Congress tells Mexico to polish the brass

Congress is making a bold statement

MEXICO CITY — The United States Congress has scaled back on President Bush’s anti-drug plans for Mexico and put human rights conditions on some of the aid, drawing fire from some Mexicans who accuse American lawmakers of meddling in their country’s internal affairs.

: at the same time as the Mexican Police in a couple of small towns.

Acapulco, Mexico (AP) - A southern Mexican town's 15-member police force has quit for fear of being assassinated in retaliation for a shootout with gunmen, a security official said Thursday.Zirandaro was the second town in less than two weeks to be left without its police force as Mexico's drug cartels wage increasingly bold attacks against security forces. On Monday, the military took over a town near Texas after all 20 of its police officers were either killed, run out of town or quit.

Do we have a right to ask for certain improvements or addressing human rights to people we give money to; most certainly. Not doing so for too many years in the Middle East has got us to where we are now. The big difference is that Mexico for all of its faults and corruption is still a functional democracy. That puts it a huge step up from the tyrants and thugs that seem to predominate the ME.

But at issue is the performance of Mexico’s army and the police, which have been accused by human rights organizations of engaging in abuses as they chase down the country’s drug cartels.

See those who most object about the present plan are those who are most concerned with how the criminals are treated. The criminals that profit off the misery and death of others. The criminals that will kill anyone that gets in their way.

Where is the line drawn between the need to get rid of the scum and protecting their rights as (barely) humans?