Posted on 03/02/2009 11:45:27 PM PST by Cindy
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=53293
Gates: U.S. Military Could Help Mexico Fight Drug Cartels
By Donna Miles American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 2, 2009 – The United States could increase its military support to help Mexico fight drug cartels that pose an increasingly alarming security risk, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday.
“I think we are beginning to be in a position to help the Mexicans more than we have in the past,” Gates said during an NBC “Meet the Press” interview. “Some of the old biases against cooperation between our militaries and so on, I think, are being satisfied.”
Drug-related violence has soared in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon dispatched the federal army to confront the well-armed and -financed cartels. So far in 2009, an estimated 1,000 people have been killed.
“The cartels are retaliating,” Gates said yesterday. “It clearly is a serious problem.”
The United States could support the effort through training, reconnaissance and surveillance support, intelligence cooperation and other assistance, Gates said.
The secretary praised Calderon’s courage in standing up to the cartels and police corruption in a way that previous presidents wouldn’t. “One of the reasons it's gotten as bad as it has is because his predecessors basically refused to do that,” he said.
Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, shared Gates’ growing concern about Mexico last week during a Pentagon news conference.
“Mexico is certainly more of a concern to me,” Mullen said. He announced plans to visit Mexico on the last leg of this week’s trip to Latin America.
Mullen noted the spike in drug-related violence in Mexico that has increased dramatically in the last year. “We're looking for ways to assist them in terms of addressing this kind of threat,” he said.
The chairman pointed during a Feb. 5 address at Princeton University to successes the United States has helped Colombia to achieve over drug cartels and narcoterrorists that had controlled much of the country. The U.S. military provided primarily training assistance, but other interagency efforts also supported efforts taken by the Colombian government and military.
“I think the Colombian example is a great example of a very broad program that wasn’t just military to support a friend at a time when, effectively, they were very close to a failed state,” Mullen said.
Mullen said the same kind of support could help Mexico. “We’ve offered that,” he said. “It takes engagement -- not high-end military activity.”
The days of looking east and west more than north and south to assess security threats are long over, he told the Princeton audience.
“We do need to pay a lot of attention to our neighbor and the security issues and the economic issues that are associated with not just Mexico, but with Latin America,” he said.
Biographies: Robert M. Gates Navy Adm. Mike Mullen Related Sites: Mullen Princeton Transcript Pentagon News Conference transcript
Related Articles: Secretary Addresses Pakistan, Afghanistan, Other Key Issues
Isn’t the military already stretched thin due to Iraq and Afghanistan? Now Mexico too? The Mexicans will absolutely hate this.
I smell a draft, and of course, its BUSH’s fault.
Washington Times says there 100.000 foot soldiers in the cartel and Mexico has only 130,000 as the size of the Mexican army. Needless to say we are stopping a war that is soon to be fought here that is all.
Seriously... how about closing the border and throwing out the thugs first?
Hell fire, what's wrong with these people!?
Just a thought, but if we close off the border, preventing most of the drugs from reaching our cities, wouldn’t this dry up the cartels’ cash supply, thereby reducing their ability to fight the Mexican military, and thereby helping Mexico fight the drug cartels.
Sure, would also prevent the gangs to use border towns as retreats and to satisfy the raving democrats it would stop the flow of “US assualt weapons” into Mexico. Of course we know what the democrat’s real motives here are.
This will result in retaliation against Americans in their homes, businesses and schools.
Imagine Iraq next door.
Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
May 14, 2008
WASHINGTON — As many as 200 U.S.-trained Mexican security personnel have defected to drug cartels to carry out killings on both sides of the border and as far north as Dallas, Rep. Ted Poe, R-Humble, told Congress on Wednesday.
-snip-
The renegade members of Mexico's elite counter-narcotics teams trained at Fort Benning, Ga., have switched sides, contributing to a wave of violence that has claimed some 6,000 victims over the past 30 months, including prominent law enforcement leaders, the Houston-area Republican told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
-snip-
Mine the borders build the fence and deport the illegals.
Bush’s biggest failure, not securing the border after 9/11, will be his true legacy.
Let’s just spread a couple of divisions of Army and Marines along the border for an initial six months of “training” (with an option for the remainder of two years) and see how a lot of stuff just comes to a grinding halt.
Wouldn’t it be easier to “out bribe” them, it seems to be the true way of life in our neighbor to the South. Cheaper than sending troops. /sarc
“These people are truly trying to inspire a political and economic revolution.”
Which is exactly what they want to happen. I recall several years ago a post about quislings hanging from the trees....
How about BUILD A BIG DAMN TRIPLE SECURITY FENCE?????
Then get back to us with other options.
0bama wants to invade Mexico!
Warmonger!!! (s/)
As they say in Mejico: “Vamos a ver.” We’ll see.
Very little on the ground interdiction by "friendly" neighbors that let them land and fast boat the coke to the US.
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