cocaine in order to fund the Nicaraguan Contra Army. Is there any question they are involved with the Mexican drug cartels and perhaps facilitating their procurement of military weapons, or better yet, trading arms for drugs?



In 2007, then President George W. Bush, with help from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, was able to get legislation passed that would provide Mexico with at least 1.4 billion dollars for Mexican military and police forces.

In May of 2008, Kristen Bricker wrote of Plan Mexico, “Plan Mexico will provide resources, equipment, and training to the Mexican government, police, and military. It will not give Mexico liquid funds. The US military, government agencies such as USAID, and US defense contractors such as mercenary firms and weapons manufacturers will receive funding to carry out Plan Mexico. Plan Mexico is yet another bill to line the pockets of the military industrial complex.”

Our government is certainly aware of the rampant corruption within the Mexican government and military, yet we continue to provide them with money, military weapons and training, including all of the military weapons mentioned earlier in this article and shown in film clips by the mainstream media as proof positive we need a new Assault Weapons Ban. (AWB)

Our corrupt government, cooperating with Mexico’s equally corrupt government, has embarked on a campaign to deprive American citizens of the means to defend ourselves from tyranny, screening their own involvement in arming violent criminal drug cartels. We can weakly submit, or stand for truth and liberty; the choice is ours.

The "cartel" is asking, seeking only one head. Juárez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz holding dual residency, ran out on his constituents, fleeing to El Paso. Give him up. He's probably crooked anyway.

Sen. Webb: Prisons a 'national disgrace,' must be reformed
Stephen C. Webster
Published: Thursday March 26, 2009



Proposed commission would seek to bring prison populations down, 'overhaul drug criminalization'

Even as President Barack Obama slapped down the hopes of American marijuana consumers as to his position on legalization, Senator Jim Webb (D-Va) was quietly preparing to introduce major legislation which has the potential to dramatically alter US drug laws.

Calling the US criminal justice system "a national disgrace," two US senators called for a top-to-bottom review with an eye on reforms aimed at reducing America's vast prison population.

Senator Webb, backed by Republican Senator Arlen Specter, introduced legislation to create a blue-ribbon panel that would conduct an 18-month assessment and offer concrete recommendations for reform.

Sen. Webb's legislation enjoys not just bipartisan support, but "quiet encouragement from President Barack Obama," reported The Virginian-Pilot.

"America's criminal justice system has deteriorated to the point that it is a national disgrace," Webb said, noting that the United States has five percent of the world's population but 25 percent of the world's prisoners.

According to a document released by Sen. Webb's office, "Its task will be to propose concrete, wide-ranging reforms to responsibly reduce the overall incarceration rate; improve federal and local responses to international and domestic gang violence; restructure our approach to drug policy; improve the treatment of mental illness; improve prison administration, and establish a system for reintegrating ex-offenders."

The Virginia lawmaker noted soaring numbers of drug offenders in prison, and charged that four times more mentally ill people are incarcerated than are in mental health hospitals.

"We are doing something drastically wrong," said Webb, whose plan also aims to improve the US response to armed gangs, especially drug-related groups, as it seeks to bring the prison population down from about 2.4 million people.

"The high-level commission created by the National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009 legislation will be comprised of experts in fields including criminal justice, law enforcement, public heath, national security, prison administration, social services, prisoner reentry, and victims' rights," read a statement from Webb's office. "It will be led by a chairperson to be appointed by the President. The Majority and Minority Leaders in the House and Senate, and the Democratic and Republican Governors Associations will appoint the remaining members of the commission."

About five million people are on probation or parole.

"We are not protecting our citizens from the increasing danger of criminals who perpetrate violence and intimidation as a way of life, and we are locking up too many people who do not belong in jail," said Webb.

"Despite the president's flippant comments today, the grievous harms of marijuana prohibition are no laughing matter," said Jack Cole, a former undercover narcotics officer and founding member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, in a statement to RAW STORY. "Certainly, the 800,000 people arrested last year on marijuana charges find nothing funny about it, nor do the millions of Americans struggling in this sluggish economy. It would be an enormous economic stimulus if we stopped wasting so much money arresting and locking people up for nonviolent drug offenses and instead brought in new tax revenue from legal sales, just as we did when ended alcohol prohibition 75 years ago during the Great Depression."

"Other supporters include the current Judiciary panel head, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., and the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, Richard J. Durbin of Illinois," noted the Times-Dispatch.

"In Webb's home state, prison population has been growing steadily since 1995, when Virginia dumped parole for fixed sentences -- an initiative of the Republican former governor Webb narrowly defeated in 2006: George Allen."

"Webb has succeeded in pushing major legislation through Congress before, as his 21st Century GI Bill passed last year," noted The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder. "And it's hard for anyone to accuse the former Navy secretary of not being 'tough' enough."

Sen. Webb's office has published the legislation online.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Sens._Webb_Specter_Prison_system_national_0326.html