CITY COUNCIL: TOUGH-TALKING RESOLUTION WAS NEEDED

El Paso City Council voted Tuesday to condemn the violence that
continues to bloody the streets, homes and businesses of Juarez. It's
about time.

One contentious paragraph, advocating the legalization of marijuana in
the United States as one way of combating the violence, was voted out
of the final resolution, as it should have been. That's another
discussion for another time. But the final resolution made a number of
important points.

There is a call for a meeting between President Obama and Mexican
President Felipe Calderon here to address the violence and drug
problems. That's good because there's no evidence that Juarez
drug-related violence is even on Obama's radar screen. What's going on
in Juarez and elsewhere along the border should be of deep interest to
the administration. A visit by Obama to the border and a visit with
Calderon might help demonstrate the importance of the border situation.

Another point in the resolution reads, "We urge comprehensive
re-examination of our country's failed War on Drugs ...." The war on
drugs has taken a back seat to such matters as health reform, which is
more politically interesting to our lawmakers than the drug war. That
should be rethought.

Also in the resolution: "We oppose militaristic approaches like Plan
Merida ..." The plan provides about $1.4 billion over three years to
Mexico in various forms of aid. Although U.S. federal elected and
appointed officials defend the idea, there's little or no evidence the
plan is working.

The final point in the resolution reads, "We demand that Mexico be
made the number one foreign policy priority for the United States."

While that's hardly likely, given various levels of U.S. involvement
with Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, Russia, China and the rest
of the world, perhaps the very demand will serve to get some attention.

It's good that this resolution is going to be made part of El Paso's
federal and state legislative agendas. Perhaps that will gain some
needed attention.

The federal government cannot afford to just look the other way and
hope the border violence will go away. It's not going away. It's
getting worse, and it's time -- past time -- for the government to
stop wasting time and taxpayer money on initiatives that don't and
won't work.

Confronting and solving border violence must become a priority.