Drug War… Victories?

Over at Human Events Online, which recently embarrassed itself by printing John Hawkins fetid In Defense of the Drug War, there is a new piece: Drug War Victories by Robert J. Caldwell.
Caldwell touts the recent extradition of Mexican drug lords with a kind of “Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead” enthusiasm — you can almost hear the voices of munchkins in his writing.

Once among the most powerful and feared criminal syndicates in Mexico, the AFO is now a shambles. Its top leaders are dead or in custody. Most if not all of the AFO leaders now behind bars face trial in the United States, where bribery cannot buy the criminal justice system and intimidation doesn’t work. […]
A counter-narcotics war popularly disparaged as a chronic loser, yet vital to the national interests of both Mexico and the United States, is producing its biggest victories ever.

While he notes that this won’t mean an end to the “plague of smuggled narcotics,” the degree of his celebration seems to know no bounds, and really has no relevance to the real world.
By the time the trials of these drug lords are completed, the DEA will be soft-pedaling their significance, because a whole new structure of cartels will be fully in place and functioning smoothly, with ownership of much of the Mexican government. (Just like the conviction of the leaders of the Colombian Cali cartel this past September was such a non-issue, given the transition of cartel power in that country.)
The only true victory will come from ending the drug war.

A strange game. The only way to win is not to play.

“bullet” Note: In regards to the Hawkins piece, I left out one rebuttal — from Mark Draughn of Windypundit.