Troop calls for Mexico

The question of whether the United States should post troops on the Mexican border in order to keep out illegal immigrants and the escalating violence associated with Mexican drug cartels has come up recently. Frankly, I don’t think the United States should deploy troops. There are many reasons for positioning troops on the border; deescalating drug violence, keeping illegal immigrants who don’t pay taxes but use public services out of the country or to stop rapid population growth.

There are just as valid reasons to not put troops on the border, which include strengthening U.S.-Mexico relations, letting immigrants into the United States so corporations can continue getting cheap labor (messed up but true) and, finally, the most valid one I feel is whether there are enough troops left to put on the border.

The United States is currently in two wars despite former President George W. Bush’s statements about mission accomplished in Iraq. There is still plenty of fighting, stabilizing and help that the Afghanistan and Iraqi governments could use extra troops for. Adding troops to the U.S.-Mexico border while the United States is fighting two wars is foolhardy and perhaps wasteful.

Recently there has been a jump in violence in Mexico’s northern region: beheadings, assassinations, shoot outs, etc. Deploying troops on the Mexican border has been brought up and is being considered in order to keep the violence from spilling on to U.S. soil. The proposal is acceptable, but honestly, can this country afford the troops?

According to the BBC, President Obama authorized the sending of 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan on March 27. This policy allows troops to transfer to Afghanistan from Iraq, and he wants to place some troops on the Mexican border?

I cannot agree with this. Deploying troops for every international conflict is going to create more problems than solutions. I think Bush proved that the global view of America has changed. Very few countries trust U.S. motives right now. Russia thinks Washington is placing anti-missile defense systems in the Czech region to limit Russia’s power in Eastern Europe. The French government continually distrusts American policies and most of the Middle East claims some sort of anti-U.S. sentiment. The cause of all these enemies can be traced to the international deployment of the military in some way, and now the United States is considering alienating Mexico even more?

I would suggest a coalition with the Mexican government in such a way that it is in charge. The United States should work in order to accomplish Mexico’s interests as well as its own.

In a philosophy of politics class that I took last term I was taught that when world powers collapse, historically, they are almost always at odds with international entities. It happened with the Romans, the Greeks and the English. Is the United States next?

This country spends more money than any other country on defense, with the illusion that it keeps its citizens safer. Instead, perhaps it’s time the United States tries to keep fewer enemies. It seems like the more sensible choice, especially with a nation so geographically and economically linked to our own.