In comments by both Mexcian and U.S. government officials regarding the War on Drugs, we have noticed the appearance of references to the game of Wack-a-Mole.
The Mexican Ambassador to the U.S., commenting on the pernicious spread of the cartels to Central America and the Caribbean as a result of Mexican "successes" against them, said that unless this proliferation was address on a hemispheric scale, the war on drugs would be a game of "Whack-a-Mole."
The Associated Press released a report of their investigation into the government's failure to achieve any real outcomes through drug busts by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). A deputy director of the DEA, when presented with the investigation's results, insisted that U.S. strategy is working, saying, "It's not like Whack-a-Mole."
When officials insist the something is "not" the case, take out the "not." They are vainly trying to deny a reality that is looming more and more over the walls that they are futilely trying to erect against it. The 1960's were full of such negations: "we are not racist," "we are not losing the War in Vietnam." The Bush years also brought the frequent use of "not."
This blog, for some time, did not post articles annoucing the killing or capture of drug "capos," or drug "busts," that are supposed to "win" the war on drugs. We are convinced that they accomplish nothing. They have nothing to do with the real dynamics of the war - the conflict between U.S. drug demand and U.S. drug prohibition. (See: Dollar vs. Dollar: US Consumers Battle US Taxpayers in Global Drug War)
A series of announcements of the proliferation of drug tunnels - obviously the work of moles who keep on digging - and the concurrent official announcements that, despite this, the moles are "not" winning led us to consider changing our editorial policy. The AP article reporting the DEA assertion that U.S. strategy is "not like Whack-a-Mole" convinced us to do so.
When officials insist the something is "not" the case, take out the "not." They are vainly trying to deny a reality that is looming more and more over the walls that they are futilely trying to erect against it. The 1960's were full of such negations: "we are not racist," "we are not losing the War in Vietnam." The Bush years also brought the frequent use of "not."
This blog, for some time, did not post articles annoucing the killing or capture of drug "capos," or drug "busts," that are supposed to "win" the war on drugs. We are convinced that they accomplish nothing. They have nothing to do with the real dynamics of the war - the conflict between U.S. drug demand and U.S. drug prohibition. (See: Dollar vs. Dollar: US Consumers Battle US Taxpayers in Global Drug War)
A series of announcements of the proliferation of drug tunnels - obviously the work of moles who keep on digging - and the concurrent official announcements that, despite this, the moles are "not" winning led us to consider changing our editorial policy. The AP article reporting the DEA assertion that U.S. strategy is "not like Whack-a-Mole" convinced us to do so.
Thus, we have created a new blog topic, "Wack-a-Mole." We will use this to identify articles in which drug capos are killed or arrested, drugs seized, tunnels discovered or other government "successes" in the war are announced. It is our diary entry for tracking the failure of the drug war strategy of the U.S. and Mexican governments that is "not a game of Wack-a-Mole."
