ON THE LOOKOUT: Mexican military helicopters patrolled the skies last month near Apatzingan, Mexico, an area plagued by drug trafficking and violence.MOISES ORTEGA/NOTIMEX/NEWSCOM
From the Christian Science Monitor:
Drug-trafficking deaths have skyrocketed by more than 117 percent in 2008.
Mexico City - Five thousand, three hundred, and seventy-six people have been killed in Mexico's drug war so far this year, double the number from last year and more than all the US troops killed in Iraq.
Is this what victory looks like?
That's the question Mexico is grappling with two years after President Felipe Calderón took office announcing a massive military effort to dismantle drug trafficking organizations.
Thursday marks two years since Mr. Calderón announced "Operation Michoacán," the first of a sustained series of high-profile deployments of soldiers across the country.
Since then, federal authorities have disarmed scores of police departments, boasted of bundles of cash and caches of weapons confiscated, and heralded arrests of some of the highest-profile traffickers as proof of success.
Read more ....
My Comment: There are two points that I want to offer to this discussion. (1) This drug war started before Calderon became President, and (2) Mexico does not have any other good options. Avoiding the entire drug war that is breaking out in the country is not going to solve the problem .... it will only become worse because of the money and corruption that it buys.