Obama set to unveil Mexico border drugs/guns plan

[AlphaCentauri]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is poised to announce as early as Tuesday his plan to send more agents and equipment to the U.S.-Mexican border to fight violent trafficking in drugs, guns and money, government sources said.

The plan has been expected for several days and could be put off again. A White House official said an announcement on the issue would be made this week, and one source said tentative plans called for Obama to make it on Tuesday, a day before Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leaves on a trip to Mexico.

"We are working very closely with the Mexican government to ensure our mutual security," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said last week. "There is a big safety interest for the United States in this battle, be it conducted in Northern Mexico or within the United States."

The plan represents a growing emphasis by the Obama administration on fighting weapons smuggling to the Mexican drug cartels, which helped fuel deadly turf wars and battles with authorities that killed 6,000 people last year.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE52M7S720090323

[msongs]

1. or ya could just legalize pot and stop most of this entire mess nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. It goes beyond pot, but that is way too much common sense

on how to essentially deal with prohibition

The Economist had a huge story on this, and Europe is moving away from the prohibition protocols

We will, but only after nobody can deny the war on the streets

It is here,

[Renew Deal]

6. That's naive.

You think it's about weed? It's not. It's about money. Take out weed and they will just find a new profit center (meth, coke, kidnappings, etc.).

[Bobbieo]

9. It is also about power. Mexico may end up like one of the

rogue African nations.

[Renew Deal]

14. Yup

Mexico is a big problem for us. It might not be obvious yet.

[John Q. Citizen]

15. When the US repealed prohibition it made a difference in organized crime.

The market for weed is so much wider than the market for Coke.

Taking weed out of the gangster picture would drastically reduce the amount of income available to gangsters. It would also reduce the opportunity to introduce underground weed users to underground coke use, heroin use, meth use, etc. since weed would no longer be underground. And that too would impact the income of the gangs.

So it's not naive at all to consider cannabis legalization as a means of impacting organized criminal conspiracies.

[Occulus]

25. The going figure for drug cartel marijuana profits point to

their profits being 60% or higher, just for cannabis.

Most of the cartels' profits come from cannabis. It's not naive to say we could nearly decapitate their operations by legalizing and regulating cannabis.

Not only that, the taxpayers would save, literally, billions of dollars by not prosecuting and incarcerating people for simple possession. This speaks not one whit to the tax dollars that could be raised by legalizing the sale.

[Renew Deal]

26. Decapitate them now

And they will just grow another head. Do you think they will just accept it?

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Ah increase in kidnapping in the US... call me surprised NOT

[Renew Deal]

5. huh

Are you saying there will be increases or that this is the result of increases? I saw something last week about huge increases in kidnappings in Arizona.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. the linked story has a reference that we have seen an increase

in the border region

This is a standard tactic for the cartels

has been for twenty years

As I keep saying... this war moved north a while ago... we are just noticing

In fact, it moved north well before Obama took over, but blaming bush will be hard to do

[underpants]

10. Kidnappings mostly don't occur in the US for one reason

the FBI

it simply isn't worth it to try and it has become out of the realm of possibilities in the criminal world (not that they think things out that much).

For the most part the only kidnappings are custody battled related and very private deals that neither party wants the authorities to know about, usually because of social pressures (meaning rich folks) regarding embarassment. I attended a seminar on it about 10 years ago ( "Executive travel insurance" ) and found it very interesting...simply because kidnapping is not something we think about as a possibility, just like the criminal element. Thanks to the FBI. :patriot:

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. They are happening now

go to the story and read it

FBI or not, they are happening and the uptick has been over 300 %

[underpants]

12. That is probably for two reasons

1. the parties involved (not the actual perpetrators) are outside of FBI jurisdiction
2. the money has overwhelmed the possible penalty

Why aren't we taxing the largest cash crop in our own country?


I read the article.

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. Trust me, I am all for legalizing the crap

and not just pot

But that is another matter

Legalization is part of the strategy

[DUlover2909]

18. I read about the FBI and kidnappings.

Since they got involved because of the possibility that someone might have been taken across state borders, not one single ransom payment has been made.

[antimatter98]

20. AZ #1 in the US for kidnappings---370 in 2008

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6848672&page=1

[Renew Deal]

4. Hopefully Hillary will be safe in Mexico.

I wonder what the plan will be. Does it include militarizing part of the border? I know Obama has been against this in the past. And are they going to get Mexico to check people entering the country? That would be something.

[Summermoondancer]

7. He should legalize drugs and be done with it.

[defendandprotect]

13. Plan better be to end the phony Drug War --- !!!

[mdmc]

17. legalize, tax, use the tax revenue for more AIG bonuses

:shrug:

[Oldenuff]

19. End the War on drugs...end much of the violence

Do we have the cajones to do what will really make a difference....or will we continue to throw massive amounts of money at it like we have for the last 70yrs?

I am hopeful that at some point in time,the government will finally accept the inevitable.




'Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.'


P.J. O'Rourke

[nyc 4 Biden]

21. Legalize Drugs??

IMHO not a good idea. Just because our government can't control crime associated with drugs doesn't mean we should just legalize it. What's next legalize graffiti and prostitution.

Some drugs may have a minor medicinal value, i.e. pot, but other than allowing it in specific circumstances with medical oversight I don't see the value in making them legal just to reap the tax windfall. I've been around enough to believe drugs (pot too) has a net negative effect on the human body, psyche and society.

The answer to the "drug war" is education and rehabilitation (creating U.S. job opportunities wouldn't hurt either).

[Bluenorthwest]

23. What a fact free post

Marijuana has enormous medicinal value. It is reommended by physicians in this country on a daily basis for a wide variety of maladies. What you 'believe' in your sentance that does not agree with itself (drugs have, not 'drugs has') is rather weak next to actual facts and science.
"I believe". Faith based nonsense. All victimless 'crimes' should be legalized. That goes for prostitution. Graffiti that is placed on other people's property (as opposed to the high dollar kind that hangs on my wall) is a property crime, the victim being the property owner.

[nyc 4 Biden]

24. I respect your POV but..

1. I did say Marijuana does have some medicinal value, and I don't feel we should ignore that, but the fact is using it for recreational purposes is different from using it for medicine.

2. So I used the word believe, that doesn't make it faith based. I'm not saying my religion has an impact on my decision. Being around every type of dr*g and seeing the consequences helped me formulate my opinion. Instead of "believe" I could have inserted "think", "have learned", "experience has taught me", whatever, I was just expressing my opinion.

3. Prostitution is not a victimless crime.

4. What is hanging on your and my wall is not graffiti. It is art in the graffiti style. Graffiti is always on other people's property (I'll debate whether commission pieces are graffiti or not). And so what if it is a property crime, there is still a victim.

I understand you're upset because you "believe" marijuana should be legal. A lot of du'ers feel the same way as you and I respect your opinion, I just disagree with it.

[Bluenorthwest]

22. so we will have a war on the border

to please the prison industry, rather than fix the problem via legalization. Sick people, sick policy.

[rcrush]

27. Hooray! Our solution to stop the drug war? Throw more guns and money at it.

This is my 100th request for a forehead slap smiley.