A DEADLY LEAK

There's a war going on, and it's not overseas.

It's just over the border.

Thirty people -- including a baby and a 4-year-old -- were murdered
recently in drug-related violence in Ciudad Juarez and Creel in the
northern Mexican state of Chihuahua.

It's not the exception anymore; it's become the rule on the
U.S.-Mexican border: 2,682 people have died this year alone in drug
violence in Mexico, most of it near the border.

When a baby and 4-year-old die at a village dance, as they did in
Creel, one would think people would pay attention. Let's hope so. Not
many news media have taken notice of the war on the border -- despite
the fact that more people have died there than on 9-11, and despite
the fact that Mexicans and even Mexican military have made raids into
U.S. territory on occasion.

Hundreds of Mexican officers have been killed, and a border agent says
at least 3,000 families have fled the violence in Ciudad Juarez for
sanctuary in America.

"In the Creel shooting," said one news report, "masked assassins armed
with AK-47 rifles opened fire on family members as they left a dance
hall. The hail of bullets claimed the lives of a 1-year-old infant as
well as three teenagers and a university professor."

The violence is aggravating the illegal immigration problem and
leaking violence into the United States.

It also shows that, despite claims to the contrary, the use of illegal
drugs is not a victimless crime. The U.S. thirst for mind-altering
illicit drugs is causing death and misery in and out of this country.

Meanwhile, the Congress' and the Bush administration's blundering,
conspiratorial reluctance to secure our border has only given
ammunition to the drug war on the border.

When will this become a big deal?