dr. eric farnsworth, many thanks with some degree of seriousness. may i also thank the council of the americas as the principal host. and the center for hemispheric defense studies, without whose support, ladies and gentlemen, we would not be here this morning. that may or may not be a good thing depending upon how the next hour plays out. ladies and gentlemen, distinguished ambassadors, and members of the diplomatic community, distinguished members of the media, and ladies and gentlemen, i would like to begin with a story, a make-beleive story. once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived two kingdoms. one kingdom in the south, in mountain kingdom. in that kingdom, for reasons having to do with culture and history and tradition, to a certain extent, but also economics and the desire to make money to a very large extent, people in that southern mountain kingdom produced a substance, let's say several substances, that if misused cost of physical harm to people, but nevertheless some people liked to use it. to the north, there is a large kin

dr. farnsworth, trying to make me field old by referring to those ancient, ancient years gone by. ladies and gentlemen, it's quite clear we're in the month of august in washington, where many people have a lot of time on their hands, and nevertheless i am delighted to see all of you here this morning, and i hope the time that you dedicate to this conversation will not be time poorly spent. dr. farnsworth, many, many thanks, with some degree of seriousness, and may i thank as well at the very beginning the council of the americas, as the principle host, csif, the national institute for national distract jig study and the center for hemispheric studies, without whose support we would not be here this morning, and that may or may not be a good thing, depending upon how the next hour players out. ladies and gentlemen, distinguished ambassadors, members of the diplomatic community, distinguished members of the media and ladies and gentlemen. i would like to begin with a story. a make-believe st. let us call it a fable if you will. once upon a time in land far, far away, there lived two

dr. farnsworth is trying to make me feel old by referring to those ancient, ancient years gone by.ntlemen it's quite clear that we are in the month of august in washington, where people, many people have a lot of time on their hands and nevertheless i am delighted to see all of you here this morning, and i hope the time that you dedicated to this conversation will not be time poorly spent. dr. farnsworth, many many thanks with some degree of seriousness and may i thank as well at the very beginning the council of the americas as the principle host, csis, the national defense university's institute for national strategic studies and the center for hemispheric defense studies without whose support ladies and gentlemen and cosponsorship we would not be here this morning. and that may or may not be a good thing depending upon how the next hour plays out. ladies and gentlemen distinguished ambassadors, and members of the diplomatic community, distinguished members of the media and ladies and gentlemen, i would like to begin with a story, a make a lead story. let us call it a fable if yo

dr. farnsworth, trying to make me feel old by referring to those agent, ancient years gone by. ladies and gentlemen, it is quite clear that we are in the month of august in washington, where many people have a lot of time on their hands. nevertheless, i'm delighted to see all of you here this morning. i hope the time you dedicate to this conversation will not be time poorly spent. dr. farnsworth, many, many thanks with some degree of seriousness, and may i thank as well the council of the americas as the principal host, the national defense university institute for national strategic studies, and the center for atmospheric defense studies, without whose support, ladies and gentlemen and co-sponsor ship, we would not be here. that may or may not be a good thing, depending on how the next hour plays out. ladies and gentlemen, distinguished ambassadors, members of the diplomatic communities, distinguished members of the media, ladies and gentleman, i would like to begin with a story. a make-believe story. let us call it a fable, if you will. once upon a time, in a land far, far aw

dr. farnsworth. i turned his back over to you. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, bill.as promised those were terrific remarks. congratulations and thank you for taking time to make them today. and as promised to the audience, certainly lively and sometimes provocative. so thank you for joining us as well. we have about 15 minutes for follow-up questions. i want to ask the first one, as you are formulating your own question. we have circulating microphones for you as you recognize, we ask that you please identify yourself by name as well as your organization. but bill, you laid out a comprehensive strategy which makes a lot of sense. you touched on a lot of points. it is a complicated issue, and with commitment to the highest levels of not just our government but other governments as well. but it's a strategy that's going to take time to implement. and i guess the question would be, is the situation on ground right now is pretty bad in some locations. so there may be a disconnect in terms of getting active drug trafficking authorizations and the gangs who are causing tro