Holder Praises Arrests of Mexican Drug Cartel Members

La Familia also uses religion to justify chopping off people's heads:

Michele Leonhart, who heads the Drug Enforcement Administration, said La Familia's power has grown quickly, in part due to its quasi-religious background. DEA officials say the cartel professes a "Robin Hood mentality" of aiding the poor by stealing from the rich. Some drug proceeds are used to give bibles and money to the poor, according to investigators. NPR

But just because people misuse religion doesn't make religion in itself bad. Imagine all those who wouldn't be moral without a religious upbringing or beliefs. There is one simple solution to stopping the drug cartels: end demand. If only.

Obama Speaks in Mexico on Town Hall Disruptions

Leave it to Obama to be the cool cucumber. He says the town hall noise is part of the process. He really is a grown up.

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Obama's speech in Mexico:

Eric Holder's CBS Interview

Transcript

Janet Napolitano's Testimony on Border Violence

Release Date: March 25, 2009
Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.
(Remarks as Prepared)
Chairman Lieberman, Senator Collins, and members of the Committee: I appreciate this opportunity to testify about the Department of Homeland Security's role in the U.S. effort to combat the campaign of violence waged by drug cartels in Mexico, and about the Department's efforts to keep Americans safe from this security threat.
The violence in Mexico is not only an international threat. It is a homeland security issue in which all Americans have a stake. America has a significant security stake in the success of Mexico's efforts against drug cartels. The cartels that Mexican authorities are battling are the same criminal organizations that put drugs on our streets and use violence as a tool of their trade. Illegal drugs, money, and weapons flow both ways across our border and inextricably link the United States and Mexico in our efforts against drug cartels. The two nations share a nearly 2,000 mile-long border, billions of dollars in trade, a commitment to democracy, and the need to prevail against the transnational threats of terrorism and organized crime. Threats to the United States come from every part of the globe, and the security situation of our next-door neighbor deserves our utmost attention.
At DHS, we are not in a wait-and-see mode. We are taking action now to aid the Mexican government in addressing this threat and to secure our country. DHS is bolstering the resources dedicated to this mission and taking a number of new steps. America has several roles to play: First, we must provide assistance to the Mexican government in its efforts to defeat the drug cartels and thereby suppress the flare- up of violence in Mexico. Second, we must take action on our side of the border to cripple smuggling enterprises. Third, we must guard against and prepare for the possible spillover of violence into the United States. The Department of Homeland Security is working with the Departments of State, Justice, and Defense, as well as with border states and border communities, on all of these fronts.
The Violence in Context
Those who have worked on issues related to our southwest border know that incidents of transnational violence are, unfortunately, not a new phenomenon. But what is occurring in Mexico now is violence of a level that we have not seen before.
The spike of cartel violence in Mexico is primarily a reaction against the efforts of the Mexican government to take on the cartels and battle the organized crime, corruption, and violence that comes with the illegal drug trade, as well as a result of competition among the traffickers themselves to control constricted territories and smuggling routes. The cartels' backlash against the crackdown – though brutal and deeply troubling – is predictable. They seek to protect a very lucrative criminal livelihood. Mexican drug cartels have used violence as a tool of their trade for some time, but recent violence in Mexico between drug cartels – and, particularly, violence against Mexican officials by the cartels – has risen to unprecedented and disturbing levels. About 6,000 drug-related murders occurred in Mexico last year alone, more than twice the previous year's total, which was also a record. These included the deaths of 522 military and law enforcement officials.
We are seeing limited increases in drug-related violence in the United States. This has come mainly in the form of cartel operatives committing violence against one another, the kidnappings of those involved in the drug trade or their family members, and assaults on Border Patrol agents by those attempting to bring illegal drugs into the country. Mexican drug cartels maintain drug-distribution networks, or supply drugs to distributors, in at least 230 American cities, leading the Justice Department to call Mexican drug cartels the "greatest organized crime threat to the United States."1 Read the rest at Homeland Security

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Andrea Mitchell talks to Janet Napolitano:

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Hillary Says Insatiable Demand Fuels Drug Trade

I wholeheartedly agree with Hillary and I'm so pleased that she said it outright. Indirectly, the U.S. is responsible for the beheadings and the other dastardly methods used by the Mexican drug cartels to maintain their markets.
I'm sure it frustrates Mexico that we blame them for bringing drugs across our border but where there is demand, there is supply, and Mexico is fulfilling our demand.
Admitting that our demand is too high is a great step to help solve the problem. It also helps better relations with Mexico.
Hillary is in Mexico today and tomorrow. Read about Obama's recently announced strategy here. Hillary makes headlines (good ones) in Mexico. Read Homeland secretary Janet Napolitano's testimony on border violence here. 

MEXICO CITY — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived here Wednesday with the clearest acknowledgment yet from a senior Obama administration official of the role the United States plays in the violent drug trade racking Mexico.

“Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade,” she said, using unusually blunt language. “Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians.”

Since last year, drug-related killings and battles between law enforcement authorities and the cartels have resulted in more than 7,200 deaths in Mexico, and raised doubts about the country’s stability. The violence has begun spilling across the border.

Senior officials said Mrs. Clinton would press the Mexican president, Felipe Calderon, to redouble his government’s effort to root out corruption in the police force and the courts.

“His commitment to the struggle for security and judicial reform, and the other elements of his agenda, to deal with lawlessness in Mexico, is full-speed-ahead,” she said. “I’m very impressed with his attention to these problems.” NYT

7,000 murders within the last 15 months

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Obama's New Mexico Border Strategy

I think it's interesting that Mexican drug cartels largely exist because of the insatiable demand for drugs from Americans.
From the White House:

Today, Department of Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano, Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg and United States Deputy Attorney General David Ogden will lay out the Administration’s comprehensive response to the situation along the border with Mexico. President Obama and his Administration are focused on all aspects of the U.S. relationship with Mexico because it is vital to core U.S. national interests.

The President is concerned by the increased level of violence, particularly in Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana, and the impact that it is having on the communities on both sides of the border. He believes that the United States must continue to monitor the situation and guard against spillover into the United States. And the President is firmly committed to ensuring our borders are secure and we are doing all we can to reduce illegal flows in both direction across the border.

We are taking steps on both sides of the border, working with our Mexican partners, to support the Mexican government’s campaign against the violent cartels and to reduce contraband in both directions across the border.

An outline of some of the steps:

We are moving to more effectively disrupt illegal flows of weapons and bulk cash to Mexico and to ensure that our border security remains resistant to the flow of drugs and violence into the United States.

DHS is developing a plan to supplement resources on the southwest border that includes the following elements:
Doubling Border Enforcement Security Task Forces (BEST) teams that incorporate foreign, federal and state/local law enforcement and intelligence officers
Tripling DHS Intelligence Analysts working along the Southwest Border
Increasing ICE attaché staff in Mexico in support of Mexican law enforcement efforts
Doubling Violent Criminal Alien teams located in Southwest Border Field Offices
Quadrupling the number of Border Liaison Officers working with Mexican law enforcement entities
Bolstering Secure Communities Biometric Identification capabilities
Increasing southbound rail examinations
Enhancing the use of technology at ports of entry, including backscatter mobile x-ray
Increasing the number of canine units operating on the SW Border
Increasing engagement with state and local Southwest border law enforcement
Making up to $59 million in current Operation Stonegarden funding available to enhance state, local and tribal law enforcement operations and assets along the border
Increasing the use of mobile license plate readers for Southbound traffic on the SW Border

Read more here.

CNN's story here. 

Obama's Other Problem: Mexican Drug Cartels

This problem could be solved if demand was lowered. Who's demanding all the drugs? Why we are of course. We help keep poppy fields flourishing in Afghanistan too. I know, that's a simple way to look at the problem. But even more simple is blaming Mexico, which the republicans like to do. Mexican drug cartels are just meeting our insatiable demand. It's free market principles.

CNN: The conversation, which Obama initiated within hours of Mullen's return to the United States from a visit to Mexico City, underscores the growing concern with which the United States views the situation.

"The president was eager to get the chairman's observations on what he found out," the official told CNN.

The president expressed interest in military capabilities that the U.S. has that could help Mexican forces, including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance technology, the official said.

Mexico's military and police have been embroiled in increasingly violent clashes with cartels, which are battling among themselves for control over an ever-growing market in the United States.

This week, a U.S. citizen was among the three decapitated bodies found in Tijuana, Mexican authorities said Saturday. Growing drug violence has made beheadings in Tijuana, Juarez and other Mexican towns more commonplace over the past year.