The irony of the front page report (10/23, "U.S. Hits Hard at Mexican Cartel") while Barbara Shelly's column (10/23, "Futility of the Drug War Illustrated by COMBAT") is buried on A-21 is almost too much to bear.

I'm tired of the drug wars. I used to think the "police action' of Vietnam was about Standard Oil and Pepsico. Now, years later, it's very clear it was about export of drugs from Third World countries to the U.S. to bolster developing economies. How many Third World countries do we have to support? Why are we in the Middle East? Oil? No. Poppies? Yes.

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