Trump Offers to ‘Wage War’ Against Cartels in Mexico

Says Mexico 'needs an army to defeat an army'

In the wake of reports of nine Americans being killed in a highway ambush in Mexico, President Trump is talking up this being the “time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth.”

Trump is urging Mexico’s “great new president” to endorse this new war, saying that the cartels are big and “you sometimes need an army to defeat an army.” Mexico’s President Obrador has rejected the proposed war.

US-Mexico relations all but preclude the idea of taking up Trump’s offer of a formal joint war inside Mexican territory, and Trump’s prediction of winning this Mexico War quickly and effectively is probably unrealistic at any rate.

After all, the “need an army to defeat an army” comment aside, it’s not as though Mexico, a nation of 125 million people, doesn’t have a formidable military as it is. The cartels are built around resisting heavy actions by military and law enforcement, and it’s not as simple as throwing the US military at them and expecting fast success in a complicated environment.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.