Look up the panama and honduran conflicts of 1985. Plenty of reading there. Ms13 and communist rebels backed the coup. Yeh big red one first cavalry little white one army. I had a front row seat. These people are not nice. They are killers ms13. This is not about illegals or immigration or racism. This is about educating ourselves and defending ourselves against a serious threat if we let it become a serious threat. Do you understand my opinion now? If so nod your head. If they shot you while defending their helpless countrymen then 22 years later defaced a soldiers memorial you'd be freaking unglued and most likely share my opinion. Do you understand? Nod yes if you do.

MS13 has been a growing problem for a while now. Slowly yet surely they are seeping through all parts of the nation.

seriously, Kyle...Yes, i understand...

you have my respect and total admiration

and so do all the other soldiers
who have fought for my freedom...


i wish all others would also
be appreciative and full of gratitude


and show some respect where respect is due

very funny there I did not nod at instruction though so what does that say about me????

I did not bring up the racists stuff to relate to this gang situation so no relativity there unless a racist was jumping on this band wagon. I was relating my passion to yours about the gang members. I do see the objective you are trying to get to. I am just stating that the "gang situation" in America is rampant in all races backgrounds and this thought of violence begets violence is not a solution but a perpetuation of the problem.

I have lived in gang infested areas. I do know the control they exert. I have had a run in or two with them over respect they believe they deserve.

My point was anger and frustration never solve anything. Tit for tat is obviously not a good solution, our country shows this all the time. Anger should lead to thought and thought should then lead to a plan (non-violent preferably)that should lead to action. One should never revert to violence as a solution. We all react, those who react and think are more successful then those who react and act with no thought process but avenge, revenge. That is my point in general.

I am very appreciative of all men and women who serve our country. So please accept my heart felt thank you for your service

What does ms13 care about..

Probably their drugs. If I were a drug cartel, I'd care about the drugs, and the money. Of course, they're also people. They have heroes in their past, and present. Leaders of their gang, favorite hangouts, plasces with a history, you get the idea, right?

It's Psychological Warfare, really.

I'm not angry. I'm not upset. I was asked my opinion on ms13 and I'm sorry if I was brutal or offended anyone. Ms13 does not care about you. I feel that the syndicate should be eliminated. They are pure inherent evil. I respect all your opinions and thank you.

the war on drugs is worthless and creates a market for the very thing it fights, next

Its hard to catch the street level ms13s who are heavily armed and take a vow not to be taken alive. Tough bunch. They shoot at everything. Pregnant mothers, children, innocents.

I was not offended, I was attempting to be the voice of reason.

You know American gangs go all the way back through our history. The mob is the gang mentality in a larger scale. It has always been a problem here. America breeds them and our society somehow is supportive of them.

The war on drugs is only pointless because it isn't handled properly. I say forget trying to find crops and stuff. Let's start getting those egghead scientists (admittedly, I am sometimes one of those myself) to bio-engineer insects to eat the drugs.

Or, more realistically, tighten up the borders. Either deal with the supply, or deal with the demand (impossible really), or make it impossible to get them into the hands of the buyers.

I do think the powers in charge have no interest in stopping drugs, though. Hell, half the time they get caught doing a line of coke in some hotel room anyway. Why would they want to make it tougher to get it?

it's all just a huge waste of money. i'll agree that the people in power don't care.

but i will stand by my statement, a war on drugs only makes them more desireable. if things were legal or even regulated in some way, our nation would be in a different state.

instead of being the nanny state taht it is, maybe we could be americans and excersize freedoms? meh, unlikely

But ms13 is a worldwide cartel dealing in nothing but death. There is money in death to them. Absolute power absolutely corrupts. If They are crazy enough to try to take over countries whos to say they won't try something really wierd like rolling in tanks and artillery and trying to take over an american city just to see if they can. Sounds farfetched. But they have the drug/blackmail/extortion/murder money and manpower and firepower to do it. Their weakness is their greed. The top man is just that. A man with a name and an address and a target on his head. A puppeteer who can't enjoy nor spend all his wealth nor enjoy life because of that target on his head. A man who controls finance and crime but will never control a country or its people.

I suggest that a war only makes warring desireable.

But yes, there's no easy or effective way of dealing with a drug problem on such a large scale.

I do see a possibility though. With all the pharmaceutical industries mass-marketing drugs for all sorts of purposes, the day may soon come when some of the illicit narcotics being produced in third world countries won't be sought anymore. If that happened, the cartels would have to find another line of work.

But after what I've experienced I hope and pray none of you ever have to deal with the ravages of ms13. Do you have freinds in mexico, guatemala, honduras, panama, nicaraugua or columbia. Talk to them. Ask them about gangs and ms13. They will tell you stories that will leave you crying with your head in your hands shaking. Very sad.

Funding for any terrorist type group is an issue. Our gangsters here are our terrorists. We have all kinds of them, race based, locale based, etc..... but they are no better than any terrorist we are used to calling terrorists. Their power comes first from the way they get their money. Money equals power all over the world. With money pretty much everything can be done.

I agree on better border security. I think we should keep educating on drugs. We should all continue and further our educations. And try to capture and lockup the REAL bad guys. Once again my opinion. Easier said than done.

Our borders should have been controlled/closed 1 month after 9/11. This administration has it's own agenda and they are sure are not concerned about the average American.

i'll agree with ya there.

The average american isn't represented in the higher-agenda mindset of the government. They represent the power base, wealth-wise, policy-wise, law-wise.

They don't care about polls, they don't care about the common man, and they never will. The common man can't afford their bribes, and has no influence among their friends.

They toss us a bone every once in awhile, but by and large we're nothing more than tickets they can cash in on.

And I want to personally thank each and every one of you for this discussion. I had a hard time talking about the situation when I returned home. This has been therapudic.