News of men in soldier’s garb, ostensibly Mexican soldiers, assisting in the getaway of  Mexican marijuana smugglers along the Rio Bravo some fifty miles east of El Paso, started a discussion on border related issues at the Agonist.

Here is the thread for those interested. You’ll find links to the original story and also a radio excerpt from NPR at the link.

Sean-Paul Kelly, a friend of mine and also editor of The Agonist recently drew my attention to a very good book. I decided to read it and after having done so, feel compelled to do the same for others.

State of War is nothing short of an indictment of George W. bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld.

In it, you will learn the following:

Problems with my teeth once again sent me to Ciudad Acuña and my favorite dentist. I like the guy for a number of reasons: he’s a no-nonsense kind of guy and he’s good. He’s also is a lot cheaper than his counterparts here in the US.

Acuña has always been and remains a dangerous place, but not so much for those interested in shopping or there on legitimate business. Most that have trouble are looking for sex or drugs, or are there drunk, late at night.

As my wife and I were leaving on foot to cross the bridge, we passed by a line of taxis waiting to take people back to the US. I told the guy we were going to walk. His reply: “Thanks for visiting our country and please come back.”

My initial thought: Wonder how many Mexicans hear that on their way home from the US?

Just food for thought.

I have decided that my disagreement with many of those calling for legalization is not whether it should be done, but what legalization would look like, or rather, how it should be implemented.

In my opinion Charles Bowden is the strongest voice in our land concerning this issue.

At the link, you will find an interview, almost an hour long, conducted in Salt Lake City, Utah over a FM radio station, concerning Bowden's latest book, A Shadow in the City.

Take my word on it: This is well worth your time.

KUER News

Following are links to NPR interviews of Charles Bowden and the subject of his book, an undercover narc who uses the name Joey O'Shay.

O'Shay is not your ordinary narc: not by a long shot.

Part I

Part II

Part III

I posted this at the Agonist. Thought a few here might enjoy it as well.

I am tired of arguing against current policy on the war on drugs, tired of being rejected by my own, tired of finding myself included in the groups we hate, like Negroes that act like Negroes, Mexicans and other Spanish speakers, Arabs, Islamists, Liberals, Communists, French, athiests, Russians, slant-eyed races, agnostics and terrorists. (My apologies to any of the above willing to act like decent Chrisitan white folk.)

So today I argue on behalf of continuing our current policy in the world. Being as how my primary field or expertise is the war on drugs, I will begin there.

Link to the Agonist article

The following is a very good and courageous report where mainstream media is concerned. Hats off to the reporters and to the editor that allows this to run.

Leaders cite arrests, seizures, but some say price has been violence

12:50 PM CDT on Monday, July 4, 2005

By LENNOX SAMUELS and LAURENCE ILIFF / The Dallas Morning News

 MEXICO CITY – Mexico finally is fighting the war on drugs that the U.S. government has demanded for decades: a frontal assault on drug barons, their organizations and their merchandise, using the police and military in concert with U.S. intelligence.

The results, Mexican and U.S. authorities say, have been impressive. Forty-six thousand people jailed on drug charges, President Vicente Fox said in a recent speech, 97 tons of cocaine seized, more than a million marijuana plants destroyed. It's been four years, Mr. Fox and U.S. officials said, of steady progress.

But a rising chorus of voices in Mexico and the U.S. says the real results are record levels of violence, instability and corruption in Mexico, resurgent drug cartels, nearly 200 dead police officers and soldiers, along with millions of wasted dollars in a country where half the population of 105 million is poor. Mexico receives almost no aid from the U.S. government.

And the result in the U.S.? No noticeable drop in the supply of cheap drugs – and an actual decline in the price of cocaine, according to a new U.N. report.

It may come as a surprise to some that the only governor to actually try to get marijuana legalized in the United States was a Republican governor (Johnson) from the state of New Mexico. This stance may have cost him his job.

And now one of the more courageous voices in our congress is a Republican with strong leanings toward libertarian philosophy--Ron Paul--from the state of Texas, no less.

Aside from being a strong opponent of the Iraq war, he does not like spending money on the war on drugs in Colombia.

By Charles Bowden

reviewed by Don Henry Ford Jr.

Bowden’s latest sheds light on a dark subject—the life and times of Joey O’Shay, a man who fought on the front lines of this thing we call the war on drugs for the past twenty plus years. When I say dark, I mean dark.

I found myself closing the book to escape—to make sure the world of comfort I now inhabit was still there. But then I was drawn back for more, like some kid peering through fingers at a scary movie, wanting to see, yet not wanting to see, because I know that this is real: the people are real, the blood also, the deception, the lies, the callous disregard for life and family and love, and all those ruined lives, not the least of which is the life of Joey O’Shay.

Read the rest of the review at Amazon.com

Violence has erupted in Mexico over that past few days as turf wars continue and druglords assert their authority. In Nuevo Laredo, a new chief of police was sworn in. Nine hours later he lay dead, riddled with bullet holes. This just hours after the new chief announced that border violence is exaggerated (in Spanish).

There are those that question the Mexican government’s ability to control the outbreak.

People I know in the area now verify the danger, but to this point all victims are associated with the drug trade in one way or another. Either they are involved in moving drugs or trying to stop them.

Thanks to Molly Molloy for the links.