• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

Giving up is unforgivable.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Politics / War On Drugs / The War on Your Neighbor, aka the War on Drugs / Sounds Familiar

Sounds Familiar

by John Cole|  February 12, 20098:00 am| 32 Comments

This post is in: The War on Your Neighbor, aka the War on Drugs

FacebookTweetEmail

From a piece in the WSJ about a commission of former Latin American Heads of State stating the drug war has failed and that massive changes are necessary, the following quote:

U.S. law-enforcement officials — as well as some of their counterparts in Mexico — say the explosion in violence indicates progress in the war on drugs as organizations under pressure are clashing.

“If the drug effort were failing there would be no violence,” a senior U.S. official said Wednesday. There is violence “because these guys are flailing. We’re taking these guys out. The worst thing you could do is stop now.”

Hrmm. Escalating violence is proof we are winning. Why does that sound so familiar?

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Still Crazy After All Of These Years
Next Post: Scribblings From An Alternate Reality »

Reader Interactions

32Comments

  1. 1.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    February 12, 2009 at 8:07 am

    Oh yes. Victory! Cue up the Black Knight bit from Monty Python’s Search for the Holy Grail.

    These goons have police in Mexico on the run, they’re skipping across our border like it isn’t there and bringing some heavy fire power along but that’s a good thing. Such a comfort to the families of those murdered.

  2. 2.

    Walker

    February 12, 2009 at 8:19 am

    Our success in the drug war must also be why Phoenix is second only to Mexico City in kidnappings.

  3. 3.

    El Cid

    February 12, 2009 at 8:20 am

    Mexico arrests ex-soldier in general’s killing

    By E. EDUARDO CASTILLO – 10 hours ago

    MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican soldiers have arrested a suspected drug cartel hit man on accusations he orchestrated the killing of an army brigadier general hired to root out corruption in the resort town of Cancun, a Defense Department official said Wednesday.

    Prosecutors also asked a judge to place under arrest Cancun Police Chief Francisco Velasco as they investigate whether he protected the Zetas, a group of hit men for the Gulf Cartel, said Marisela Morales, the federal deputy attorney general for organized crime.

    Look, these are the same ‘policy experts’ who feel like it’s 100% a vote of confidence for the massive U.S. military aid to Colombia that about 1/3 of its government and military and intelligence officials have been arrested or indicted or under court investigation for direct collaboration with the right wing narco-paramilitary death squads who run the vast majority of Colombia’s drug trafficking, because they answer all questions with barking about the FARC rebels.

    Now you have one nation’s narco-paramilitaries getting ready to link up with the massive, military- and police-penetrating cartels of Mexico.

    The rest of the hemisphere more free from U.S. influence is pursuing policies designed to actually work, not just keep bombing and spraying peasants.

    So, the countries which are at the root of the problem are those most connected to U.S. policy, and those nations most isolated from U.S. influence are blamed the most for being the problem.

    OK.

  4. 4.

    Shygetz

    February 12, 2009 at 8:30 am

    Drugs are in their last throes.

  5. 5.

    SalParadise

    February 12, 2009 at 8:51 am

    Bring ’em on!!

  6. 6.

    wilfred

    February 12, 2009 at 9:01 am

    a commission of former Latin American Heads of State stating the drug war has failed

    And they know a thing or two about failure. Does this give us the right to use disproportionate force against, say, Mexico, since so many Americans die from these drug shipments?

    I think we should teach them not to fuck with the United States.

  7. 7.

    SGEW

    February 12, 2009 at 9:07 am

    Suck. On. This.

  8. 8.

    low-tech cyclist

    February 12, 2009 at 9:15 am

    If only Condi were still around to tell us we were witnessing the birth pangs of a new Central America!

  9. 9.

    ComradeDread

    February 12, 2009 at 9:20 am

    What else are they going to say?

    "We’re an abysmal failure. You should repeal the laws we’re hired to enforce, lay us off, and use our budget to fund productive citizens who might actually succeed at their job: like building freeways, or funding health care, or any number of other jobs that wouldn’t involve bending the Constitution and taxpayer over a table and giving it to them good and hard?"

  10. 10.

    Libby

    February 12, 2009 at 9:28 am

    It’s just the birth pangs of the new world order, where no one will use drugs and everyone will believe in Teh Rapture.

  11. 11.

    The Moar You Know

    February 12, 2009 at 9:41 am

    “If the drug effort were failing there would be no violence,” a senior U.S. official said Wednesday. There is violence “because these guys are flailing. We’re taking these guys out. The worst thing you could do is stop now.”

    This is such a load of shit it is hard to believe that somebody said it with a straight face. I live 38 miles from the border. The last time I was in Mexico was about three months ago – I used to go down there on a regular basis.

    The reason there is so much violence has nothing to do with cops, or interdiction, or the DEA. Far from it. Cops don’t weigh into this at all save as minor impediments. The gangs have taken to the police frequencies to tell the cops that won’t play ball with them (a very small minority) which one of them is going to be the next to die. And then they kill that officer, frequently his family as well, and then get on the radios again to taunt the police over what they’ve just done.

    No, the reason there is so much violence is because there is so much business the previously established guys can’t handle it all, and the new guys are fighting for market share.

  12. 12.

    Colonel Danite

    February 12, 2009 at 9:45 am

    I agree that the "War on Drugs" is a waste of resources. However, given that the drug cartels are killing judges, police officers and journalists in Mexico, what would you have the Mexican government do? The previous PRI governments and local officials of all parties allowed the drug cartels to operate freely in exchange for cash. President Fox and President Calderon have tried to break up those corrupt relationships and that has definitely escalated the violence. If street gangs had control of local and state governments, the police and media here in the U.S., I think most citizens would be clamoring for the Federal government to intervene.

  13. 13.

    Reverend Dennis

    February 12, 2009 at 9:54 am

    Lest we forget, Richard Nixon was the one who coined the term "War on drugs" back in 1971. His words were in reaction to the report by the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse (the "Shafer Commission") report which concluded that marijuana use and possession should be decriminalized.
    Here are two of Nixon’s remarks on pot (From the Nixon Tapes):

    "You see, homosexuality, dope, immorality in general. These are the enemies of strong societies. That’s why the Communists and the left-wingers are pushing the stuff, they’re trying to destroy us."

    "I see another thing in the news summary this morning about it. That’s a funny thing, every one of the bastards that are out for legalizing marijuana is Jewish. What the Christ is the matter with the Jews, Bob, what is the matter with them? I suppose it’s because most of them are psychiatrists . . ."

    Our policy on marijuana was formed by Nixon. And no one in government has seriously questioned it since 1971.

  14. 14.

    aimai

    February 12, 2009 at 10:02 am

    Years ago I remember reading an article on the early war on drugs–probably in the eighties–and the journalist reported, utterly uncritically, one of those bits of counterintuitive…uh…lies like "you get more bang for your buck…." doing something–napalming the coca fields probably–than doing X. I remember thinking back then "oh, this isn’t good. The journalist has just reported in one paragraph the utter failure of this approach, how the drugs and the drug lords simply work around what we are doing and raise their prices to boot. And yet in the next paragraph they approvingly quote the local US military authorities contradicting the known facts and assuring us that everything is going very well. And that was *&^%$ years ago.

    aimai

  15. 15.

    Argive

    February 12, 2009 at 10:06 am

    There is violence “because these guys are flailing. We’re taking these guys out.

    "Yeah, we’re taking out the guys on top, and then their lieutenants and other new aspiring drug lords are fighting it out to see who gets to take over the empire. Then we’ll take out those guys, and the cycle will repeat. You know, normal, healthy progress."

  16. 16.

    SGEW

    February 12, 2009 at 10:09 am

    @Reverend Dennis:

    You know, I spent so much time blaming everything on Bush (or, perversely, Reagan) that I sometimes forget that Nixon was totally batshit insane and almost destroyed the country.

    This nation has had some very, very weird heads of state.

  17. 17.

    Reverend Dennis

    February 12, 2009 at 10:28 am

    @SGEW:
    Heh. I was born in the Forties so the Nixon years are still vivid in my memory. Despite that, I still regard G.W. Bush as the Worst President Ever. Nixon turned a law enforcement matter into a war, much as Bush did with terrorism, and we just can’t lose a war – can we? So any rational re-thinking of our strategy, any modification of our goals or tactics is easily characterized as "surrender." Which is why America has always been at war with drugs, terrorism and Eastasia.

  18. 18.

    Stooleo

    February 12, 2009 at 10:39 am

    Legalize pot and tax the shit out of it. Use revenues for stimulus package.

  19. 19.

    magisterludi

    February 12, 2009 at 10:55 am

    What Stooleo said.

  20. 20.

    magisterludi

    February 12, 2009 at 10:56 am

    What Stooleo said.

  21. 21.

    Conservatively Liberal

    February 12, 2009 at 11:09 am

    If the amount of violence is indicative of the effectiveness of the War on Drugs(TM) and that more violence means success, does less violence mean failure? Do these people even think about what they are going to say before they say it? Are they sampling drugs before press conferences? If so, I am pissed that they took some wicked shit like that off the streets and are bogarting it for themselves.

    I remember St. Ronnie of RayGun talking about the effectiveness of the War on Drugs(TM) and how they were winning the fight. Same with Poppy Bush, we were kicking ass! Then Clinton came along and we were still winning the War on Drugs(TM). Chimpy got loose in the White House and we assured us that the War on Drugs(TM) was tough but that we were winning.

    Now we have Obama and according to this, we are still winning the War on Drugs(TM)! I guess we are just lucky in that we are naturals when it comes to winning. BTW, can anyone tell me what it would be like if we were losing? Oh, right. There would be less violence.

    Is it ok to want to lose this War on Drugs(TM)? I think I prefer drugs and no violence to no drugs and endless violence. That might be because I am not a Rushublican, eh?

  22. 22.

    Keith

    February 12, 2009 at 12:23 pm

    “If the drug effort were failing there would be no violence,” a senior U.S. official said Wednesday

    Uhh, doesn’t that mean that it would be desirable for the drug effort to fail? I mean, at the end of the day, isn’t the best thing to stop the violence?

  23. 23.

    Calouste

    February 12, 2009 at 12:28 pm

    @Conservatively Liberal:

    Is it ok to want to lose this War on Drugs™? I think I prefer drugs and no violence to no drugs and endless violence. That might be because I am not a Rushublican, eh?

    Fixt. It’s not like drugs are going to go away no matter how much law enforcement you throw at it. Ok, maybe a 1984ish police state woudl work.

  24. 24.

    Comrade Dread

    February 12, 2009 at 12:43 pm

    Uhh, doesn’t that mean that it would be desirable for the drug effort to fail? I mean, at the end of the day, isn’t the best thing to stop the violence?

    You don’t understand the mindset of these people.

    It’s okay for thousands, perhaps millions to die if it means one dirty f***ing hippie can’t get his reefer.

    Purity of essence, man. Purity of essence.

  25. 25.

    TenguPhule

    February 12, 2009 at 12:54 pm

    @Those in favor of Legalization

    It’s too late. The Cartels are established, legalizing would only have them ensuring that only their drugs are sold, all competition would be killed off (except for perhaps Weed). Prices would still be high, crime would still live off of it, supply would only be artificially kept low by the cartels instead of the police.

  26. 26.

    Comrade Dread

    February 12, 2009 at 12:56 pm

    Hence why Al Capone continued to rule Chicago’s liquor market after the end of Prohibition brutally slaughtering the Coors family and relegating them to the cold isolated mountains of Colorado.

  27. 27.

    SnarkyShark

    February 12, 2009 at 1:14 pm

    Comrade Dread..

    Bravo sir. You destroyed that false assertion in one eloquent sentence.

    Well done

  28. 28.

    SnarkyShark

    February 12, 2009 at 1:16 pm

    Of course one has to point out that big Al himself wouldn’t have been available due to a little tax problem.

    But his underlings would still have been in play, so the point remains.

  29. 29.

    Stooleo

    February 12, 2009 at 1:39 pm

    I’m only in favor of legalizing marijuana. The government could raise money revenues by issuing growers licenses (as well as a host of other taxes). Because pot is so easy to grow it would make it very difficult IMHO, for one cartel to control the supply. This of course is in stark contrast to cocaine or heroin which is difficult to grow and needs to be heavily processed.

  30. 30.

    esblofeld

    February 12, 2009 at 2:04 pm

    It’s like climbing a mountain that you can’t see the top of, and claiming that you’re almost to the summit simply because you’re getting tired.

    I understand their point, but as you said, we’ve seen these "death throes" before.

  31. 31.

    WyldPirate

    February 12, 2009 at 3:09 pm

    We have always been at war with Mother Ganja…just like we will always be at war with Eastasia.

    Well, not really. Just since the 20’s-30’s since folks figured they could use ant-Ganj propaganda to hate on dark-skinned folks and William Randolph Hearst and Dupont figured out that hemp products could put a dent in the profits from their timber holdings and burgeoning synthetic chemicals (primarily oil-based of course) industries.

    Check out Henry Ford’s car made with plastic derived from cannabis…

  32. 32.

    Pete Guither

    February 13, 2009 at 1:50 am

    Michael Goldfarb, in the Weekly Standard, defends the official’s statement, quoted in the Wall Street Journal.

    But he is, of course, completely wrong.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Image by MomSense (5/10.25)

Recent Comments

  • rikyrah on Parsing the Pandemic Pause (May 21, 2025 @ 7:22am)
  • Baud on Parsing the Pandemic Pause (May 21, 2025 @ 7:21am)
  • Baud on Late Night Open Thread: #TSLA Troubles (May 21, 2025 @ 7:19am)
  • Baud on Late Night Open Thread: #TSLA Troubles (May 21, 2025 @ 7:18am)
  • Geminid on Late Night Open Thread: #TSLA Troubles (May 21, 2025 @ 7:18am)

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
War in Ukraine
Donate to Razom for Ukraine

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Meetups

Upcoming Ohio Meetup May 17
5/11 Post about the May 17 Ohio Meetup

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Hands Off! – Denver, San Diego & Austin

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!