JUAREZ WAR: CARTELS BEATING 10,000 FEDS

It is clear that drug cartels continue to rule wherever they choose in
Mexico. And for some two years now they have chosen our sister city of
Juarez.

Stopping that is a must. Trade with Mexico, via Juarez, is vital to El
Paso's economy. And we are close-knit with family and friends in
Juarez; so many of us fear a loved one will be caught in the crossfire
of bullets. Some have -- and died.

But stopping drug-lord control is also a conundrum.

Soldiers haven't stopped gangland-style murders, now about seven daily
right next door.

And not just some soldiers -- it's 7,500 soldiers plus 2,300 federal
police officers. That's 9,800 law enforcers who haven't ebbed the
rampant killings. There have been 130 just this month, and 2,300 in
the past 18 months.

Simple observation shows that neither the Mexican army nor the federal
police seem to arrest drug dealers. Why?

We have to ask the question, do they really want to?

Drug-trafficking expert Victor Clark told the Associated Press that
the thousands of soldiers and federal police do little intelligence
work.

Not only that, but Clark notes:

"I see two wars, the visible and the invisible one. The visible one is
the dead that the media reports on every day, but the dead are just
cheap labor. The invisible one is ... the business class and the
politicians who really benefit from the millions that the drug trade
generates ..."

We cannot imagine this could ever go on in El Paso, or in any U.S.
city.

No way! Almost 10,000 soldiers and police officers on our streets and
gangsters continuing to kill at will?

It has long been suspected that profits from illegal drug trading
stream into many walks of Mexican life -- and into politics and
business. Some take the money. Some look the other way.

It's a shame to say that drugs are a major part of Mexico's economy,
and that could be why soldiers and police can't beat the drug cartels.

In our case, nearly 10,000 can't stop gangsters in our sister city,
Juarez.