HELP FIGHT THE CARTELS

The Bush administration plan for massive U.S. aid to help Mexico
fight its drug cartels is a wise investment in our national security.

It should become a bipartisan priority in Congress.

Mexico is a major supplier of illegal drugs to the U.S., but the
danger doesn't end there. Drug violence in Mexico is a threat to our
neighbor's stability, and it is beginning to jump the line and become
a bloody reality in U.S. border communities.

Violence escalated following Mexican President Felipe Calderon's
crackdown on the cartels, but no one would urge him to back off.
These criminal organizations represent an enemy that must be engaged
and defeated.

Calderon says breaking the cartels is his top priority and he
recognizes the value of U.S. participation. That's unprecedented in
Mexico, which has long viewed U.S. foreign aid as a threat to its sovereignty.

Accepting responsibility is also a welcome change in Mexico's
attitude. In the past, our southern neighbor sought to escape
culpability for its role in supplying drugs to the U.S. market by
blaming the U.S. user. No doubt the demand side needs to be addressed
through better education, prevention and treatment in this country.

But the U.S. should seize the opportunity to help Calderon fight the
supply side.

Calderon demonstrated his good faith by extraditing drug lords to the
U.S. and sharing information. He sent as many as 20,000 troops and
federal police against the cartels since he took office. The cartels
responded with astonishing violence.

More than 2,100 people have been killed in drug wars in Mexico since
the first of the year, according to a report released this month by
Texas Gov. Rick Perry's Border Security Council.

That equals the death toll for all of 2006. In 2005, 1,543 were
killed. The dead include chiefs of police and newspaper editors who
crossed the drug lords.

The report says the violence is spreading into the United States as
Mexican cartels battle for control of key border entryways into the
lucrative U.S. drug market.

Congress is scheduled to discuss Bush's proposal today in the House
subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. The price tag is huge.

Bush wants as much as $1.4 billion over the next three years. Aid
would buy equipment and expertise, but there would be no direct U.S.
military involvement.

The plan also calls for cooperation between U.S. and Mexican
officials to stop the flow of U.S. weapons into Mexico, where they
become part of the cartels' arsenals.

The aid plan, called the "Merida Initiative," should be welcome in
Congress. Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas introduced a bill
earlier this year to send $850 million over five years to Mexico to
fight drug cartels. What's more, a group of Democratic House members
traveled to Mexico earlier this month to discuss the plan with
Mexican officials.

Unfortunately, Bush tied the Merida Initiative to continued funding
for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Democrats may stall that
funding, thus delaying the Mexican aid.

This initiative should not get lost in a political battle over a
separate issue. The Merida Initiative should be split off and
considered separately.

This can be a powerful bipartisan move against Mexican drug cartels
and the poison and violence they peddle.