In this Sunday's reading from the Book of Jeremiah, the Lord warns bad shepherds he will punish their evil deeds. Mexican President Felipe Calderon's efforts to capture and punish drug dealers for their deeds is leading to increased militarization in troubled regions and concern among human rights observers.

Calderon launched the military offensive 10 days after assuming office in December 2006, saying it was necessary to restore government authority in parts of the country. But the longer and harder the war is prosecuted, say observers, the more complex and daunting it becomes.

Recent setbacks such as prison breakouts, kidnappings, and killings of federal officials have led to questions about whether Calderon was prepared for the breadth and depth of the problem. By disrupting the cartels' operations, the offensive intensified turf struggles among the traffickers. About 11,000 people, some of them bystanders, have died in the violence.

"They hit a wasp nest, and the wasps are stinging," said Jose Luis Pineyro, an expert on national security at Mexico City's Autonomous Metropolitan University. "There definitely wasn't a well-structured plan to know what kind of threat they were confronting."

Government forces have scored victories, almost all credited to the military: They've arrested more than 66,000 suspects, seized tons of cocaine and marijuana, and intercepted guns, grenades, airplanes, and even drug-laden, submarine-like vessels. But every success is offset quickly by a fresh surge of violence.

Critics also worry that the military's expanded role could undermine the country's fragile democracy. Others fear that the military, one of Mexico's most respected institutions, will fall prey to the corruption that has corroded so many police departments and local governments.

Source: Articles by Ken Ellingwood and Tracy Wilkinson for the Los Angeles Times
and Gusavo Ruiz for Associated Press