The Post Tackles the Mexico Army

It's a long, even-handed piece from William Booth and Steve Fainaru. Most of the Mexicans quoted, regardless of their closeness or lack thereof to Calderón, are reluctantly in favor of the use of the army, which squares pretty well with my perception of public opinion here in Torreón. As they tend to, the portions quoting DEA officials jumped out at me:

Anthony P. Placido, chief of intelligence for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, called Calderón's decision to use the military an "extraordinarily courageous step."

"This was not a traditional law enforcement problem that could be solved using traditional tools," Placido said in an interview in Washington. "It had gotten away from them. If the D.C. police were to engage in an operation against these criminal adversaries, and they faced bands of 30 to 50 of these criminals, and they were all carrying AK-47s and grenades and the bodies were dropping at the rate they're dropping, I suspect you might have to call in the National Guard. I don't think it is drastically different from what we would do if faced with a similar situation."

This really misunderstands the reasons for the traffickers' success, as well as the advantages the army can bring to bear. It's not all (or even predominantly) about firepower. The idea that a drug gang can take down a helicopter is alarming, but such capabilities are tangential to a gang's success; they rely on corruption, bribery, intimidation, and official protection. The army is a better fit for the war on drugs not because they have bigger guns (although this helps), but because they are more isolated and less susceptible to bribes from drug traffickers. If you could magically replace the AFI with a Mexican FBI, you'd do it an instant, despite the fact that the FBI isn't a outfitted like an infantry battalion and the AFI often is. Why? Because it's a cleaner agency.

Later:

Placido, the DEA intelligence chief, said he believes Calderón "is way past the point of no return. . . . This is my personal opinion, but I think he's all in. He has to fight to save himself, his party and his country."

This sounds like the way a hard-boiled drug warrior would speak in a movie, but it worries me that such is the assessment of a high-ranking DEA official in real life. What does that even mean? Calderón can't ease up his use of the army because if he did the narcos would kill him, eradicate the PAN, and take over the country? That's pretty silly.