U.S. NEEDS TO HELP MEXICO STOP THE DRUG CARTELS

Three years into his war with drug cartels, Mexican President Felipe
Calderon has finally scored a major victory. Last week, his special
forces killed top drug lord Arturo Beltran Leyva, a.k.a. "The Boss of
Bosses." With Leyva's defeat, Calderon punched a hole in one of
Mexico's biggest cartels.

But while Calderon won an important battle, he's still in danger of
losing the war.

Leyva's death will throw his cartel into chaos, and the ensuing battle
for power among his deputies could be brutal, drawing in civilians and
the police.

There's also a good chance that the death may just strengthen Mexico's
five other major cartels as they move in to take over Leyva's market
share. Those battles, too, could prove to be as devastating as the
havoc Leyva unleashed on his fellow Mexicans.

Meanwhile, Calderon is using a conventional strategy to win an
unconventional war, and it's failing. Heavily armed though they may
be, the cartels' greatest weapon is simple human greed. Over the past
three years, they've managed to infiltrate every aspect of Mexican
society.

Officials routinely arrest cartel associates who moonlight as beauty
queens, Grammy award winners, and local police chiefs. It's telling
that Leyva's defeat came at the hands of the Mexican navy. Both
Mexico's far-larger army and its police force are riddled with
turncoats and cartel agents. If Calderon can't trust his own forces,
how can he hope to win this long, painful war of attrition?

The cartels continue to expand their reach into the United States,
their biggest market. Federal officials have noticed that the cartels
have stepped up their efforts to corrupt the border police, many of
whom grew up in border towns and know people in both countries.
Federal officials claim that they don't have the money to issue
polygraph screenings for more than a small fraction of their border
police recruits. The result is more smuggled drugs - and more violence
- in both countries. Bodies continue to pop up on both sides of the
border with frightening regularity.

There are many ways the United States could assist Calderon - and
protect U.S. citizens, too. Officials should start with those
polygraph screenings - we shouldn't hire anyone who we can't afford to
test. Stopping the flow of guns and weapons from the United States
into the cartels' hands should be another priority. The cartels have
proven their ruthlessness, and they're not afraid to bring their
battles here.