Drug Wars Being Lost

There aren't many ways the 'drug war' in Mexico can still be called a winning proposition. Rafts of money and lives have been lost, and the trafficking in drugs haven't been dented.

Now the war is against the corrupt police forces that are keeping a hand deep inside the profits. A simple solution would be to legalize drugs, but with the immense profits being made there is increasing evidence that we are up against the usual suspects who will continue the nonsensical war on drugs as long as they're making a profit.

Ten Mexican police officers have been detained in connection with the torture and murder of 12 federal agents during a major escalation in the drug war.

The arrests come as more than 5,000 troops and federal police are deployed in the western state of Michoacan.

The troop surge, one of the biggest in the anti-drugs campaign, comes after a local drug gang launched co-ordinated attacks in 10 cities last week.

The state governor has protested against the "military occupation".

The federal authorities say they are investigating links between the municipal police and drug traffickers in the murder of the agents, whose bodies were found bound and gagged and shot through the head next to a major highway.

In a statement, prosecutors said the detentions would enable them to strengthen evidence that the officers "undertook criminal acts" in support of the Michoacan drugs gang and to "determine their responsibility for the murder of federal agents".

The corruption that goes so deep can be ended, but not by the methods that have only made it worse.

The forces that tout this war are unlikely to be acting in good faith, as there is absolutely no evidence the action they've taken to date has done anything but increase the trafficking, the violence and the profits.