Togetherness

One of the things that I have found quite interesting about the series thus far is the lack of "togetherness".  It seems as if there is no uniform goal among the branches of government.  Each branch seems to have their own personal agenda.  My question is why do these branches seem to be competing for criminal investigations, when in reality they all want the same result?  I understand that each branch needs there own agenda and are positioned to take on certain cases.  In "The Wire" though, each branch seems reluctant and unwilling in provioding assistance to each other.  Its kind of like there invisible to one another.  The one exception to my theory is McNultys friend that works for the FBI (I forget which branch he works for) that lends them the wire taps.  Even then though, each branchs head seems to enforce their own agendas without consideration for their own personal organization.  I guess thats the beauty of being the boss.  I suppose my ending question is one that asks, does this portray a fair picture of our policing agencies?  If so, why is there so much individualism within these agencies that support the same goal?

War On Drugs

One of the most memorable moments that came from episode 1.1 for me was when it was said that, "I dont know why they call it the War on Drugs, wars end".  I thought that was a really interesting quote to think about from a micro-level and macro-level.  What is qualified to be a war in the first palce?  From a micro-level I almost think were "winning the war".  Taking "pawns" (episode 1.2 or 1.3 he used that term) off the street really doesn't help the macro-level problem per say, but I guess in shear numbers we could win that war all day .  Its necessary to address these "pawns" in order to effectively control the macro-level problem.  Were able fight the micro-level war effectively every single day, but is that truly effecting anything?

Going back to the idea of this "War" on drugs, is it necessarily a war were talking about here, or is it more  attempting to control the consumption of drugs?  In all honesty im not really sure what the answer to this question is.  I know the media wants people to believe there is a "war" on drugs but obviously thats not realistic/plausible to believe. All in all to call such a problem a "War" in my opinion isnt fair.  I guess there will always be a War on drugs if thats what were calling it.