The August 1 deployment of 1200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexican border further ignites skepticism about the Obama administration's stated claim that there would be a shift away from militarization in the U.S. anti-narcotic strategy. While in March Washington stressed that new strategies were needed to fight drug trafficking, which would include expanding our border focus beyond interdiction of contraband to include "building stronger communities," troops are lining up on the U.S.-Mexican border once again, and U.S. aid under the Merida Initiative continues to flow to Mexico for seemingly the same-old militarized approach.