This morning the US Department of Justice trumpeted a press release about its September 16, 2008 arrests.
"175 Alleged Gulf Cartel Members and Associates Arrested in Massive International Law Enforcement Operation"
“'Project Reckoning' Leads to the Seizure of $60 Million and More Than 40 Tons of Illegal Drugs From One of Mexico’s Largest Drug Trafficking Cartels"
DEA Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart said, "We successfully completed a hard-hitting, coordinated and massive assault on the powerful and extremely violent Gulf Cartel. We have arrested U.S. cell heads, stripped the cartel of $60 million in cash, imprisoned their brutal assassins and significantly disrupted their U.S. infrastructure.”
But as reported in today’s New York Times article, "Blasts Kill 7 at Independence Day Celebration in Mexican President's Hometown," by Marc Lacey, the drug lords were not long in retaliating. By 11 p.m. last night there were seven dead and over a hundred injured in hand grenade attacks.
According to the MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY’s Wall Street Journal article "Mexico Under Siege," February 25, 2008 there were 4,833 homicides in Mexico, attributable to drug lords, during the two years leading up to 2008.
Marc Lacey also reported, “On Friday, the police found 24 bodies dumped near the capital. A dozen decapitated corpses had been discovered weeks earlier.”
LEAP Executive Director Jack Cole wonders, “How long must the killing go on before we accept the only policy that will stop this murderous violence?”
“The war on drugs cannot prevent murders by Mexican drug lords,” he admits, “but legalized regulation of the drugs from which they make their obscene profits can end the violence.”
The police, judges, prosecutors, and prison wardens of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition understand that ending alcohol prohibition in 1933 put Al Capone and all his smuggling buddies out of business overnight. They were no longer on our streets killing each other to control that lucrative market, no longer killing police charged with fighting that useless war, no longer killing our children caught in crossfire and drive-by shootings.
Posted by Jack on Wednesday, September 17, 2008 (18:10:29) (2669 reads)
|
More about Press Release
