Obama: Mexican Drug War "Sowing Chaos"

President Says That He Will Not Pursue Assault Weapons Ban Despite Chaos On U.S.-Mexican Border

(CBS/AP)  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.

[TPS2]

Posted by expatriate2
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

[TPS2]

TeabagBandit
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.

[oftencensord]

""Drug violence has killed more than 10,670 people in Mexico since 2006, when President Felipe Calderon launched a national crackdown against organized crime. Most of the killings have been between rival gangs fighting turf battles. "" ....San Diego Union News

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?

[TPS2]

"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."

You cant have the United States making an effort to curb illegal immigration and Mexico doing nothing either.

[honestabe8]

expat: again, good post. i think that this process may be further along than you realize. the health issue seems to be minimal, at least from what i have read. is it a healthy thing to put smoke in your lungs? most likely not. there are other ways of taking it, though. besides, i am not aware that the healthiness of a substance is the most adventageous way of evaluating whether or not it should be legal, althought is arguably the most benign recreational drug out there, and more than many pharmaceutical drugs. the last two i think are a generational thing. the longer we go, the more people have used it and know that the government claims are hogwash. that will affect the votes of the testicularly challenged congress to make effective change. in any case, i must go for now. thanks for the talk.

[honestabe8]

expat: good post. thanks for being civil. sometimes this is lacking on these forums. in order for the commercial marketplace to develop this product (or range of products when considering all the hemp derivatives), the law would have to allow it. i know that this is an obvious statement, but i post it to reiterate that is is the criminal law that is the problem, not the consumption itself. it would be nice to be able to grow your own. i have been in a house where some was being grown. it is a fine air freshener

[honestabe8]

expat: that line should read about a huge risk of being busted by law enforcement and going to jail, not one or the other.

[honestabe8]

expat: an example would be marijuana. it grows anywhere. yet in this country, it easily runs over $1,500 for a pound of it. it would be a stretch to think that it costs anywhere near that to manufacture and distribute that same pound. there is a huge risk of going to jail, or being busted by law enforcement, so those that supply it compensate for those risks with huge profit. a parallel can be drawn between the current prohibition of "drugs" (in this example, marijuana) and alcohol prohibition of the 1920's. in both cases, the distribution of the substances was taken out of the hands of relatively honest business people and put in the hands of criminals. the capones of the 20's have been replaced by the escobars of this generation. both armed themselves to the teeth and thought nothing of offing their competition with drive by shootings that endangered the public. both prohibitions have corrupted the law enforcement and criminal justice system. this can be seen as price supports to organized crime.

[maryphillips]

.


The New York Times reports this morning that President Obama intends to make immigration ?reform? a priority this year. The Times quotes Cecilia Muñoz, 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.

[TheMasses01]

Posted by TheMasses01

You rang!?
Posted by Indeptex4

-----------------------------

That was a good post of yours I reposted.

[honestabe8]

"the high moral standards of the United States that has made it the leading drug consumer in the world is the direct cause of the crime rates of Mexico and the deaths of countless innocents."

expat: i disagree. it is not the consumption of the drugs that is "a direct cause of the crime rates of Mexico and the deaths of countless innocents", it is the prohibition of cheap agricultural products that makes them fantastically lucrative

[TheMasses01]

I do wish our "Half White Community Organizer of a President" would shut the F**k up and quit apologizing on behalf of our nation. He is such a weak and worthless summbitch. Additionally, I vehemently disagree with his comment about we US citizens sharing values and morals along with the citizens of Mexico....................that is simply laughable and no where near the truth!!

Posted by Indeptex4

[Aldymac]

pensacola, or is it pepsicola, read your post, yes, those who have their assualt weapons legally do take them "to the range and shoot" those who have them illegaly go to the closest gang war and shoot, do you have enough common sense to know the difference?
Making it easy for the criminal who owns or has in their possesion an assualt weapon a greater oppurtunity to use it for profit, is the desire of ALL who want to ban the ability of the law abiding American citizen to defend him or her self and family.
Because of a severe lack of common sense on the part of liberals, being able to defend yourself on an equal plane with a criminal or enemy will lessen the chance of having to use those weapons.
The liberal ideaology of disarming the American people for safety reasons is nothing more than a lie to creat fear in those who are suseptable any type of fear the libs can project to gain the end of the agenda they have.
Mexic can defend themselves, but if the American polititions want to send money, why should the polititions , both lawabiding and criminal, stop the flow of cash?

[honestabe8]

endurobob: what was it about the history of drug prohibition in this country that you suggested that those of us who see the current policy as failed read up on?`

[endurorob]

what you have proposed is a bandage only. If you want to solve a problem you go to the source. Make employers do hard time for hiring illegals and the problem will dry up rather quickly.......and with a helll of a lot less taxpayer expense.
Posted by ainttaken at 6:55 AM : Apr 17, 2009


It needs to be a three pronged attack. 1. We need much better security on our borders to prevent illegal entry. 2. We need to quickly deport illegals and allow/require local law enforcement to identify and arrest illegals. Also as part of 2 if an illegal has a child born in this country (which opens a whole new can of worms) when they are deported they have 2 options either take the child with them or leave the child with someone here. 3. As you said jail employers that hire illegals. The fines do nothing because they calculate that into the risk. If they faced jail time that would give them something to think about.

[drivelphobe]

As far as I'm concerned, the jerks in Washington refuse to close our borders in hot pursuit of more votes. This chaos and bloodshed from Mexico is only the beginning. The American citizenry has made it very clear that we want no more illegals in this country and we want the illegals here deported. Now with a few beheadings and spill-over carnage into our country, a little action is taken. Screw Mexico. We just gave them millions to help fight drug cartels and now Smokey Obowma wants to send them free multi-million dollar choppers and on and on.

Let's close the borders, use the military and deport all the parasites stealing from our country. No more sanctuary cities, free medical care and entitlements. Enough is enough. If not, then let the chaos continue until Washington has to take action that is demanded by WE ATHE PEOPLE! Listen to Presidente Calderon, claiming the USA needs the strength of the Mexican labor force. What a joke. We need to put our own people to work at a decent wage.

[honestabe8]

hawksprings: they all lie, left and right.

[honestabe8]

mortar: just another cost of our "drug war"

[hawksprings]

THe Media and the Left (which are basically the same thing) have an agenda to force more gun control on us, so we'll keep hearing the lie that most of Mexican gangs' guns come from the US.

Lie on, Obama.

[endurorob]

He (Obama) said he is asking Congress to provide money for Black Hawk helicopters and surveillance equipment Mexico has long sought for its drug war.

Despite the innacurate news reporting the majority of the weapons the cartels have are being smuggle across from the U.S., those make up less than 25%. Many of the weapons the cartels do use come from Mexican soldiers that have deserted and joined the cartels or have just sold them tot he cartels and from higher ups in the military selling them to the cartel. What would a cartel be able to do with a black hawk.