TSR: "...and we're left
with nothing but words in the war on drugs."
Monday, August 10, 2009
Length: 2:44
LARGE (31.6 MB)
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Michael talks to Wolf Blitzer after the end of
the summit, where no real breakthroughs were
expected nor realized.
WOLF
BLITZER: At that same news conference in Mexico, the
president said the U.S. will stand by Mexico in
fighting the drug cartels despite allegations of
human rights abuses by Mexican soldiers.
Let's go to the scene right now.
CNN's Michael Ware is watching this story for us.
The bottom line -- and you spent a lot of time,
Michael, investigating -- no matter what they say,
the leaders of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, can they
really break these drug cartels?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly not
militarily, Wolf -- or certainly not in law
enforcement terms. This is not a winnable war on the
streets. The power of the cartels is simply too
great.
The dynamic at play here is enormous. This is a
multi-billion dollar industry that runs through
Mexico into the United States. The war that's being
fought is primarily between rival cartels for the
right to supply America's demand for the illicit
drugs that the population wants.
Now, the battles on the streets are raging here in
Mexico. Just last month alone, 850 Mexicans lost
their lives. And President Obama says that America is
prepared to stand by its partner, Mexico, but in many
ways, that's all that America is doing. We've yet to
see America really commit to this fight, because the
fight isn't just about a border. It isn't just about
building a wall. It isn't just about coyotes
smuggling people in or drug traffickers penetrating
U.S. territory.
The dynamic behind this entire issue is regional. It
begins in the Andes, where there's production of
cocaine. It moves to Central America where there's
warehousing, transshipment. In Panama is the banking
and the money laundering. In Mexico are the
all-powerful Mexican drug cartels and the retail. And
in America itself and on the streets of Canada is the
distribution.
Less and less are the Mexican cartels relying on
American organized crime, but are stepping in to do
it themselves. And all the leaders have now gone
their separate ways from this North American leaders'
summit and we're left with nothing but words in the
war on drugs -- Wolf.
BLITZER: It's gone on for decades. Presumably, it
will continue for decades more.
Michael Ware on the scene for us.
Thank you, Michael, for your reporting.
Let's go to Jack Cafferty right now.
He's got "The Cafferty File."
He really puts his whole soul -- all of his passion
into these stories, you've got to admit -- Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Oh and it's -- you know,
it's very lucid stuff. It brings great clarity to
issues that sometimes can be a little befuddling to
the -- us lesser mortals. You know, a lot of people
suggest that if they legalize that stuff in this
country you'd gut those cartels pretty fast. But
that's another topic for another day.