TERROR THREAT NEXT DOOR

We Can't Ignore Drug Violence Just Across Border

If al-Qaeda were at the U.S. border kidnapping and decapitating
people while circulating videos of its exploits, Americans would be
apoplectic. It would mean that terrorists were no longer "over there"
in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq, but instead right at our doorstep.

For some reason, though, this country doesn't seem terribly alarmed
that Mexican drug cartels are kidnapping, torturing and even
beheading their victims - and posting videos of it on the Internet.
They've established border-area training camps and amassed arsenals
of assault rifles, grenades and armor-piercing ammunition.

Mexico has deployed about 22,000 troops and federal agents to major
border and coastal zones in the past 15 months, including 2,500
troops and federal agents sent last week to Ciudad Juarez.

That far exceeds the U.S. troop commitment in Afghanistan after the
9/11 attacks. But since this is the war on drugs, our nation seems
not to be terribly concerned. We should be. It's time for a change in
psychology because this threat is real, it's imminent, and it's
happening right next door.

Nearly 200 people have died in Ciudad Juarez this year in a
mafia-style turf battle between rival cartels.

After listing several high-profile assassinations of Mexican
officials as well as U.S. citizens caught up in the violence, Thomas
A. Shannon, an assistant secretary of state, told a congressional
panel in February, "We can no longer just warn of this violence
spilling over into the United States; we must acknowledge that it has."

For our side of the border, this remains strictly a law enforcement
problem and does not require a military response. But we do believe
Congress needs to act quickly on President Bush's Merida Initiative
request of $1.4 billion to help Mexico and Central America train
police and coordinate programs to fight the cartels. And this country
must stop handicapping our neighbors by failing to halt the flow of
U.S. weapons and laundered money that fuels these gangs.

Let's face it: Drug gangsters are drawing straight from al-Qaeda's
playbook to terrorize the Mexican public. If it's unacceptable
overseas, we certainly shouldn't tolerate it next door.