[420 Girl]

El Paso Times - El Paso City Council voted Tuesday to condemn the violence that continues to bloody the streets, homes and businesses of Juarez. It's about time.

One contentious paragraph, advocating the legalization of marijuana in the United States as one way of combating the violence, was voted out of the final resolution, as it should have been. That's another discussion for another time. But the final resolution made a number of important points.

There is a call for a meeting between President Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon here to address the violence and drug problems. That's good because there's no evidence that Juarez drug-related violence is even on Obama's radar screen. What's going on in Juarez and elsewhere along the border should be of deep interest to the administration. A visit by Obama to the border and a visit with Calderon might help demonstrate the importance of the border situation.

Another point in the resolution reads, "We urge comprehensive re-examination of our country's failed War on Drugs ...." The war on drugs has taken a back seat to such matters as health reform, which is more politically interesting to our lawmakers than the drug war. That should be rethought.

Also in the resolution: "We oppose militaristic approaches like Plan Merida ..." The plan provides about $1.4 billion over three years to Mexico in various forms of aid. Although U.S. federal elected and appointed officials defend the idea, there's little or no evidence the plan is working.

The final point in the resolution reads, "We demand that Mexico be made the number one foreign policy priority for the United States."

While that's hardly likely, given various levels of U.S. involvement with Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, Russia, China and the rest of the world, perhaps the very demand will serve to get some attention.

It's good that this resolution is going to be made part of El Paso's federal and state legislative agendas. Perhaps that will gain some needed attention.

The federal government cannot afford to just look the other way and hope the border violence will go away. It's not going away. It's getting worse, and it's time -- past time -- for the government to stop wasting time and taxpayer money on initiatives that don't and won't work.

Confronting and solving border violence must become a priority.

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