The United States: A Failed Model

How advanced does an army need to be to eliminate an enemy that is easily confused with the civilian population? The United States, bearer of the most powerful armed forces on the planet, has not found the answer. Hence, it will leave a decimated Iraq, a discredited military with Iraqi public opinion in opposition to its occupation. It will leave the Middle East in favorable conditions for extremism: polarized, insecure and destitute. It unsurprisingly follows, then, that the United States is unable to stop narcotic trafficking in its own backyard. Several areas of Mexico, as well as our army, could suffer the same fate as Iraq if the climate of violence continues to endure any longer.

Ciudad Juarez is a classic example. Thousands of soldiers have failed to stop the extortion, abductions, assassinations, economic collapse, nightlife termination, etc. It makes sense up to a certain point, because it is not their responsibility to seek justice. Only a security force under civil command and bound by due process of the law can obtain it. Acapulco, Reynosa and Tampico seem to be going in the same direction.

Yet what does the United States do? It gives resources through the Mérida initiative to train police, while the Pentagon plans to augment the curriculum of Mexican soldiers with anti-drug training — a contradiction. Perhaps it was not the neighboring country’s state department that, on March 1, ordered that the police be professionalized so that the army no longer has to carry out tasks of public security. The United States should know by now: When soldiers linger among the civilian population, abuses proliferate and with them, the de-legitimization of the military. If the Pentagon is acting on the periphery of the White House, Barack Obama should concentrate on bringing his subordinates into line instead of sending out statements of indignation.

The United States does not appear to want its neighbor to learn the painful lesson that it has received by example. Because, although Mexico is different from Columbia or Afghanistan, there is something all armed conflicts have in common: the disintegration of the social fabric and the destabilization of its institutions. In the chaos, the law of the jungle always prevails; and it is those groups outside of the law — whether they are paramilitaries, gangs of narcotics traffickers or terrorists — who always reign.

Right now, Mexico should realize the fact that it cannot follow American guidelines. Our powerful neighbor is a horrible example to follow for two reasons: 1) It has been incapable, with all of its power, of stopping the trade of narcotics in Asia and Latin America, and 2) the high level of corruption of its officials on the border as well as the enormous addiction of its population to illicit drugs show that it is not prepared to take on the cost of a genuine war on drugs. It is never good to emulate losers.