What would happen if the police chief of a major city in the United States was kidnapped, tortured, and executed by criminals?
I’m asking because something like that occurred in Mexico over the weekend.
The operations against the Mexican drug cartels is entering the third year. They are calling it The Cartel War.
Anyone planning on a vacation in Cancun this year? I hear accommodations are cheap and spring break is only a few months away.
(Hat tip to Murdoc.)
Yeah, things are getting ugly down there but from what I can tell, its something like the surge in Iraq in that the level of violence has increased because the law abiding people of Mexico have decided to do something about the vipers in their midst. They could ignore them and stay more peaceful but they’re trying to clean house.
We’ll have to see what happens. Things are going to get rough down there. When our economy sneezes they get a cold or pneumonia. I don’t envy them in the least.
Part of it is like Iraq, but the part where the good guys are winning is not like Iraq. The Mexican Army is not winning, the police are losing big time and everybody else is worried about their families and theirselves getting caught in the crossfire. Of course the ones in the drug gangs are busy killing each other but they are getting paid big bucks where if they didn’t work for the gangs they would be without a job or looking for one in the U.S.
As for the question about “what would happen…” Well, there would be a big investigation, local and most likely the FBI and HS and they would spend lots of money trying to find out who did it and then catch them someday and then found guilty and spend lots of time in jail (using our money). But those arrested would just be replaced and kidnapping and murder would continue unabated.
Want it to stop? Stop trying to kill the soldiers and do something about the reason for the drug wars. Since we can’t take away the demand for drugs we have to take the profit out of drugs for the drug gangs. Give the profit to our government because we are going to need it under democrat rule as they are intent on spending us, our grandchildren and their children into our graves.
Papa Ray
West Texas
USA
What if the Director of the FBI were gunned down in front of the J. Edgar Hoover building in D.C.?
It’s already happened in Mexico a few months back when the head of the Federales got whacked.
Phoenix is now second only to Mexico City in the number of kidnappings and for the first time the history of this country,we’re selling kidnapping insurance.
No,things aren’t getting better and won’t for a long time.
After 30yrs bluntly refusing to deal with the border problem,expect the government to massively OVER react when the cartel war spills over to a degree the politicians cannot ignore,deny or minimize to a thoroughly pissed off public.
Legalizing drugs at this point would simply compound the problems and the public isn’t willing to accept the collateral damage from doing so.
Those scary men with guns ain’t gonna go away and sign up for a job retraining program(paid for by us,of course).
Mexico could legalize drugs in their country should they so choose.
I see no great degree of support for legalization in Mexico, the only reason they would do so is because our demand for the stuff has left them no choice. Unfortunately even if they did legalize internal trade they’d still be in hot water with the US for not blocking the international trade. Lose-lose for them.
Alternately we could legalize, but the Mexican cartels would still want in on the business and the Mexican government would either have to acquiesce to Uncle Sam’s colossal footprint again or go on fighting the good fight against what are – ultimately – cold blooded criminals.
Right now Mexico needs to send a signal to the US that they are serious. Arrest a couple dozen US college kids for drug offenses then threaten to lock them up for life.
The MSM would air a police corruption and/or brutality expose and the ACLU would sue the city/county/state and his estate on behalf of any perps arrested?
Err, which major city?
It might matter, you know.
It is not hard to imagine. I lived in the Phoenix area for several years. The government has been very generous to sanctuary cities. The new bailout takes care of illegals and less to the tax paying citizen. Want to see change? Don’t count on it. It will mess up their new voter base that the White House Censue/ACORN is going to get with the upcoming amnesty. Do I sound bitter? You bet I am. Bigger government and larger entitlement programs. Guess what form of government we just bought and paid for via this stimulus?
TO: All
RE: Why….
….does this remind me of the criminal elements in The Dark Knight?
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[Coming to an unarmed community near you…..in the not too distant future.]
The violence in Mexico should be exhibit A in the case for legalizing marijuana (leaving aside whether the case for legalization applies to other drugs; I happen to think marijuana is a special case).
The narcotraficantes make half of their income from cannabis. To follow the surge analogy, if we had it within our power to cut off half of the Mahdi army’s funds at the height of the violence in Iraq, wouldn’t we have done that? Marijuana is demonstrably less harmful than alcohol. Were it not for its prohibition there would be no money in it for Mexican gangsters. The narcotraficantes would still have revenue from cocaine and other drugs, but the loss of half their funds should go a long way toward defeating them.
Its all good – just one of the benefits of our open borders policy, courtesy of Ted Kennedy (and others). Its change you can believe in.
I rather liked the solution in one of the Tom Clancy novels – drop a 2000 lbs bomb on the head cartel guy’s hacienda. Repeat as needed.
If you want to imagine the effect that drug legalization would have on this whole situation, just think about all those violent beer and cigarette cartels that are running roughshod over the lives of ordinary citizens throughout North America.
With the possible exception of marijuana, drug companies and physicians are not going to take the liability risk associated with selling or prescribing drugs like cocaine, heroin, meth, etc. Merck just about lost their shirt on Celebrex- a drug that had clear medical benefits for many people, but was accompanied by some nasty side effects in a small percentage of patients. The “unexpected death” rate from heroin and cocaine is a lot higher than it is for Celebrex, and it’s going to be a lot harder to justify why your company is selling heroin- just to make a profit off of the poor people who are addicted? If legitimate companies and physicians won’t go near the stuff due to liability, then even if they are legalized, we’re still going to have a black market for these drugs.
Legalization may have a libertarian appeal, but it isn’t really going to solve the problem- just dress it up in a different outfit. Kidnapping has not been widepread in the US because we have aggressively investigated and prosecuted the crime- this is not the time to go wobbly.
the fresh, massive congessionally-approval stamped stimulus in the US should flood the American streets with lots of ready cash …and make available billions of $$$ available to purchase drugs (and alcohol). Looks like the Mexican cartels are about to get a huge cash infusion from the streets of America
Re: “What would happen if the police chief of a major city in the United States was kidnapped, tortured, and executed by criminals?
I’m asking because something like that occurred in Mexico over the weekend.”
The police chief of Cancun [the city in question], Velasco, is alive & well. The murdered man was a retired Army General. The police chief may be under investigation as a suspect, or associate, in the torture/killing.
JeanE Says:
“With the possible exception of marijuana, drug companies and physicians are not going to take the liability risk associated with selling or prescribing drugs like cocaine, heroin, meth, etc.”
I guess that’s why it’s so hard to get prescriptions for alcohol and cigarettes these days.
JeanE Says:
“Legalization may have a libertarian appeal, but it isn’t really going to solve the problem- just dress it up in a different outfit.”
Call me daffy, but I think I prefer the outfit the cashier at the liquor store wears, even if Al Capone’s threads were snazzier.
JeanE Says:
“Kidnapping has not been widepread in the US because we have aggressively investigated and prosecuted the crime- this is not the time to go wobbly.”
Last I checked, kidnapping is something done to me by someone else. Getting drunk or high is something I do to myself. That’s why us freedom loving folks refer to the second scenario as victimless. It turns out that when you’ve got a victim, the police get a lot more flack for not enforcing the law. Don’t expect drug dealers or addicts to complain too much about the corrupting effect of all those narcodollars on law enforcement.
I’m interested to hear though how you think we might step up the aggressiveness of enforcement from the current practice of no knock home invasions by paramilitary police units and filling prisons to overflowing with non-violent drug offenders.
Well Batman would come out that night with a vengeance, trace the Joker to the old abandoned amusement park and kick butt!
Oh wait, that was in the comics. In real life there isn’t any Joker…
Legalize drugs? That seems to be the standard non-solution. Ignore the grief that legal drugs mean. Compare it to legalized alcohol and study the DUI statistics.
Jerry, how is legalization a non-solution to a problem created by drug prohibition? These gangs have money to pay gunmen because we have created a situation where they are able to sell a weed for close to $500 an ounce. That is the source of half their income. They have power because they can hire gunmen and buy off the federales in Mexico. Without their income they have less power. It isn’t rocket science.
With your comment re DUIs, am I to understand you would ban alcohol? If not, why not?