Everybody is watching Mexico and hoping for the best!

Outgoing CIA Director Michael Hayden has just reported the top 10 threats to the US.

Look who is # 2 on that list?

"2. Violence in Mexico:

"Our good friend and neighbor Mexico had this horrible surge in violence that may cause -- in fact has caused -- us to talk with our Mexican friends, in more meaningful and deeper ways, to discover ways that we can cooperate against what we now view to be, and has always been, a common problem. ...

"What you've got is President Calderon, very heroically, taking on drug cartels that I think everyone agrees threaten certainly the well-being of the Mexican people and the Mexican state, and taking them on in a very, very progressive way.

Now, it is not quite the same thing as Colombia, where you had a politically motivated movement, the FARC, merging with narcotics organizations.

Here it is largely in the business of crime but the effects could be just as dangerous, certainly to the well-being of the Mexican people.""

Who would have believed that 2 years ago?

The CIA's Top 10 list of the world's trouble spots does not include Iraq but Mexico is # 2!

Why is there so much concern about Mexico?

It starts with the Mexican army. We salute the bravery of each and every Mexican soldier who is defending his country. At the same time, we recognize that Mexico can not win this war without huge help from the US, i.e. The Merida Plan approved by Pres Bush!

The current war is debilitating the Mexican army to a dangerous point:

"The drug-related murder rate in Mexico doubled in 2008 from just one year before, and as the violence escalates, the power of the drug cartels has destabilized Mexican authority to the point of threatening national security." (Mexican Drug Cartels Armed to the Hilt, Threatening National Security)

We are not happy to write this but it won't be pretty in Mexico for the near future.

For example, The U.S Consulate in Juárez is warning U.S. citizens to avoid the Valley of Juárez and to consider the risk in visiting Juárez due to rising drug-related violence!

The violence is all over: Mexico sends more police to airport after assaults!

Peter Brookes is a Heritage Foundation senior fellow and ex-deputy assistant secretary of defense.

Today, he calls on the US to stand with Mexico in HELP MEXICO BEAT THE NARCO-GANGS :

"In fact, by all accounts the federal government, politicos, the military and police are under the gun - literally and figuratively - by criminal gangs dealing in meth, cocaine, marijuana and heroin.

The public is ruthlessly intimidated.

Despite this, the Obama administration and Congress may be wavering on continuing to give Mexico help fighting the growing danger to that country's stability - and by extension ours.

That'd be a big mistake.

This is a serious threat."

Here is the relevant question: Is the Obama administration ready to see Mexico as a national security threat?

Or will Democrats continue to blame NAFTA for Ohio's economic woes? Does Nancy Pelosi understand how the "buy American" provision in the "stimulus" proposal hurts Mexico, one of our largest trading partners?

Here is the potential consequence of a Mexican collapse: Are you ready for thousands of Mexican refugees showing up at the border? How can we deny asylum to political refugees?

P.S. Someone at the Obama White House should read Enhanced role expected for U.S. in drug cartel battle By ALFREDO CORCHADO:

""Mexico is not a narco state, but we're witnessing a giant criminal apparatus operated by drug traffickers," said Arturo Yañez, an author and security expert at the Autonomous University in the state of Mexico.

"If Mexico is not a failed state, it sure is acting like one.""