GROWING FEARS ON THE SOUTHERN BORDER

America is casting a wary eye on Mexico, not because of the toxic
national debate over immigration or about trade policy, but because
of crime. Fears about narcotics-related violence have begun to tilt
American policy in a way that the other debates haven't.

Mexico is plagued by drug-fueled warfare, as Mexican government
officials admit. President Felipe Calderon says 6,000 people died in
drug violence in Mexico last year -- 1,600 of them in Ciudad Juarez,
across the border from El Paso, Texas. Another 1,000 people have been
killed in drug violence so far this year.

Yet this is not an exclusively Mexican problem. The drugs may be
found in Mexico, but most of the weapons come from the United States.
So does much of the cash. And the violence threatens citizens of both
countries.

The State Department issued a travelers' alert last month warning
visitors of a spike in carjackings, robberies, assaults and murders,
including full-scale, daylight gunbattles. The rise in violence has
led the U.S. Mission in Mexico to forbid non-essential travel in the
regions of Durango and Coahuila.

Much of the increased violence is the result of Calderon's crackdown
on drug cartels. He has sent Mexican troops into some hot spots in an
effort to root out the most dangerous traffickers. This has spawned
fights between government troops and drug lords, but also among drug
lords themselves as they compete for control of lucrative routes.

For taking on the drug trade, Calderon has won the praise and
promises of support of U.S. officials from President Barack Obama to
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

On NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said
the United States has begun to set aside its long-standing "biases
against cooperation" with Mexico because of the seriousness of the
problem. He said the U.S. military may be in a position to provide
some help with intelligence and other resources.

The United States recognizes that the violence not only poses an
immediate danger, but threatens future security as well. U.S. Marine
Corps officers at The Basic School in Quantico, Va., show visitors a
pair of slides that show Mexico colored amber, meaning they see it as
a source of potential instability and conflict, based on the
escalation of drug-based violence. Much of this is because the
country could become a corridor for Latin American drug crime and unrest.

The problem demonstrates, as Obama said recently, that homeland
security is indistinguishable from national security. The governments
of the United States and Mexico must cooperate to subdue the drug
trade, even militarily.

Suppressing the flow of drugs, after all, is one of the central
missions of the U.S. military in Afghanistan -- a nation on the other
side of the world. How much more important is it when the nation is
right next door?