Calderon's fights the Narco cauldron

Houston Chronicle Editorial:

Drug-related crime, like drug addiction, destroys on several levels. It corrodes the ability to function physically, and it twists the inner compass that makes recovery possible. That is the nearly engulfing challenge that Mexico's new president, Felipe Calderon, navigates as he tries to detoxify his country. So far he has made a brave start, at least on the physical side.

With a populist's drama and a hero's daring, Calderon declared last week his government would grant "no truce and no quarter" to the gangsters and narcotraffickers terrorizing Mexico. The bold words gained impact because of their context: Last week, more than a dozen attackers in military dress murdered five government agents and two support workers in an assault on two branches of the state attorney's office in Acapulco.

The bloodbath served as organized crime's sneering response to Calderon's drug war, launched shortly after he took office in January. A note in the assailants' van further spelled it out: The killers cared nothing about the federal government's efforts and the massacre was merely "proof."

Calderon delivered his own challenge at a military base, wearing olive drab and flanked by Mexico's military command. The United States recognized the gravity of Mexico's fight for security and threw down its own gauntlet: "If he's prepared to act so boldly," the U.S. assistant secretary of state said of Calderon, "we need to be prepared to act so boldly." President Bush plans to visit Mexico next month.

...

Mexico is certainly entitled to our support in this war. It is losing more dead the the narco terrorist on an annual basis than the US is losing in Iraq. Over 2000 are dying annually in drug related violence some of which imitates the terrorist in Iraq.