Special Forces are Targeting Cartels

[sangar]

600 troops are in Central America with forward operating bases in Honduras.

I had no idea.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47310198...ew_york_times/

[srock]

It be much cheaper to just cut demand for cocaine. All we really need to do is get the masses of the crack pipe.

And Charlie Sheen

[sdmarkakis]

Thank God for this. Our war on drugs has been such a resounding success over the years that I can't help but think this will end the cartels for good! Well done.

[scOtt]

It be much cheaper to just cut demand for cocaine. All we really need to do is get the masses of the crack pipe.

And Charlie Sheen

Just say no.

[cwalker3]

First of all, we have been using our military to fight the flow of drugs into the US for years. They have done a magnificent job of chasing down and stopping billions of dollars worth of drugs meant for the US. And unfortunately their actions have hardly put a dent in what gets here. And now all I see us doing here is getting more of our young servicemen and women killed by putting more of them right into the thick of the SA jungles. You're not going to stop the supply as long as there is a demand and you're not going to stop the demand. My answer is to legalize drugs. Once private enterprise takes over and drives the price lower than what the cartels are charging, they're out of business. Funnel all of the monies now spent on the multitude of government agencies taxed with battling the drug problem into educational programs and rehab services for those that may be or have become addicted. Granted that this isn't a perfect solution and will take a few years for the bugs to be worked out, but it has to be better than the never ending "War on Drugs" that has been going on for more than 40 years.

Unfortunately, this won't happen. I mean can you imagine the furor that would erupt when the powers that be realize that hundreds of prisons could be closed for good and that none will needed to be built for many years. Do you think the construction unions, correctional officers unions or law enforcement unions will be happy to hear this? One entire government agency, the DEA, could be disbanded completely or at least scaled back dramatically. And then there would be the hundreds of thousands of jobs lost. These happenings would mean the end to years long political careers for any Senators and Representatives that had the balls to sign on to these changes, not to mention the billions of dollars of perks handed out to the politicos for maintaining the status quo of what we have today.

So I guess I'll just offer a prayer for those young men and women we'll be sending down into the jungles of South America to fight this make believe war.

[sangar]

I read an article the other day about 3,000 year old Egyptian mummies. Thus far, every one tested has came up positive for cocaine. Demand will never dry up.

That said, drugs are an enemy to this country and I'm glad to see us increasing the use of the military in the effort to stop it. The violence of the cartels is intimidating to the local Honduran police and the money captivating. I'm sure Green Berets feel differently.

[OrangeJerseys]

When I served in the Navy (back in '93) I had two deployments to the Caribbean for anti-narcotics operations. We had a small CG detachment on board and basically patrolled the northern coast of Columbia. We "pulled over" a suspicious vessel every few days. The USS Long Beach was a Guided Missle Cruiser. (CGN-9) 721 ft long. Two 5" guns, Tomahawks, and plenty of other toys. Pretty intimidating. While I was at sea we only once found narcotics, 13 tons of uncut cocaine, off a cigarette boat. We chased them for hours, but it took us over a nautical mile to turn around, so we finally just threatened them to get them to stop. The Coasties boarded the boat and found the drugs. Now to the fun part:

We doused the boat with JP-5 and shot it with a .50 cal until it exploded. We also did this to 50 gallon drums when we were bored.

The coke was cut open package by package and dumped into the drink.

Also, we spent 5 or 6 days in Cartagena. One of my favorite ports ever. I've never partied so hard. Well maybe in Curacao.

Trivia: The USS Long Beach was the first nuclear powered surface ship.

We also rescued quite a few jalopy vessels teaming with people trying to get to the U.S. They just got sent home. Don't think they got in any trouble.