Mexico's War Has Spilt Over to US

With the killing of ICE Agent Zapata, the Cartels apparently made themselves "fair game" here in the United States.  Several federal agencies, supported by local police in cities across the United States, have begun "Operation Bombardier," a strategic operation to round-up members of various cartels who are operating in the United States to facilitate drug and arms transportation on this side of the border.  As of this post, well over one hundred persons have been arrested, hundreds of pounds of drugs, and several weapons have been confiscated.  The US government is "pushing back" after the brazen murder of Agent Zapata.  According to Special Agent Carl Pike of the DEA, the United States government has been "bullied" and now the various agencies are pushing back.  http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7443931.html 

Apparently federal agencies had ongoing investigations and had obtained "the goods" on hundreds of Americans working for the cartels.  With the death of Agent Zapata, it appeared that the cartel leaders had possibly given the "green light" to killing US agents as well as Mexican police and officials.  Many of those arrested were dangerous, as illustrated by the shooting of Houston Police Officer Nainash Patel.  Officer Patel was shot by a potential arrestee as Patel and other officers and agents executed search and arrestees warrants in Houston.  Fortunately Officer Patel is in good condition.  The criminal is in the hospital but his condition and identity was not released. 

I have contended for months that the "War on Drugs" in Mexico was spreading into the United States, and this is borne out with the nation-wide arrests of cartel members in the United States.  Operation Bombardier will continue for another day or so.  If the trends continue, there could easily be three hundred or more people  in jail at the conclusion of this sweep.  It is encouraging that our federal agencies are acting now to catch these criminals.  I wonder what the reaction across the border will be.  Will the cartels increase their assassinations in response to Operation Bombardier?  Will they put out the word that US officials and agents should be left alone? And the bigger question: Will the arrest of the American side of the cartels disrupt narcotics flow across the border in any noticeable way?  All of this remains to be seen, but I believe that Operation Bombardier heralds an increase in US involvement with Mexico's War on Drugs.  I hope that our leaders see now that a military presence along the border is necessary.  We spend billions of dollars fighting in foreign lands, and billions of dollars in foreign aid to nations so distant that we only have a dim concept of where these countries fit on the globe.  I believe it is time for those resources to be brought back and brought to bear on the border, and that our armed forces protect us from the chaos that the Mexican government just cannot seem to stamp out there.