The Zetas aren't the only mercenaries in the drug war. Another report from occupied Cd. Juarez. by Billy Joe
(libertarian)
Friday, September 12, 2008
Second Dispatch from the War Zone:
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As a veteran, I can tell you that there are three types of soldiers. The ones who are pressed or drafted into service are slaves. The ones who signed up for the money are mercenaries. The ones who sign up for ideological reasons are fools. I was in the latter camp. I was still in basic training when the Berlin Wall came down, yet I was still obligated to serve until the first Gulf War ended. The problem with the military is that they won't let you fight only the war you want to fight or follow only the orders that are moral.  Keep that in mind as you read the rest of my report.
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The government soldiers stationed here in Juarez are mostly poor boys that have little education and almost always join the military because they have no other job prospects. They don't see themselves as mercenaries like the brutal Zetas do, but they are mercenaries all the same. Some maybe fools also, making the same mistake I made of believing that getting paid to point guns at people will result in a better world and a nice paycheck. I ended up helping some Kuwaiti Monarch. The Mexican Army is inadvertently helping Sinaloa kingpin "El Chapo" Guzman.
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The dominant narrative on the street is that El Chapo Guzman is the "good drug lord" who doesn't kill innocents and who spreads his money around while our local bad guy Vicente "Viceroy" Carrillo is the "bad drug lord" who kills indiscriminately. I have no way of knowing if there is any truth to that or not, but what it tells me is that El Chapo is winning the PR war at the same time the Mexican Army is effectively fighting on his side by targeting Carrillo and La Linea.
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You have to understand the tremendous chilling effect on the press this war has created. Journalist's lives have been threatened, Newspapers have caved to the pressure and pulled out their reporters. I myself may be in danger if my reports are perceived to be biased one way or the other. Â I am embedded neither with the Military nor with any of the rival criminal organizations. I am literally embedded in Ciudad Juarez itself. Â
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The vast majority of people here just want to be left alone. They have nothing to do with this war if they can possibly help it. Almost everyone here has relatives (legal or not) in the U.S., but have smuggled nothing more than an occasional bootleg DVD. Most seem to be taking the increased hostilities in stride. My wife tells me a military occupation like this happened a few years ago, but after a while things settled back down to the "normal" level of ubiquitous corruption and relative peace. Others are not so complacent. Three thousand families so far have moved to El Paso to escape the violence. Many more would move if they could get visas.
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The views expressed
in this article are those of Billy Joe only and
do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates.
Billy Joe is solely responsible for the contents
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Seeing the violence firsthand in Juarez, do you support open unrestricted immigration to the US?  From reading your other articles it seems that you support the free and unrestricted movement of goods and services between countries.  From your position of free trade would it also not follow that you should allow the free and unrestricted movement of persons between countries, provided that they do not violate private property rights in doing so? **Public property cannot be viewed the same as Private property. Granted they would have to travel along public roads which they did not pay a nickel for in tax money to arrive at their destination. However, there are numerous Americans who have not paid their portion of taxes for every public service provided.
 Do you think that complete drug legalization would reduce the violence in Juarez? The citizens of Mexico do not have a Constitutional right to keep and bear arms as we do in the US. Do you think if the Mexican citizens could readily arm themselves that they would be willing and able to protect their lives and property from indiscriminate violence? Or would this lead to more chaos?
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