When you look at the history of US involvement in South America or the Middle East, there must be so many bits where it's just so fucking complicated.
Let's imagine we can simplify it down to just one, I dunno, theatre of combat let's say. Cut it down to "just" South and Central American gangs trying to smuggle drugs into the US. Just straight off you have (let's see) - dealer gangs (cartels) in the original countries, they probably have their own distribution in some parts of the US, but they also sell to large criminal networks based there. Also in the selling countries you have political gangs who are involved with selling drugs to finance their ideological battle*. Then you have law enforcement in the US such as the DEA and the police - and you also have secret services such as the CIA... and you probably have secret services from other countries getting involved and pissing around just for the sake of it.
So, if things were just, kinda you know, as it ought to be, then the dealers would be fighting the other dealers, and the buyers would be fighting the other buyers, and law enforcement would try and stop them and there would be no need for any secret service. But it's seems to be pretty much certain that the CIA was helping with the selling and we know that all the agencies and law enforcement groups would try and infiltrate the other groups, and of course the dealers and buyers and so on would all be spying on each other and trying to penetrate them.
So the DEA and the CIA would often be on opposite sides right? And if the groups were all infiltrating each other, then surely there would be times when you would be fighting people on the same side as you - both knowingly and unknowingly and... I just don't understand how they don't just throw up their hands and give up. How do you know what is the right thing? Who is on your side and is your side the right side and even if it is, is it doing what it is supposed to be, and even if it is how do you know individual agents aren't fucking it up and so on. It's just such a fucking mess, it's insane. Why do anything? I don't get it. Did US involvement anywhere gain them anything?
*the other day I found out that one of my friends spent six months in Columbia filming the FARC. I need to ask him a lot more about this but I've already heard some crazy stuff.