"Operation Firewall"

Fourteen tons of drugs burning in Juarez, Mexico.

Mexican drug cartels are fighting for the U.S. dollar in a modern drug war along the U.S./ Mexico border. Officials at the D.E.A. have reported that American consumers spend about $12 to $15 billion each year for illegal drugs and have pledged to bring such a demand to a grinding halt.

More than one year ago Congress passed the Merida Initiative in an effort to stop the violence and the flow of drugs into the U.S. The initiative calls for $1.5 billion in aid to Mexico with approximately $117,000,000 for military hardware and equipment (that's more than the Defense Dept. hands to Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Pakistan).

So, why isn't this program working? The Department of Homeland Security says the "shared problem, shared solution" hasn't gotten out of the portals of the Treasury Dept. because the new military technology hasn't been resolved. Huh? The word we should use here is bureaucracy.