To his enormous credit, Mexican President Felipe Calderon is continuing his bloody and difficult war with the drug cartels, but it is only getting bloodier and more difficult as the New Year dawns.

Tijuana remains in the crosshairs. After a brief respite during Christmas week, the body count is climbing again. Just before New Year's Eve, authorities logged 11 killings in three days, bringing the death toll in 2008 to a staggering 829. That's just one city. There are eruptions of drug violence all over Mexico, from Laredo to Juarez to Culiacan. Many of the killings in Mexico were particularly brutal and intended to send a message, including a series of beheadings of soldiers and police officers.

This is terrorism, pure and simple. And it's having the desired effect. Many Mexicans are understandably frightened and weary. Polls show that the majority of Mexicans think Calderon made a mistake in poking the hornet's nest and challenging the drug cartels. But, interestingly, they also think Calderon shouldn't stop. Of course, there are also those who think that the drug war is unwinnable and that perhaps the drug cartels can be bought off with a pledge to legalize drugs in exchange for stopping the violence.

This isn't surprising, but it is distressing. When it comes to appeasing dictators, terrorists or criminals, two things are always true. One, when things get ugly and the casualties mount, there are going be those who get weak in the knees and suggest giving the bad guys some concessions in exchange for ending the violence. And two, that sort of deal never works.

That was the case in 1938 when British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain tried to appease the monstrous Adolf Hitler with the Munich Agreement, which handed over part of Czechoslovakia to Germany. That was obviously a miserable failure. The Third Reich went on to conquer other parts of Europe, and Britain eventually declared war on Germany in 1939. Chamberlain resigned in disgrace, and was replaced by the much more resolute Winston Churchill.

That was the case in 2001, when the United States was attacked by al-Qaida terrorists and, for a moment, there were those who suggested that the United States negotiate with the terrorists and perhaps pull back from the Middle East. Luckily, that idea never gained much traction, in part because President George W. Bush was single-minded in his determination that the United States not negotiate with terrorists.

And now, in Mexico, the same dynamic is playing out. Calderon refuses to play Chamberlain. He has said he will never negotiate with what he calls "the enemies of Mexico." The drug cartels are reciprocating in ominous ways. Authorities have accused an army officer in the elite presidential guard of selling the drug lords information about Calderon's whereabouts. The price: $100,000. There is no word on why the drug lords wanted the information.

This is getting spooky. Mexican people are witnessing heroic leadership on the part of their president. They have a moral obligation to stand by him and, as he says, help defeat the enemy.

REPRINTED FROM THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE.