The Mexico drug war is OUR fault

[Coops]

According to Hillary that is.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090325/...clinton_mexico

MEXICO CITY – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that America's "insatiable" demand for illegal drugs and inability to stop weapons smuggling into Mexico are fueling an alarming spike in violence along the U.S.-Mexican border.

Clinton said the United States shares responsibility with Mexico for dealing with the violence. She said the administration will work with Mexican authorities to improve security on both sides of the border.

"Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade," she said. "Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians."

"I feel very strongly we have a co-responsibility," she told reporters accompanying her to Mexico City a day after the Obama administration said it would send more money, technology and manpower to secure the United States' Southwestern frontier and help Mexico battle the cartels.

Obama himself said Tuesday that he wanted the U.S. to do more to prevent guns and cash from illicit drug sales from flowing across the border into Mexico.

"That's part of what's financing their operations. That's part of what's arming them. That's what makes them so dangerous," he told a news conference. "And this is something that we take very seriously and we're going to continue to work on diligently in the months to come."

Clinton's remarks, delivered ahead of her arrival in Mexico City, appeared more forceful in recognizing the U.S. share of the blame. Mexican officials have in the past, particularly under the Bush administration, complained that Washington never acknowledged the extent that the U.S. demand for drugs and weapons smuggling played in fueling the violence.

"These criminals are outgunning the law enforcement officials," she said, referring to guns and military-style equipment like night vision goggles and body armor that the cartels are smuggling into Mexico from the United States.

"Clearly, what we have been doing has not worked and it is unfair for our incapacity ... to be creating a situation where people are holding the Mexican government and people responsible," Clinton said. "That's not right."

<dem>Insatiable American demand for illegal drugs has fueled the drug war in Mexico. Of course, we do not hold anyone in Mexico responsible for killings, kidnappings or selling illegal drugs, the US government is taking the blame on behalf of all of us.

Clearly this means we need to ban assault weapons which are being used to outgun the police and to raise taxes on the rich. And do it quickly. </dem>

Edit: Oh and stop the sale of night vision glasses and bullet proof vests.

[addicted2freedom]

end the drug war. problem solved.

[CarolinaGuy]

The black market is causing this.

Don't see any problems with alcohol smuggling and turf wars.

I'd say that and our weak ass borders is about the extent of our "blame".

The rest is Mexico allowing their birds to shit the nest. The place has turned into Somalia. Start cracking skulls, dumbasses.

[625]

end the drug war. problem solved.

We have too many corrupt politicians for that to happen. Then, we have the nitwit, goody two-shoes that think by making something illegal, people will not be able to get it. I mean look, we have no illegal gambling or prostitution happening here either.

We need to hit the reset button on Washington.

[PocketProtector]

Hillary said that ??

[cgbudde]

First of all anything that Hillary says you must laugh at. Obama and Hillary are todays Abott and Costello.

But the best is the other night on world news they showed a table with about 20 m16's they said, dozens of hand grenades and others, they stated these were being brought at local gun shows and then being smuggled into Mexico. My question to ABC news is where are these gun shows where I can buy full auto m16's and hand grenades.

I would love to get the serial number to one of these assault weapons and I can bet that you will find out they were sold by our government to the Mexican military or police. And our government knows this.

[Kenshin]

Well in reality the whole drug problem is our fault. The war on drugs is what gave people the money for selling illegal drugs. If there were no illegal drugs there wouldn't be a war on drugs and none of this would have happened. It is our fault but god forbid the government would recognize this.

Edit: If people wanna dope themselves up and OD and kill themselves, LET THEM! It's not my decision to tell people what they can and can't put into their bodies. IF they get hyped up and kill people suddenly everyone is all sorry and then it happened to one of their family members they yell out that its not right and we get the war on drugs. Well yea but the war on drugs is kinda like saying yea if people do drugs their gonna get hyped up and kill someone. Sure it might happen. But that's like the anti's saying anyone with an "Assault Weapon" is a no gooder and out to kill people or that people with guns wanna kill people. Sure some gun owners are crazy nut jobs. There's crazy nut jobs everywhere it happens. Get over it and move on. There isn't a damn thing that anyone can do to bring a loved one back especially legislating things into being illegal. It doesn't help anyone. /rant off

[ehidle]

Edit: If people wanna dope themselves up and OD and kill themselves, LET THEM! It's not my decision to tell people what they can and can't put into their bodies.

What happens when the strung out druggie starts costing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars per year in public assistance, medicaid, public defenders, and incarceration? Don't you think their right to put whatever they want to into their bodies ends when they become a burden upon society?

[eXceLon]

I don't think she was blaming the entire situation on us, merely acknowledging our role in the whole thing. And she is right, without American demand for drugs that the cartel's are selling they wouldn't be in business.

I agree with the posters who say that the War on Drugs needs to end. At least regarding marijuana, which is relatively harmless, though I'd support leaving "harder drugs" illegal. I have no way of confirming this, but I suspect that marijuana is the big money maker anyways and the cartel's would probably collapse financially without it's illegal status.

What happens when the strung out druggie starts costing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars per year in public assistance, medicaid, public defenders, and incarceration? Don't you think their right to put whatever they want to into their bodies ends when they become a burden upon society?

They already are a burden on society. We imprison more people, at great cost, than any rich first-world nation. Most of those are drug offenders. Further when they get out of prison they have limited opportunities for employment, and have spent years of their life among hardcore criminals. So they enter prison as non-violent drug offenders, and leave prison hardcore criminals.

Also you assume that addiction rates would skyrocket just because the War on Drugs ended. It's not at all clear that this would be the case.

Addiction needs to be treated as a medical problem, not a criminal problem. Where in the world we got the idea that the best way to protect someone from drugs was to throw them in prison with murderers and rapists, is beyond me. If that's the governments idea of help, I'll pass.

[Kenshin]

What happens when the strung out druggie starts costing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars per year in public assistance, medicaid, public defenders, and incarceration? Don't you think their right to put whatever they want to into their bodies ends when they become a burden upon society?

Once they're behind bars that's a totally different story. But they shouldn't end up there just by doing drugs or by possessing them. If they kill someone they go to jail. Last time I checked you didn't need to do drugs to be sent to jail for killing someone. Or for DUI you can use a perfectly legal substance to send yourself to jail for that one. Problem today is that we are filling our prisons with people who either possessed or got caught doing drugs which is more of a burden on society than just having them doing drugs in their own homes.

That and while i was in school learned this from my professors and by researching that marijuana is California's biggest cash crop. It nets more money than the entire fruit and vegetable production and wine production COMBINED. If that doesn't say something i dont know what does.