Pubdate: Fri, 27 Mar 2009 Source: Daily Lobo (U of NM, Edu, NM) Copyright: 2009 Daily Lobo Contact: http://www.dailylobo.com/main.cfm?include=submit Website: http://www.dailylobo.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/766 Author: Asaalam Alakeem Muhajir Salam, Daily Lobo guest columnist Note: Asaalam Alakeem Muhajir Salam is a student at UNM. Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/mexico THE DECEIT OF OBAMA'S DRUG WAR There has not been love lost between Mexico and the United States since the U.S. annexed what was half of Mexico's territory in 1848. Since then, there has been a national psychology that instinctively distrusts any offers of help from Gringoland. This has become more and more apparent with the Obama administration's new plans to militarize the border between these two neighbors. The Merida Initiative, which will give money and training to Mexican police, signals that the U.S. is willing to spend good money to make sure President Felipe Calderon is successful in his "war on drugs." Since the passage of the Merida Initiative, Calderon has been emboldened to the point of declaring martial law in the border town of Juarez, Chihuahua, which sits across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas. In reality, the U.S. is spending money to monopolize the drug trade by force and Calderon is the dutiful pawn. Back in November, Bolivian President Evo Morales expelled the Drug Enforcement Agency from his country. Although this story was not picked up by the mainstream media, many analysts were left scratching their heads. Why would the president kick out an agency whose very existence is dedicated to wiping away the scourge of drugs? Morales had this to say: "The worst thing is, it did not fight drug trafficking; it encouraged it." He also offered then President-elect Obama evidence "to prove the illegality, abuse and arrogance of the DEA in Bolivia." And in a final salvo, Morales said that the so-called "war on drugs" was responsible for "bribed police officers, violated human rights, covered-up murders, destroyed bridges and roads." Now returning to Mexico, what parallels can be drawn? As in pre-Morales Bolivia, there is a supposed threat to our national security that emanates from vicious drug cartels that are hell-bent on sending their drugs into our communities. This is false. The most vicious drug cartel in this country and south of the border resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Given the turbulent past between Mexico and the U.S., it is unwise for Uncle Sam to order his puppet Calderon to force the Mexican people to accept the Obama cartel's demands at the barrel of a gun. The deceit and hypocrisy behind the administration's actions in regard to Mexico can only be described as breathtaking. Why would the U.S. government believe that the Mexican nation would accept her offers of help? The fact of the matter is that so long as the U.S. continues to build up a military presence in Mexico and along the border, there exists the real possibility of another Mexican-American War. Imagine that you are a poor Mexican living in a Juarez barrio. There are no jobs or legal ways to feed your family. And with the U.S. economy in the gutter, the notion of finding work in El Paso has also vanished. With a hungry family to feed, what options are left? You are offered a job trafficking drugs for a local dealer. This is not an honorable way to make money, but it is the only recourse left for making money to feed your family. One day the Mexican military, with Uncle Sam's blessing of course, shows up and starts arresting, beating, murdering and torturing your co-workers. And to top it all off, the military is itself trafficking drugs to the gringos. How would that make you feel? The story just told is but a microcosm of what the entire Mexican nation is being asked to endure with a smile. No sane or just person would ever accept this sort of hypocritical slavery. Yet the Obama administration is now sending its dope pushers to Mexico with the goal of selling the Mexican nation on the idea of slavery. Nobody takes kindly to having someone steal his or her food. This is a universal truth. It does not matter if you're American, Mexican, brown or white. The Obama administration is starting a war that it will lose badly. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin