MEXICAN DRUG VIOLENCE THREATENS U.S. SECURITY

Mexican Drug Violence Spills Into U.S.

July 12, 2008

By Victor Thorn

Death and destruction are two words that have become synonymous with Iraq and Afghanistan, courtesy of George W. Bush’s War on Terror. Yet, an equally bloody and violent war is being waged much closer to home, only miles across the U.S. border.

Fueled by the multi-billion dollar drug industry, Mexico is now the most dangerous place on Earth. Worse, the bloodbath threatens to spill over into the U.S., especially if our sovereignty is erased by impending American Union legislation.

The carnage precipitated by ruthless drug barons has escalated to such heights that it’s become a national emergency. On June 27, hit men toting semi-automatic weapons leaped from two speeding cars and killed six policemen in Sinaloa. A day earlier, senior officer Igor Labastida was slain in a Mexico City restaurant after being ambushed by assassins. Labastida knew he was a marked man because his name was included on a hit list posted by local drug gangs.

A month earlier, on May 8, Mexico’s chief of police was shot nine times, while on May 1, the nation’s top federal agent in the organized crime division was murdered. According to The Economist, other notables killed that same week were “a top official in Mexico City’s police force; the second-in-command in Juarez, and the administrative head of the Estado Mayor, a military body charged with protecting the president.â€