Fighting a two-front war is ill-advised, as Napoleon Bonaparte, Kaiser Wilhelm and Adolph Hitler all found out the hard way. But the U.S. is now facing an unprecedented triple threat. But with combat troops already stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan, President Obama has largely ignored what Rep. Ted Poe, R-TX, calls “the silent third front,” our1,951-mile border with Mexico.

Poe’s war reference is meant to be taken literally. Members of increasingly bold Mexican drug cartels have already killed more than 18,000 Mexicans and 79 Americans. More than 5,000 people were murdered in Ciudad Juarez alone over the past three years, including two U.S. consulate employees Poe says were deliberately targeted for execution in March, sending a clear but chilling message to U.S. authorities.