LAWLESS JUAREZ: RAMPANT MURDERS CONTINUE

Official claims that things will get better in drug-war-ravaged Juarez
are wearing thin. One-thousand murders this year -- on a course for
2,000! Never in the history of the U.S. has there been such a lawless
city.

In the so-called untamed Old West, you knew you'd be safe as long as
you didn't mosey into the proverbial Long Branch on a Friday night.

In Juarez, cartel gangsters do their shooting morning, afternoon and
night -- restaurants, shopping malls and even drug-rehab centers.

In what city in the world is there that much war going on? Kabul?
Baghdad?

If so, Juarez is right along with those cities considered the most
dangerous to the welfare of its citizens on Earth.

There's no reason to believe Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz is not
doing all he can to bring law back to his city. But his statement that
Joint Operation Chihuahua is not a failure ... it's a failure.

There are hundreds of new police officers in Juarez. There are several
thousand federal police and Mexican army soldiers on the streets.

And it's getting worse in our sister city.

As the work week began, there had been 23 murders. And that was before
all the tallying was in Tuesday evening.

Bodies are being found in trunks of cars with Texas plates. One man's
head was found in a box inside a Volkswagen Jetta.

Perhaps some of the world analysts are correct when they determine
that not enough influential people do enough to curb the drug cartels.
Some businessmen, they say, might not be directly involved in the
drugs, but they are profiting from the multi-billion-dollar industry
nonetheless.

There are no denials that Mexican government officials, past and
present, are in the pockets of the drug cartels.

This Juarez war began some two years ago when rival drug cartels began
killing each other in a battle for control. It was gangster gunning
down gangster.

Now, with 1,000 killed in six months this year, after some 1,600
killed in 2008, more than just members of gangland fear for their lives.

It's not getting better in Juarez. It's obviously getting worse.