The Iranian Qods Force plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. in Washington in a terrorist attack using Mexican drug cartel associates shows the complex threat the Iranian regime poses.

Venezuela's impeached supreme court justice, Judge Eladio Aponte-Aponte describes a judicial system that is systematically corrupted by Chávista cronies and military leaders who have made billions of dollars trafficking in cocaine and laundering the proceeds of an international criminal syndicate.

Iran's new Bolivarian buddies--Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales, and Rafael Correa --are not the most cautious cats in the Western Hemisphere. But they look like Bismarkian "satisfied powers" by comparison to the drug cartels that are an increasing part of Iran's anti-American network.

The most disturbing aspect of the plot to kill Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States is that Iran's thugs are developing a strategic partnership with Mexico's most violent thugs: Los Zetas.

Merely monitoring Iran's foray into Latin America is the very least the United States must now do to frustrate Teheran's plans to threaten U.S. security and interests close to home.

Officials in Chávez's inner circle are wondering how their cash-strapped government can finance yet another "revolutionary" government in Central America. What they fail to realize is that Chávez's backup plan is to sow chaos in Honduras so it is hospitable territory for his partners in the illegal drug trade and a headache for the United States and Mexico.

For at least four decades Colombia has been synonymous with the costly war against narcotics. But a different kind of drug war brought me to Bogotá - the fight against counterfeit and substandard pharmaceuticals.

Mexico today increasingly resembles Colombia 25 years ago, but President Obama has demonstrated insufficient leadership against illegal drugs and his administration seems to have no consensus on the severity of the problem.