The murder of Robert Krentz in late March erupted like a political volcano on the border landscape, spewing hot lava on the already incendiary issue of illegal immigration—and generating plenty of hot gas to go with it.
It must be affirmed that the death of Robert Krentz is a tragedy, no matter who killed him. If we are to make any sense of this tragedy, or retain any hope of preventing it from being repeated, we as a nation must forgo the propaganda and fear-mongering that have engulfed this crime, and have a frank, sober discussion based on a clear understanding of the facts of the matter and the context in which it occurred.
First and foremost, Krentz’s murder had nothing whatsoever to do with illegal immigration, notwithstanding a particularly idiotic headline in the Arizona Daily Star that blared, “Illegal Immigrant Likely Killed Arizona Rancher.” People attempting to immigrate illegally to the United States do not march 20 miles into the country carrying guns, shoot U.S. citizens, and then turn around and march 20 miles back to Mexico. The very notion is preposterous, yet that’s what opportunistic haters such as former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo and wannabe senator J.D. Hayworth would have us believe. Shame on the Star for regurgitating such inflammatory nonsense, and shame on Tancredo and his ilk for picking at the corpse purely for their own political gain.
As facts emerged and replaced political fantasies, it became clear that Krentz was very likely murdered by a drug-trafficker, a different species altogether. If that is the case, it would make Krentz one of an estimated 18,000 people who have been murdered by Mexican drug syndicates over the past three years in an orgy of violence exacerbated by Mexican President Felipe Calderón’s much-ballyhooed crackdown on the narcos. As with every other crackdown in the history of drug prohibition, this one has produced nothing more than a flood of violence and a reshuffling of the players. Never, throughout decades of crackdowns and hundreds of billions of tax dollars squandered on interdiction, has the quality, availability or price of illegal drugs been affected in any significant way. Never.
That Krentz has joined a very large and depressing statistic does not diminish the importance of his death or the terrible loss suffered by his friends and family. While it may be understandable that some call for vengeance and brute force in response, such a response would be worse than futile. There is simply no reason to believe that the interjection of the armed forces into this situation will do anything but beget more violence. It has not worked in Mexico—on the contrary, the armed forces there have simply been bought off or become directly involved in the violent drug trade—nor has it worked in Afghanistan or Iraq, where our troops are continually placed in no-win situations as they are asked to make war and keep the peace at the same time.
It is never a good idea for military personnel to carry out police work. Simply put, military units are trained to kill or be killed in the extralegal context of war, which makes them ill-suited for interacting with civilians in a law-enforcement capacity. But you needn’t look to the horror stories of U.S. troops implicated in torture and murder overseas to understand this. Look up the more pertinent case of Ezequiel Hernandez, the 18-year-old Texas sheepherder who was mistakenly gunned down by his own country’s soldiers as they conducted counter-narcotics operations on the border some years ago.
Mexican drug cartels derive their power solely from the profits of their trade, and somewhere between 60 and 70 percent of those profits are generated by marijuana. The best way—indeed, the only way, as history shows—to diminish the immense profits that fuel the corruption and violence is to eliminate their market share by legalizing the drugs. You want to stop traffickers from carrying guns and weed across U.S. ranches and shooting people who get in their way? Make it legal for people to grow their own marijuana or get it legally from sources here in the United States, and I guarantee you that the market for blood-soaked Mexican dirt weed will dry up and blow away like April wildflowers in the June sun—and the border will be well on its way to becoming a much safer place.
This article appears in Apr 15-21, 2010.
Disagree. We cannot legalize drugs. Period.
However, if we completely shut down the border and enforced the border with the U.S. Military with deadly force, we would see results.
Enforce the border with every Military weapon we have. Tanks, A-10 Warthogs, Apache copters etc…
And if that doesnt stop the Mexicans, then we must invade Mexico. Mexico is a threat to our national security. Period.
No traffic acrossed the border, to or from.
SHUT IT DOWN.
Del, you make some very definite claims, seemingly stated as fact. But they are no more than your opinion. WHY can we not legalize drugs? Why MUST we use Nuclear weapons at the border? It all hasn’t worked so far – why do you think it will, if you just put PERIOD at the end of such statements?
I could say, you are an idiot. PERIOD. PERIOD PERIOD PERIOD! But does that make it a fact?
I agree with W Corvi. The first comment posted regarding this article was brain-dead tea-bagger nonsense. The “del usr” writer would benefit from some research into the history of prohibition. We’ve already lived through a “war on drugs” and should understand by now that trying to criminalize a popular personal product is insane. Period. It amazes me that a lot of the same people who decry marijuana use simultaneously believe it’s every American’s “constitutional right” to arm oneself with military assault weapons. Madness is epidemic…
Well said Randy,
Tom Tancredo, J.D. Hayworth, y tambien el star(no lo leo), estan sin verguenza.
But it is necessary to include in the discussion the repeal of NAFTA. That treaty, along with WTO, a toothless GATT, and MFN for China is decimating the America middle class. The Mexican middle class, as well as their poor, never stood a chance. Within 2 years of NAFTA’s enactment, the illegal immigration problem in the U.S. had tripled.
NAFTA destroyed Mexico’s economy, and the breakdown of their society soon followed.
The problems currently being created by the cartels may have reached such a crescendo as this eventually, but NAFTA made it a certainty, and an immediate one.
Does Arizona even have any National Guard Units that aren’t just TDY between their 4th and 5th deployments to Iraqistan? So, beyond the common sense questions you raised about their basic mission and training; we are talking about stressed out young men and women in need of every bit of R&R we can afford them, as well as real time with their loved ones. Not another impossible mission caused by our refusal to match our national policy making to reality.
Robert Alexander Dumas
First – I’m in my late 60’s, haven’t used drugs (other than prescribed for medical reasons), and have had no desire to even try them. But let’s face it – there are people all over the country (and world) that have a genetic trait toward addiction!
Also, weed isn’t the only problem!! It includes cocaine and all the other ‘outlawed social drugs’. I was born and grew up in AZ. I have spent most of my adult life in TX, living along drug transportation corridors.
I’ve known (and still know) folks that use or have used drugs (including weed). One, now in recovery, is very close to me. I would ALWAYS prefer to see him smoking (weed) than drinking any kind of alcohol!!
My folks went through prohibition of alcohol. You’ll notice that it was repealed. The War Against Drugs has been going on ever since I can remember. It has been a horrible failure – because it goes against inborn human cravings.
I know of at least one state (not AZ or TX) that restricts the sale of hard alcohol (bottled) to state stores, with taxes. Why not do something similar (even nationally) for drugs??? It would also have the benefit of a constant quality of the product (very unlike what folks pay for now). It is also very possible (with the markup of drugs from the origination to the final street dealer), that the cost would be less, even with taxes!!
Besides, just how much is our society spending now in the attempt to control drugs? Drug tests for employers, local law enforcement, district prosecutors, jail costs, prison costs, loss of sales taxes, DEA, other federal enforcement agencies, etc.? I seriously doubt that most of our public agencies have to evaluate classes of costs nearly as much as corporations (which usually evaluate their costs and incomes to determine what really sells/works). I know that SOME ‘evaluations’ have been done, but the ones I have read about always had ‘leanings’ toward the two extremes, rather than looking at the ‘practical middle’ view point.
Yes, drugs kill people. Addicts do steal to support their habits. Addicts are inclined to not care for their children. Also, enforced ‘REHAB’ may help BUT a person really needs to want rehab, not be forced. That ‘recovering addict’ close to me has spent time in prison, time in county jails, and pushed into rehab at least 3 times. It didn’t work until HE MADE UP HIS MIND and put himself into rehab. One other thing — people that endure chronic depression or bi-polar condition are MUCH MORE INCLINED TO SELF MEDICATE WITH STREET DRUGS than they are to go to a doctor to get legit prescription drugs. Why? Because they, and usually their families, are not aware of the depression/bi-polar symptoms. (I know this first hand – my adopted child endured childhood depression from about age 4 into the first year of high-school before a good diagnosis was made. I have thanked God many times that my child was not tempted to use drugs!)
We need to quit looking at this problem with our guts and emotions. We really need to look at it realistically — get the details, get a good evaluation, start with reasonably priced treatment, legalize the stuff and control and tax it (to help pay for treatment centers – a minimum).
We’ve blown a good 50 years plus trying to control. It hasn’t worked. Do we want to waste another 50 years or more, with all the costs and lives, before we do something that has a chance of controlling our country’s problems with drugs? I don’t have a bunch of answers, but our society and elected officials haven’t done much more besides make things more illegal, increase the prison time and law enforcement. Unfortunately, that hasn’t worked!! It’s time we quit trying to reinvent the wheel, using the same procedures over and over that haven’t worked – believing that they will.
mr.. dumas….i totally agree with you…..lets try somthing different with the legalazation of marj……repeating the same insanity and expecting different results is not working ….nor will it ever….
Finally a sensible point of view on this issue! Thank you!
First of all ArizonaNative-THANK YOU for your wisdom and logic,I agree with you 100 % and Ill place all bets on you and our seniors for your experience versus emotional youthful BS-we are in this mess because my generation has blatantly and disrespectfully ignored you.What disturbs me the most is people like the first poster who use verbage like “the Mexicans”.We are talking about human beings here.The Tea Party is the first to wave a Bible-but sadly the last to actually read it or follow Christ’s teachings.Maybe I’m assuming their religious/spiritual practices as a whole-but the pattern I see here is alarming-I’ve not listened or read anything from them that doesn’t start or end in hate
couldn’t agree with you more… prohibition never worked for alcohol back in the day… and will never work for drugs…
legalize drugs… ALL of them… tax them…
then we’ll discover Mexico and Afghanistan are suddenly wealthy stable countries…