EDITORIAL

America declared freedom 234 years ago this Sunday, July 4. Many wars have been fought since then to keep this country safe, but currently we are in a war in the wrong place, and for the wrong reasons.

Our troops are halfway around the world attempting to alter Afghanistan, a country that has existed on tribal law for thousands of years. What makes anyone think they want our democratic system of government? Rulers from Alexander the Great to Leonid Brezhnev have tried to change Afghanistan, and each of them failed.

Though the president and other supporters of the war claim that Afghanistan is another theater in the war on terrorism, the real objective should be the eradication of its large opium crop, which is exported and used to produce heroin. The Taliban and other terrorist groups get a cut of the proceeds of drug sales.

In the end, however, the best defense for this country is not to try to stop the drug trade in Afghanistan, but rather to concentrate on the war on drugs here at home by bolstering law enforcement and border security.

For example, we can send the thousands of troops directed to Afghanistan to the 2,000-mile long U.S./Mexico border. The Mexican government is currently in the midst of a civil war with drug cartels. It is only a matter of time before the conflict spills over into states like Arizona and Texas.

It has been reported that as much as 90 percent of all cocaine consumed in the U.S. comes into the country via Mexico. Moreover, there are more than 6,000 gun shops within 100 miles of the Mexican border; drug gang members shop at many of these retailers and buy guns and ammunition to commit murder, robbery and other heinous crimes.

A report given to members of Congress recently indicated that there have been 22,743 deaths resulting from drug-related violence since 2006. The worst year was 2009, when 9,635 people were killed. Mexico’s northern border towns are experiencing the worst of the violence. Ciudad Juarez (just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas) is the most violent city, with some 2,100 murders in 2009.

The U.S./Mexico border is terribly porous and a threat to national security. The sad reality is that there are drug dealers and terrorists coming into this country through the border, not just decent people looking for a better way of life.

Arizona tried to do something about it with a law that proved to be controversial in many eyes. The federal government opposed their state law, and the Obama administration threw a small bone by sending a few hundred National Guard troops to man the border. It’s not nearly enough to keep this country safe.

The Continental Army may have started off as a ragtag bunch, but they knew how to defend their country. We enjoy freedom because of them. Now it’s time for this generation of American soldiers to stay on this side of the Atlantic and keep watch over the borders with the same vigor and determination.

Changing the leadership in the war in Afghanistan isn’t enough. We should consider other ways to fight the terrorists other than putting our troops on the ground in a foreign land resistant to changing its way of life.