Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Baghdad, Mexico

In October, the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez logged 352 murders.   Those numbers are reminiscent of the bad old days of Baghdad in 2006 to 2007.  Baghdad has a population of roughly 7.4-million.   Juarez, Mexico's fifth largest city, has approximately 2-million residents.

14-young people, age 13 to 30, were gunned down at a birthday party.  Overall, 48 of the dead were women - housewives, police officers, students, young girls.   The year to date has claimed 272 female victims.

While October sets a record for Juarez, it's a record that's been steadily climbing all year.  Juarez is situated just across the border from El Paso, Texas astride one of the major drug-smuggling routes into the U.S.

How is it we're quite content to spend a decade banging away at Afghans on the other side of the world but we can't make the same effort for a neighbouring country beset by drug cartel violence?

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