Obama: Mexican Drug War "Sowing Chaos"
Traders are seen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. / CBS/File
Acknowledging a Mexican drug war that is "sowing chaos in our communities," President Barack Obama signaled Thursday he will not seek the reinstatement of a U.S. assault weapons ban but instead step up enforcement of existing laws against taking such weapons across the border.
Despite a campaign promise to see the lapsed ban renewed, Obama was bowing to the reality that to do so would be unpopular in politically key U.S. states and among Republicans as well as some conservative Democrats.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon, conducting an aggressive fight against drug cartels, had hoped to persuade Obama to push the reinstatement.
Obama, on a swift visit here meant to bolster Calderon in his drug fight, countered the disappointment for his Mexican host with a pledge to push Congress to finally act on an inter-American weapons treaty that has languished in the Senate since 1998. He said he is asking Congress to provide money for Black Hawk helicopters and surveillance equipment Mexico has long sought for its drug war.
"We are absolutely committed to working in partnership with Mexico to make sure that we are dealing with this scourge on both sides of the border," Obama said after meeting with Calderon.
"You can't fight this war with just one hand," he said. "You can't have Mexico making an effort and the United States not making an effort."
Obama's meetings with Calderon also spanned the economic crisis, immigration and clean energy.
But the escalating drug fight in Mexico, which is spilling over into the United States and alarming border communities, was the dominant topic.
Earlier, Calderon greeted Obama to the presidential residence, Los Pinos, with an acknowledgment of the costs "to turn Mexico into a safer country." Citing a visit a half-century ago by President John F. Kennedy, Calderon called for a new era of cooperation between the neighboring countries.
"In order for Mexico to grow and prosper, Mexico needs the United States' investments, and the United States of America needs the strength of the Mexican labor force," Calderon said.
The escalating drug fight in Mexico is spilling into the United States, and confronting Mr. Obama with an international crisis much closer than North Korea or Afghanistan. Mexico is the main hub for cocaine and other drugs entering the U.S., and the United States is the primary source of guns used in Mexico's drug-related killings.
Mexican drug trafficking organizations don't just pose a threat on the border, where the drugs enter the U.S., CBS News White House correspondent Bill Plante reports that the cartels now control virtually all of the retail distribution networks inside the U.S. - in large and small cities across the country.
But Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano, also in Mexico City Thursday, told CBS Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez the reason for Mr. Obama's visit was "not about pointing fingers, it's about solving a problem."
She said both countries share "mutual" blame for the bloodshed - a comment Mr. Obama echoed Thursday.
Interviewed Wednesday by CNN en Espanol, Mr. Obama said Calderon was doing a "heroic job" in his battle with the cartels.
As for the U.S. role, Mr. Obama said, "We are going to be dealing not only with drug interdiction coming north, but also working on helping to curb the flow of cash and guns going south."
Napolitano said consultations with Mexico are "not about pointing fingers, it's about solving a problem: What can we do to prevent the flow of guns and cash south that fuel these cartels?"
Mr. Obama's overnight Mexican stop came on the way to the Summit of the Americas in the two-island Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago, where he hopes to set a new tone for relations with Latin America.
"We will renew and sustain a broader partnership between the United States and the hemisphere on behalf of our common prosperity and our common security," he wrote in an Op-ed column printed in a dozen newspapers throughout the region.
In the past, Mr. Obama said, America has been "too easily distracted by other priorities" while leaders throughout the Americas have been "mired in the old debates of the past."
More than 10,000 people have been killed in Mexico in drug-related violence since Calderon's stepped-up effort against the cartels began in 2006. The State Department says contract killings and kidnappings on U.S. soil, carried out by Mexican drug cartels, are on the rise as well.
A U.S. military report just five months ago raised the specter of Mexico collapsing into a failed state with its government under siege. It named only one other country in such a worst-case scenario: Pakistan. The assertion incensed Mexican officials; Obama's team disavowed it.
Indeed, the Obama administration has gone the other direction, showering attention on Mexico.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in Mexico City that the U.S. shared responsibility for the drug war. She said America's "insatiable demand" for illegal drugs fueled the trade and that the U.S. had an "inability" to stop weapons from being smuggled south.
CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan recently wrote in the World Watch blog that Mexico essentially has two separate economies - the legal one and the illegal one, fueled by the narcotics trade and governed by the cartels. The problem, reported Logan, is that the cartels enjoy more wealth and more power than the country's legitimate leadership.
Mr. Obama has dispatched hundreds of federal agents, along with high-tech surveillance gear and drug-sniffing dogs, to the Southwest to help Mexico fight drug cartels. He sent Congress a war-spending request that made room for $350 million for security along the U.S.-Mexico border. He added three Mexican organizations to a list of suspected international drug kingpins. He dispatched three Cabinet secretaries to Mexico. And he just named a "border czar."
The Justice Department says such Mexican drug trafficking organizations represent the greatest organized crime threat to the United States.
© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Despite a campaign promise to see the lapsed ban renewed, Obama was bowing to the reality that to do so would be unpopular in politically key U.S. states and among Republicans as well as some conservative Democrats.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon, conducting an aggressive fight against drug cartels, had hoped to persuade Obama to push the reinstatement.
Obama, on a swift visit here meant to bolster Calderon in his drug fight, countered the disappointment for his Mexican host with a pledge to push Congress to finally act on an inter-American weapons treaty that has languished in the Senate since 1998. He said he is asking Congress to provide money for Black Hawk helicopters and surveillance equipment Mexico has long sought for its drug war.
"We are absolutely committed to working in partnership with Mexico to make sure that we are dealing with this scourge on both sides of the border," Obama said after meeting with Calderon.
"You can't fight this war with just one hand," he said. "You can't have Mexico making an effort and the United States not making an effort."
Obama's meetings with Calderon also spanned the economic crisis, immigration and clean energy.
But the escalating drug fight in Mexico, which is spilling over into the United States and alarming border communities, was the dominant topic.
Earlier, Calderon greeted Obama to the presidential residence, Los Pinos, with an acknowledgment of the costs "to turn Mexico into a safer country." Citing a visit a half-century ago by President John F. Kennedy, Calderon called for a new era of cooperation between the neighboring countries.
"In order for Mexico to grow and prosper, Mexico needs the United States' investments, and the United States of America needs the strength of the Mexican labor force," Calderon said.
The escalating drug fight in Mexico is spilling into the United States, and confronting Mr. Obama with an international crisis much closer than North Korea or Afghanistan. Mexico is the main hub for cocaine and other drugs entering the U.S., and the United States is the primary source of guns used in Mexico's drug-related killings.
Mexican drug trafficking organizations don't just pose a threat on the border, where the drugs enter the U.S., CBS News White House correspondent Bill Plante reports that the cartels now control virtually all of the retail distribution networks inside the U.S. - in large and small cities across the country.
But Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano, also in Mexico City Thursday, told CBS Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez the reason for Mr. Obama's visit was "not about pointing fingers, it's about solving a problem."
She said both countries share "mutual" blame for the bloodshed - a comment Mr. Obama echoed Thursday.
Interviewed Wednesday by CNN en Espanol, Mr. Obama said Calderon was doing a "heroic job" in his battle with the cartels.
As for the U.S. role, Mr. Obama said, "We are going to be dealing not only with drug interdiction coming north, but also working on helping to curb the flow of cash and guns going south."
Napolitano said consultations with Mexico are "not about pointing fingers, it's about solving a problem: What can we do to prevent the flow of guns and cash south that fuel these cartels?"
Mr. Obama's overnight Mexican stop came on the way to the Summit of the Americas in the two-island Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago, where he hopes to set a new tone for relations with Latin America.
"We will renew and sustain a broader partnership between the United States and the hemisphere on behalf of our common prosperity and our common security," he wrote in an Op-ed column printed in a dozen newspapers throughout the region.
In the past, Mr. Obama said, America has been "too easily distracted by other priorities" while leaders throughout the Americas have been "mired in the old debates of the past."
More than 10,000 people have been killed in Mexico in drug-related violence since Calderon's stepped-up effort against the cartels began in 2006. The State Department says contract killings and kidnappings on U.S. soil, carried out by Mexican drug cartels, are on the rise as well.
A U.S. military report just five months ago raised the specter of Mexico collapsing into a failed state with its government under siege. It named only one other country in such a worst-case scenario: Pakistan. The assertion incensed Mexican officials; Obama's team disavowed it.
| Photos: Mexico Border Violence Drug-related violence along the U.S.-Mexico border has spiked in recent months(Photo: AP) |
Indeed, the Obama administration has gone the other direction, showering attention on Mexico.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in Mexico City that the U.S. shared responsibility for the drug war. She said America's "insatiable demand" for illegal drugs fueled the trade and that the U.S. had an "inability" to stop weapons from being smuggled south.
CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan recently wrote in the World Watch blog that Mexico essentially has two separate economies - the legal one and the illegal one, fueled by the narcotics trade and governed by the cartels. The problem, reported Logan, is that the cartels enjoy more wealth and more power than the country's legitimate leadership.
Mr. Obama has dispatched hundreds of federal agents, along with high-tech surveillance gear and drug-sniffing dogs, to the Southwest to help Mexico fight drug cartels. He sent Congress a war-spending request that made room for $350 million for security along the U.S.-Mexico border. He added three Mexican organizations to a list of suspected international drug kingpins. He dispatched three Cabinet secretaries to Mexico. And he just named a "border czar."
The Justice Department says such Mexican drug trafficking organizations represent the greatest organized crime threat to the United States.
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The U.S. has requested and suggested that Mexico make necessary reforms to to strengthen its economy and reduce illegal immigration.
The Mexican government most certainly encourages illegal immigration. Mexican consulates issue Matricula Consular cards to Mexican nationals in the U.S. without verifying immigration status. Some suggested reading for you below. Here ends your lesson!
Testimony of Steve McCraw, Assistant Director of The Office of Intelligence, FBI
Before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims on Consular ID Cards
June 26, 2003
"Consular ID Cards in a Post-9/11 World"
www.fbi.gov/congress/congress03/mccraw062603.htm
You did not see the words totalitarian, arrest or detain in my post, nor was it implied. The Mexican government asked the United States government for assistance in combating the drug cartels, which obviously is in each respective nation's best interest. President Obama immediately pledged assets and logistics to assist Mexico. President Calderon asked President Obama to help stem the flow of weapons into Mexico, which President Obama agreed to do. The point is the U.S. government has asked the Mexican government for assistance in curbing illegal immigration; those requests fell on deaf ears. Instead the Mexican government encouraged illegal immigration. It is in America?s best interests to help prevent Mexico from becoming a failed state, no question. However, we must ask ourselves, if it is in America?s best interests to allow unchecked illegal immigration into this country? How long will an already strained social service system be able to sustain operations at the current rate? Furthermore, who is going to pay for it? The U.S. government considered requests made by the Mexican government and chose to act upon them. The Mexican government should give our requests the same consideration. Quid pro quo.
The gang violence aspect of CBS's story was left out... why? Don't you think who is being killed and by whom is important in providing accurate news reporting? The CBS propaganda editor must have been given a play book from Obama on exactly how to spin the story ! Why are we all of sudden trashing Mexico with sensational news reporting about gang violence that has been going on for years. Are you "news guys" supposed to be manufacturing a feeling of threat from Mexico now? Do you realize the impact that could have on their vital tourist industry?
There are over a million such gang members right here in the USA., how many killings have they done in the same time period?
You cant have the United States making an effort to curb illegal immigration and Mexico doing nothing either.
The New York Times reports this morning that President Obama intends to make immigration ?reform? a priority this year. The Times quotes Cecilia Mu?oz, deputy assistant to the president and director of intergovernmental affairs in the White House, calling for ?policy reform that controls immigration and makes it an orderly system.?
Translating through the policy speak, Ms. Munoz is calling for amnesty. But what she is not calling for is any sort of fence, to secure the U.S.-Mexican border. Amnesty + No Fence is a formula for disaster.
According to a recent Rasmussen Reports national survey, most Americans support the continued construction of a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border and the use of the military, if necessary, in border areas.
But that?s the liberal Democratic agenda (shared by some Republicans, unfortunately), and it must be stopped. Open border advocates and some in Congress are urging Obama to stop construction of the 670 mile fence along the Mexican border.
Others are even pushing for the fence to be completely dismantled, ignoring the will of the American people who overwhelmingly rejected the McCain-Kennedy amnesty plan in 2007 and instead supported border security.
Why are our elected representatives so pre-occupied with assisting foreigners?
Americans have repeatedly voiced their outrage at our Congress addressing the issue of legalizing those here illegally. Do not ignore the wishes of your constituents.
I agree whole-heartedly with our government ridding America of illegal?s
that show no respect for my country and its laws. These people only believe
in themselves and show nothing but contempt for us.
Now, Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton have made fools of Americans with their outrageous and ignorant statements and Mexico will receive aid from us for situation that is of their own making. Do they plan to reimburse the American taxpayer for all is cost us to apprehend, detain and deport their citizens? Will Europeans, who are also targets of Mexican and South Americans drug cartels, agree to donate money to those governments? I sincerely doubt it.
I have witnessed average Americans applying for assistance from government agencies and was shocked and angered at the contempt that was directed at those seeking help. People were harassed and insulted, spoken to as if they were garbage. This attitude is apparently the norm. The thinking is that, from what I guess, is that the poor and needy are indeed garbage and deserve a contemptuous attitude. I read a newspaper article concerning a woman dying of cancer who requested assistance since she could no longer work, after she had died asking for help, the doctor received more forms to fill out. A neighbor of mine is handicapped and in a wheelchair and was originally denied social security and now the agency is attempting to cut his benefits. When my father was critically injured in a fire at the chemical plant where he worked, he was also denied benefits originally. There are people in this country who are permanently disabled yet are expected to live on less than $600.00 a month. All this while the US Congress contributes billions abroad.
You rang!?
Posted by Indeptex4
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That was a good post of yours I reposted.