THIS IS OUR WAR TOO

After a mass grave's 218th body was discovered in Mexico on May 15,
Americans buzzed over newspapers' latest headlines: The Terminator's
sex scandal. Violence in Mexico is as energized as ever and Americans
have barely batted an eye. It's their war, not mine.

We know of the drug war. We know of the drug cartels, the torture,
the political assassinations, the mass graves brimming with murder,
and executions posted on YouTube. This is the drug war we know. This
is the Mexico we know.

The U.S. is a star player in the drug war. However, when it comes
time to play an active role in ending the game, the U.S. suddenly
calls timeout. Time to sit on the sidelines.

Newspaper headlines and public rhetoric call it "Mexico's Drug War."
Americans have seemingly left themselves out of the equation.
Mexico's narco-tale is dismissed as simply being corruption-driven.
But in this war, benign corruption is grossly amplified by America's
substantial role on both sides of the supply-demand formula.

Americans arm the cartels. More than 20,000 weapons - roughly 87
percent of the firearms seized by Mexican authorities - have been
traced to the U.S. over the past five years, according to the Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).

Earlier this year, the ATF - the agency responsible for preventing
U.S. weapons snaking into Mexico - came under fire for allegedly
selling firearms to known Mexican criminals. Blithely named "Fast and
Furious," the secret operation aimed to track the smuggling route of
firearms. But when the guns crossed the border, ATF agents allegedly
lost track of the breadcrumbs.

And we don't just help supply the drug war; we demand it.

Mexican drug trafficking organizations are estimated to generate
between $1 and $2 billion annually from exporting marijuana to the
U.S. That doesn't even include the high volume of methamphetamine,
cocaine, and other drugs smuggled to eager American consumers.

We aren't giving the drug war the attention it deserves. Since
President Felipe Calderon declared Mexico's war on drugs almost five
years ago, more than 35,000 people have been murdered. This is
essentially equivalent to adding together the total American
fatalities in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars -- five times.

Through the Merida Initiative, President Obama has thrown $1.4
billion at the problem. The majority of this money is earmarked for
Calderon's all-out military strategy, such as training and arming
"community action programs." These U.S. drug funds seem to be doing
little more than fire-hosing live ammo into Calderon's roaring cauldron.

As one would expect from a purely military strategy, since the U.S.
increased funding violence has dramatically spiked. In 2010, Mexico
suffered its bloodiest year with a 60 percent jump in murders from
the previous year, according to a new database by the Mexican government.

Last year, President Obama promised to "reduce drug use and the great
damage it causes" with a new national policy that would focus more on
prevention and treatment. This never happened.

Mexicans are fed up, the Zapatistas are back in action enraged as
ever, and many Americans remain apathetic.

The murder of poet Javier Sicilia's son last March sparked thousands
to march in Mexico's capital on May 8, protesting the war on drugs.

According to The Nation, Sicilia criticized the U.S., telling the
crowd "Their multimillion-dollar market for drug consumption, their
banks and businesses that launder money in complicity with ours,
their arms industry--more lethal than drugs, for being so evident and
expansionist--whose weapons come into our country, not only
strengthen criminal groups, but also provide them with an immense
capacity for carnage."

"The United States has designed a security policy whose logic
responds fundamentally to its global interests, and Mexico has been
trapped within it," he said.

America's picture of Mexico is too often broad-brushed as a vivid red
bloodbath. Mexico is watched like a summer blockbuster where drug
cartels are the shady characters and corruption is the narrative. We
have detached Mexico, and consequently fail to accurately assess the
truth next door.

The majority of the violence takes place not under, but at our noses
- - the U.S. border - a clear indication that the U.S. has something to
do with instigating the war.

Last June, the New York Times reported that many universities were
halting their study abroad programs in Mexico in response to
drug-related violence.

In the article, Geoffrey Braswell, an anthropology professor gave the
perfect analogy. During the 1968 Democratic convention, Braswell said
he would not have considered taking students to Chicago. "But other
parts of the U.S. were of course safe for travel. Mexico is that way," he said.

Last year I studied in Merida, a city located in a Mexican state with
a murder rate comparable to that of Wyoming and Montana. Unaware of
the minimal crime rate, people warned me to "be careful not to get
kidnapped" and to beware of drug cartels.

I am saddened at how we have so ignorantly distanced ourselves from
the problem. Instead of instilling political will within the
government, we have increased motivation for the drug cartels. Many
journalists and government officials have allowed the cartels to take
control. They are afraid for their lives.

The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.

Like it or not, this is just as much our war as it is theirs. It is
time to stop turning a blind-eye to this madness, even if for the
selfish reason that the extremely long thin border will not much
longer hold back the overwhelming tsunami of blood. Things fall apart.

If we don't take responsibility for our actions, don't allow the drug
war to play a critical role in policy discussions, and don't demand a
comprehensive approach from the government, then blood will only
continue to spill. As much of this blood is on our hands, I can't
help but ask: Where is the promised leadership?

Where is our call to action?