US Readying for Mexican Drug War

BBC News this morning announced that the "US is poised to join the Mexico drug war." Suddenly, it has become a real national security threat.

"Gen Gene Renuart, head of the US Northern Command, told a Senate hearing that troops or anti-narcotics agents would be sent to the Mexican border. The plan could be finalized as early as this week."

The National Guard, along with additional law enforcement agencies, are at the base of the plan to join the military already deployed to the US-Mexico border. Techniques learned, used and perfected in Iraq and Afghanistan, such as unmanned planes and underground tunnel locators are already in use.

Already in a trade dispute over border crossings, the US has stopped a scheme for Mexican trucks to use US roads which Mexico states violates a free-trade agreement.

The last time anything hit the US news wires about the escalation of Mexican drug cartels was on March 1. This particularly important bit of news was nowhere to be found amongst the AIG, Madoff and Obama headlines in the US news today. Instead, the Associated Free Press article was released by the BBC.

The omission of a stateside war in the US news has several implications. Is it to minimize panic? Is it to keep the American people focused on the media-created messiah for a president? Just who is the Big Kahuna gatekeeper calling the shots on what will and won't be released in the US?