America is losing the war on drugs. The opioid crisis threatens the very
fabric of U.S. society. In the past 25 years, an estimated 800,000 lives have been lost and
millions of others ripped apart by a cycle of addiction, poverty, crime, and premature
death. In an article with U.K. newspaper The Guardian from January 2024, Dr Art Van Zee said,
“It didn’t have to happen. There were so many missed opportunities. So many times it could have
been stopped. Now, I don’t see how it ends.” If the country doesn’t take decisive action,
many of the communities worst affected might never conceivably recover.
In an unprecedented move President Joe Biden has called an emergency meeting with his Secretary
of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and the heads of each branch of the military. Biden, like so many
of his predecessors, knows exactly where these drugs are coming from and exactly who to target:
Mexico and its infamous drug cartels. He knows he’s reached the point of no retreat
and that it’s his responsibility to tackle the problem head-on. And that starts today.
But why has the Biden Administration decided to act now?
Two reasons: Fentanyl and China. In an interview back in May 2023
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland called the Mexico-based Sinaloa cartel “the largest, most
violent, and most prolific fentanyl trafficking operation in the world.” The drug itself,
a synthetic opioid, is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.
A truly chilling indication of exactly how deadly this drug can be.
Various governmental agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the
Department of Homeland Security, and the military have all tracked the cartel’s supply chains and
money-laundering networks back to China. Even more troublingly, they’ve identified
exactly where the ingredients to make one of the most addictive opioids on the planet
have come from: the same country – China. However, an all-out assault on the Mexican
drug cartels will be a tricky proposition to sell to both Congress and the American
people. The economic ramifications alone could be disastrous. But when the president heard that
Fentanyl was being smuggled into the country disguised as candy and that it could quite
easily be mistaken as such by young children, he knew the time for talking had stopped.
Hour one. The meeting commences. The
battle lines are drawn. Biden is in a prickly, confrontational mood. He paces up and down the
Oval Office and informs Austin, General Charles Q. Brown Jr., Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
Admiral Christopher W. Grady, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Randy A. George,
Chief of Staff of the Army, General Christopher J. Mahoney, (acting), Commandant of the Marine Corps,
and Admiral Lisa M. Franchetti, Chief of Naval Operations of his plan of action.
“Folks, with your help we’re going to wreck the Mexican drug cartels once and for all. We’re going
to launch an attack so devastating and precise that we will shatter their operations completely.”
George is the first to express his surprise. Like the other top military
officials in attendance he presumed this was no more than a standard briefing.
“What do you mean exactly, Mr. President?” “Just what I said – we’re going to strike
at the drug cartels in their own backyards. And we’re going to put
them out of commission within the next 24 hours.” The room becomes a hive of activity, argument,
counter-argument, and hypotheses. But Biden has already put Fort Huachuca, the nearest U.S.
military base to the Mexican border, on high alert. Situated in Cochise County, Arizona,
the complex has a population of about 6,500 active-duty soldiers. Only in recent weeks that
number has swelled exponentially and the site has been the scene of top-secret military operations.
Additional troops and military hardware have been covertly delivered to the base in preparation for
a surprise attack on the drug cartels. Over the next 45 minutes Biden and his
team draw up a two-pronged attack. Firstly, the four biggest cartels will be targeted by
systematic drone strikes. Not that this will be a wholly straightforward part of
the mission. The drug-making and distribution facilities identified by U.S. intelligence are
situated in different parts of the country, in some cases hundreds of kilometers apart:
the Sinaloa Cartel in the north-west, the Jalisco cartel mainly the Tierra Caliente region,
the Gulf cartel in the north-east, centered around the border state of Tamaulipas, and the Los Zetras
cartel, also in the same north-easterly region. “But sir,” says Randy, “our drones don’t have
the kind of range to hit targets that far away from Huachuca. As a result,
we’ll never be able to coordinate the kind of synchronized attacks you talked about.”
That’s when Biden reveals his ace card: the Mexican government.
Since 2006, when the country declared its own war on the cartels, 360,000 citizens have been
victims of drug-related homicide. Despite partnering closely with the U.S., receiving
billions of dollars to modernize its security forces, reform its judicial system, and fund
development projects to curb migration, no real or lasting progress has been made. Ultimately,
Washington hoped to stem the flow of illegal drugs into the country by bolstering security
and monitoring operations along the border – but to no avail. Like his American counterpart,
Mexican leader Andrés Manuel López Obrador (or AMOL as he’s called in the popular
press) knows that the time for empty rhetoric and procrastination is well and truly over.
It’s time to act. In maneuvers just as covert Mexican
military hardware and troops have been gathering in the northwest and northeast of the country.
Unbeknown to the drug cartels they are now under round-the-clock surveillance and are about to be
subject to a devastating attack, the likes of which have rarely if ever been seen before.
Secondly, and decisively, ground troops would then swarm on each of the targeted cartel facilities to
ensure that all have been put out of operational use and that key figures in the Mexican drug
trade have either been killed or captured. “We’ve done this before,” the president
says. “Think Bin Laden in Pakistan. And don’t kid yourselves in any way, shape,
or form: this operation is of similar importance to the American people.”
“But, sir,” says Brown, “much of the cartel infrastructure is based in cities or towns,
built-up areas with a high concentration of civilians. Military action of this nature
would result in a potentially huge loss of life. Collateral damage that would be
hard to justify, no matter how worthy the cause.” Risky it might be, but Biden knows he has to bring
down the Mexican drug cartels as quickly as he plans. Ultimately, it would give him the kind of
political leverage that just might see him cling onto the keys to the White House in the upcoming
elections. Make no mistake: Biden is staking his political legacy on the success of this operation.
“Let’s proceed as planned. Let’s do some good, people.”
Hour Two. Fort Huachuca
has been put on a state of high alert. Personnel are now priming the hellfire
missiles on squadrons of drones which will shortly be launched against the drug facilities within
range. Each drone will be armed with AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles (ASM). Originally
designed for anti-armor use, they were later developed for precision drone strikes against
other target types, especially high-value targets just like the drug manufacturing facilities
in Mexico. This multi-mission, multi-target precision-strike ability means the missiles
can be launched from multiple air, sea, and ground platforms, making Fort Huachuca the
perfect location to initiate the surprise attack. To ensure optimal devastation, the drones will
be launched in mini-squadrons of 20 in number. When in range, the laser-guided AGM-114L Longbow
Hellfire missiles will be deployed. Nothing within the vicinity is likely to survive a direct hit.
Hour Six. The first wave of drones is launched.
In a series of well-coordinated attacks the Hellfire missiles successfully target the
drug cartel infrastructure, decimating dozens of buildings and reducing whole
streets to nothing more than dust and rubble. Reports from Mexican troops on the ground paint
a picture of utmost carnage and chaos. Whole neighborhoods have been leveled. Dead bodies
are strewn across the blood-soaked streets. Fires rage. Sirens wail. Not that there is
much that the paramedics who arrive at the scene can do for those maimed and seriously
injured. Reports of thousands of casualties from each town and city are starting to reach media
outlets across Mexico and beyond. The attacks are devastating and
effective. One cartel after another has been effectively wiped off the face of the earth.
But at what cost? Like Brown had predicted back at the Oval Office,
the cartels are far from stupid. They deliberately operate out of big cities and towns he mentioned
in heavily built-up areas to nullify the possibility of such an attack. They know that no
government could initiate a full-blown offensive if the loss of innocent lives would be so high.
Biden has called their bluff. The sudden nature and ferociousness of the attacks
have taken the cartels by surprise. For that reason, they have suffered irrecoverable losses,
both in terms of manpower, infrastructure, and product. While the drug manufacturing facilities
may’ve been primitive, they were incredibly effective, with some working around the clock.
Billions of dollars of refined opioids destined for the American market have been destroyed.
Great chemical clouds of smoke hang over the site of each decimated building. Visibility
is negligible and the air is barely breathable. Round one to Biden and the Mexican government.
Hour Twelve. Heavy artillery moves in on the ground.
Mexican AMX-13, T-55, and T-72 tanks and hundreds of troops, ably supported by U.S. Rangers,
Green Berets, Marine, or Delta Force regiments, aim to secure each targeted area and ensure that
any hostile threat has been neutralized. At first, this appeared to be no more than
a reconnaissance mission, with troops confirming that different sectors of
different towns and cities were safe and reporting back to their superiors.
But that didn’t prove to be the case. As each unit picked its way through the rubble,
they met with incredible and unforeseen resistance. Although fully unprepared
for the attack, the surviving cartel members have somehow managed to galvanize themselves
into a scattered fighting force. Equipped with armored trucks with 50-caliber machine
guns and their own grenade-dropping drones, the severely depleted forces
scramble to launch wave after wave of attack. As a result the Mexican and U.S. troops have to
dig in and take defensive positions. With far superior manpower and resources, they
see this as only a momentary setback and fully expect to continue their advance in due course.
However, as U.S. snipers get into position and begin to return fire,
they soon realize that they are shooting at no more than heavily armed children.
“Sir,” one of the commanding officers reports back to base, “we have a slight problem on the
ground here and need some clarification from our superiors before proceeding with the mission.”
For the drug cartels no tactic, however preposterous or underhand, is off the
table. Routinely they have used child soldiers as young as 11 to further their operational goals.
Whether patrolling the drug-making facilities or intimidating the local populace, kids who should
rightly have been playing in parks are now toting semi-automatic weapons and tossing grenades at one
of the most advanced armies in the world. The killing of children, even in a war
against drugs, wouldn’t look good for Biden in an election year.
When the President is made aware of the fact in the White House Situation Room,
he sits in studied silence for a full minute, maybe more. He no doubt visualizes the headlines
in the morning papers and hears the bulletins on all the major news channels. But he’s gone too
far to pull out now. Ever since he took office, he’s read one report after another enumerating
the drug-related deaths directly attributable to the Mexican cartels. He knows it’s a cliché,
and he knows that it may well not save his job, but in some situations tough decisions simply have
to be made. In some situations, as inhumane as it may sound, the ends really do justify the means.
“Continue with the mission,” he informs his staff. “Let’s get this thing done and dusted. Today!”
Hour Eighteen. Having slowly but surely overcome
the fierce resistance on the ground, Mexican and U.S. troops have now secured each and every
sector of each and every targeted area. Of the few local people who survived
first the drone onslaught, then the ground assault, they stagger from the remnants of
the decimated buildings, bloodied and beaten, and either waving improvised white flags or raising
their hands in surrender. As the medical teams rush over to assist them, one word in Spanish
resonates above all others: “Gracias.” As much as the troops are moved by this
simple gesture, as much as they realize that they’ve contributed to removing these people
from out under the tyranny of the drug cartels, it’s a bittersweet victory. So many victims,
many of them children, are testament to the true cost of the operation.
Hour Twenty-four. Biden calls a press
conference at the White House. In the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, the president
informs an unexpecting world of the news: that the U.S. in cooperation with the Mexican
government launched a bold and decisive attack at the very heart of the Mexican drug cartels.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we got ’em. We finally got ’em.”
The press contingent looks on in confusion. None have been briefed regarding the true
nature and scale of the operation. “Shortly after I came into office,”
Biden continues, “I read a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Do
you know how many deaths were directly linked to the illegal opioids that have flooded into
our country from Mexico? Well, let me tell you: 100,306. No more. We’ve just taken a huge step in
finally winning the war on drugs.” Biden is seen as a hero and his
actions lauded across the globe. Of course, the scenario outlined above is
just one of the many ways the U.S. military could potentially wreck the Mexican drug cartels.
In reality, however, the American government would face many legal problems in launching
any such attack – not to mention fierce opposition in Congress. Firstly, they would have to redefine
the status of the drug cartels through the U.S. courts, but this could conceivably be overcome in
a quite straightforward manner. By designating the cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs),
Biden would be legally entitled to deploy military force to overcome
the drug problems posed by Mexico. This may not be the most popular or
welcome of moves though. If the drug cartels were designated as FTOs, it would have a potentially
crippling effect on the Mexican economy. Some experts estimate that it could hit
the tourist sector to the tune of $20 billion (or 8.5% of its Gross Domestic Profit, or GDP).
Why? Quite simply,
people would be scared of traveling to a country riddled with terroristic elements. Other economic
arguments are just as compelling. Trade between the U.S. and Mexico alone is worth $72.1 billion.
Eye-watering figures that illustrate exactly how much is at stake here.
But at what point does the social cost of the opioid crisis in the U.S. outweigh the economic
ramifications of war on the Mexican drug cartels? We’ve already provided some chilling statistics
at the top of the video, but perhaps it pays to dig deeper
to paint an ever-starker picture of the crisis. As mentioned earlier in the video, both countries
are well aware of the scale of the issue and the human cost involved in the opioid crisis. Even if,
historically, the U.S. has been reluctant to intervene militarily to not worsen its already
shaky relationship with Mexico – inherent issues which can be traced back to the Mexican-American
War of 1846-1848. With the other conflicts that are raging around the world at present – most
notably Russia’s brutal attempts to annex Ukraine – López Obrador may fear a similar fate.
But any notion of the U.S. carving up the country and taking over is, of course, mere conjecture.
What can’t be denied are the many legal rumblings that have taken place in recent years. Following
the death of U.S. nationals in Mexico, Senator Lindsey Graham, co-sponsored by Senators John
Kennedy, Marsha Blackburn, Josh Hawley, Steve Daines, Mike Lee, and Mike Braun introduced the
Ending the NARCOS Act of 2023 to the United States Senate – or to give it its full name:
Ending the Notorious, Aggressive, and Remorseless Criminal Organizations and Syndicates Act.
Following on from a previous point, the purpose of this act was to designate Mexican
cartels and other transnational criminal organizations as FTOs. The reasoning
behind this is that these organizations pose significant threats to U.S. citizens due to
their involvement in acts of terrorism, including the production and importation
of illicit substances such as fentanyl. Again, the ultimate aim was to enable the U.S.
to tackle this threat with the kind of extreme military force described earlier in the video.
And it would be remiss not to mention the migrant crisis.
Everyone remembers Donald Trump’s infamous “Build a wall” speech from his successful presidential
campaign back in 2016. In a BBC report from 2022, there were a record 239,416 encounters between
illegal migrants and U.S. law enforcement at the Mexico border. And while Biden has
attempted to address the issue by offering legal status to an estimated 11 million undocumented
people in the U.S., his proposal failed to gain enough bipartisan support to pass into
law. Conservative critics have been outraged by what they see as a “soft on the border.”
And the figures back this up, with a significant spike in number during
Biden’s term office – something which could prove critical if, as expected, he faces off
against Trump again in the upcoming election. And if all that wasn’t bad enough, there is an
even more sinister geopolitical subplot to our story – China.
As highlighted earlier, Beijing is known to be supplying the ingredients that
make up Fentanyl to the Mexican drug cartels. The natural question is: why? What does China get
out of aiding and abetting criminal organizations? Instability, thousands of deaths each year,
a general weakening of the social structure across vast swathes of America – the list could go on.
But there is historical precedence, if not a justification for China’s stance here. The
country sees the Fentanyl as revenge for what it calls the century of humiliation and the
Opium Wars of 1830-40s. These kinds of tactics, therefore, can be seen as a historically based
foreign policy to ensure that China remains strong and its enemies weak. Case in point,
China had suspended cooperation with the United States on drug policies in 2023, but agreed to
resume bilateral cooperation in January of 2024. . Undoubtedly, there is a much bigger picture here
to consider – one that would take up one, if not several more videos to cover it in its entirety.
But if there is one underlying factor that is stopping the U.S. from deploying military
force against the Mexican drug cartels. The dreaded possibility of “mission creep.”
In so many conflicts of recent years (and we can go back to Vietnam and beyond) the U.S.
has deployed forces in a region for what it initially saw as a short-term basis to achieve its
military aims. Be that to stabilize a country or gain a geopolitical foothold in a region crucial
to U.S. interests abroad. All too often this has led to years of attritional fighting and,
in the cases of Vietnam and Afghanistan, embarrassing and costly withdrawals,
with the country in question being in a much worse situation than it was before. The last thing
Biden, or whoever happens to occupy the White House in the future wants, is a long-drawn-out,
painful, and bloody war in Mexico. For that reason alone, any military
action against the drug cartels is highly unlikely now, or in the short- to medium-term.
Just quite how the U.S. solves the opioid crisis and gains an upper hand in the war on
drugs remains to be seen. But perhaps the words of former Guatemalan leader Otto Perez Molina,
a paraphrase from a famous Albert Einstein quote, sums up the situation most succinctly:
“We cannot continue doing the same thing and expect different results.”
Now we’re coming to the end of the video, it’s time to ask you what you
think about the opioid crisis in America and how the government should respond.
Do you think the problem is so serious now that some kind of military intervention is
inevitable? Or do you think the economic factors highlighted in the video make
military action all but impossible? And what of the bigger geopolitical picture?
Can the U.S. sit back as China floods its towns and cities with
highly addictive substances like fentanyl? It’s certainly a tough call for whoever will
be sitting in the White House come November, but sadly, it’s not a problem that’s going
to go away on its own. If America doesn’t act now, it may well be counting the cost
for generations to come. Tell us what you think in the comments and thank you for watching the video!
Now go check out What's Stopping US Army From Attacking Mexican
Cartels or click this other video instead!