I think I might choose Mexico because it is so strategically important to us. As to what form assistance would take, military assistance to the Mexican government against the cartels is what I would offer, but it would have to be accompanied by structural changes in Mexico to open the economy more, provide transparency, a safe framework for foreign investment, and some other things. Maybe legalization/decriminalization of marijuana would be part of the deal, I don't know. The only way we are ever going to break the cartels is to legalize their market and force them to become legitimate businesses. Fighting drug use is never going to work, we have to figure out something else.
I know exactly what to do with Mexico... annex it. I don't think there'd be much of an argument, and we could finally collect on all the back taxes that her citizens owe us. Besides, it would give us a southern border that would be easier to defend. I'm only about half kidding. Robert Munn wrote: > On Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 1:23 PM, Scott S wrote: > > >> Just for the sake of asking, isn't this something that the UN should've >> handled. >> >> > > If the UN wasn't Club Med for dictators, it might have been successful. > > > > >> Shouldn't our efforts have been pointed in the direction of leaning on >> the UN to remove Saddam. >> >> > > We did everything we could at the UN. The French, Russians, and Chinese > didn't give a damn about Saddam. The oil for food program was a joke, Saddam > co-opted officials at the UN and in governments around the world with > payoffs, and he made billions in illegal oil sales. The only things that > kept him semi-honest were the no-fly zone and the embargo, which > successfully cut off Iraq from oil infrastructure and limited Saddam's > ability to produce oil. > > > >> I'm still of the opinion that going after Saddam and Al Queda with the >> US Armed Forces is like swatting a fly with a shotgun. >> > > > Agreed. What were the alternatives? Even Clinton and Gore said we would have > to deal with Saddam eventually. So what else could we do? > > 1. Do nothing and watch Saddam escape the embargo and re-arm. > 2. ? I have no idea. > > If our intelligence services hadn't been gutted in the 80's and raped by > >> Aldrich Ames we would've been able to handle Hussein and Bin Laden in >> the way that they should've been: >> quietly, and discreetly. >> >> > > Knowing what we know today, I don't think we could have infiltrated the > Iraqi government, but it certainly would have been worth a shot. > > > >> And the might of our armed forces could be pointed squarely where it >> should be: at North Korea, Iran and Darfur >> >> > > North Korea can be handled by containment, but the civilian cost of military > action would be so high that we could never justify a pre-emptive attack. It > will be interesting to see what happens when Kim Jong Il dies. Maybe the > leadership will loosen control, but as long as they have all that weaponry > pointed at South Korea, we're stuck. > > Iran, we, maybe the economic collapse may take care of them for us, because > they are getting killed by the price of oil and they can't survive for long > at $33/barrel. > > Darfur is a mess. What do we do there? China has the big stake there, they > need to step up, but the odds of them defending innocent civilians in Darfur > is less than zero. We're frozen out at the moment and I don't see that > changing. > > But let's not stop there. What about Nigeria? Sri Lanka? Colombia? > Afghanistan? Pakistan? Somalia? A big chunk of the world is screwed up, and > we can only do so much to change things. > > If you could pick one place to help bring freedom, peace, and security to > next, where would it be, and what form would our assistance take? > > I think I might choose Mexico because it is so strategically important to > us. As to what form assistance would take, military assistance to the > Mexican government against the cartels is what I would offer, but it would > have to be accompanied by structural changes in Mexico to open the economy > more, provide transparency, a safe framework for foreign investment, and > some other things. Maybe legalization/decriminalization of marijuana would > be part of the deal, I don't know. The only way we are ever going to break > the cartels is to legalize their market and force them to become legitimate > businesses. Fighting drug use is never going to work, we have to figure out > something else. > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:286381 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
