Thursday, January 8, 2009

U.S. Plans Border ‘Surge’ Against Any Drug Wars

Agents in Arizona keep watch on the border with technology that is to be part of the “virtual fence” of cameras and sensors. David Sanders for The New York Times

From The New York Times:

The soaring level of violence in Mexico resulting from the drug wars there has led the United States to develop plans for a “surge” of civilian and perhaps even military law enforcement should the bloodshed spread across the border, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesday.

Mr. Chertoff said the criminal activity in Mexico, which has caused more than 5,300 deaths in the last year, had long troubled American authorities. But it reached a point last summer, he said, where he ordered specific plans to confront in this country the kind of shootouts and other mayhem that in Mexico have killed members of warring drug cartels, law enforcement officials and bystanders, often not far from the border.

“We completed a contingency plan for border violence, so if we did get a significant spillover, we have a surge — if I may use that word — capability to bring in not only our own assets but even to work with” the Defense Department, Mr. Chertoff said in a telephone interview.

Read more ....

My Comment: Lax and/or non-existent border and immigration control has already brought the Mexican drug wars to the U.S. Failure from our political leaders to owe up to this problem is now only exacerbating what is already a crisis.


More News On Mexico's Drug Wars

Mexico drug war likely to intensify -- Seattle Times
Gunmen Attack TV Offices in Mexico -- Washington Post
Narcotraffickers Attack Televisa, Mexico's Top TV Network -- CS Monitor
More US Funds Freed for Mexico's Drug Fight -- Associated Press
In Crime Wave, an Interrupted Meal Haunts Mexico -- New York Times

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