A SIGN OF DESPAIR IN THE DRUG WAR

Business groups in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, are
submitting requests to the Mexican government and the Inter-American
Human Rights Commission seeking United Nations peacekeepers to help
quell drug-related violence.

It's difficult not to sympathize with their plight.

The Associated Press reported that in 2009, Ciudad Juarez -- a city
of 1.5 million people -- had endured 1,986 homicides through
mid-October. On average, that's about seven homicides a day, making
Ciudad Juarez one of the most dangerous cities in the world.

Who is being killed? Not just foot soldiers of the powerful Juarez
and Sinaloa cartels fighting for control of the drug trade. An
off-duty U.S. airman from Holloman AFB near Alamogordo, N.M., was
among six people slain at a Ciudad Juarez bar this month. In
September, 28 people were killed in attacks on two drug rehabilitation centers.

The situation is so bad that the Mexican military patrols the streets
of Ciudad Juarez. But the business groups representing the retail and
maquiladora industries that are suffering from two years of
escalating violence believe international help is needed.

"There is a lot of extortions and robberies of businesses," the
president of the Ciudad Juarez chapter of the National Chamber of
Commerce, Services and Tourism told the press service. "Many
businesses are closing."

It's unlikely the Mexican government would accede to the request, and
just as unlikely that the Security Council would be able to commit
U.N. peacekeepers if asked. One of the lessons of global peacekeeping
missions in recent years is that U.N. forces are only effective in
keeping the peace where there is actually a peace to be kept.

That's not the case in Ciudad Juarez and other Mexican cities racked
by drug violence. The cartels have armies as well or better equipped
than most militia and rebel groups around the world. The government
of Mexican President Felipe Calderon is engaged in a true war with
those cartels.

There's no role now for peacekeepers, unfortunately. The plea from
the business community in Ciudad Juarez is a warning sign of just how
perilous the struggle against the cartels really is.