Mr. Shaman
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2007
- Messages
- 7,829
"The United States has spent a fraction of the money pledged -- just $24 million of $1.3 billion appropriated -- to help Mexico in its bloody three-year-old battle against the drug cartels that have turned parts of country into a war zone and left 15,000 dead, according to a U.S. government report issued Thursday.
The Merida Initiative, signed by President George W. Bush and Mexican leader Felipe Calderón in 2007, promises Black Hawk helicopters, night-vision goggles and drug-sniffing dogs, as well as a more robust crime-fighting partnership between the United States and Mexico. So far the United States has delivered 2 percent of the equipment and support promised, according to the report by the Government Accountability Office.
This week, Calderón warned that the cartels are increasingly using drug money to buy off local politicians and attempting to manipulate elections.
Jeffrey Davidow, a former U.S. ambassador to Mexico who is now president of the Institute of the Americas in San Diego, said, "I don't think the slowness in the outlay is any kind of indication of a policy failure." Instead, he said, "it is better to take the time and get it right."
Gee....how 'bout we Legalize Pot...and, take that "drug" outta-the-equation, first??????????
