[R-G] US military chief backs counter-insurgency for Mexico

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSN06397194

US military chief backs counter-insurgency for Mexico
Fri Mar 6, 2009 9:47pm EST
WASHINGTON, March 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. military is ready to help  
Mexico in its deadly war against drug cartels with some of the same  
counter-insurgency tactics used against militant networks in Iraq and  
Afghanistan, the top U.S. military officer said on Friday.

Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff,  
also said the Defense Department was moving quickly to provide the  
Mexican military with equipment, including helicopters, under a $1.4  
billion U.S. aid initiative.

"They have an urgent need. We all have a sense of urgency about this.  
And so we're all going to push pretty hard to deliver that capability  
as rapidly as possible," Mullen told reporters in a conference call as  
he returned from his first official visit to Mexico as Joint Chiefs  
chairman.

Drug violence has killed thousands of people in Mexico as the  
government of President Felipe Calderon wages war against drug cartels  
that earn some $10 billion a year trafficking narcotics destined for  
consumers in the United States.

Mexico's bloodiest drug war city is Ciudad Juarez, across the border  
from El Paso, Texas, where the Mexican government this week sent  
hundreds of heavily armed soldiers to take over anti-drug efforts from  
police tainted by corruption and links to drug traffickers.

Mullen, who visited Mexico on Friday as part of a five-nation Latin  
American tour, said the U.S. military is already providing some  
intelligence support to Mexico. He gave no specifics.

In talks with top Mexican defense and military officials, he said he  
emphasized the Pentagon's readiness to provide new intelligence,  
surveillance and reconnaissance help, such as unmanned drones to spy  
on armed drug gangs, especially along the U.S. border.

"They need intelligence support, capabilities and tactics that have  
evolved for us in our fight against networks in the terrorist world,"  
Mullen said. "There are an awful lot of similarities."

He said the Mexican leadership is taking steps to eliminate problems  
posed by official corruption that could compromise counter-narcotics  
efforts.

"Best I can tell, the leadership in Mexico is aware of the problem and  
is addressing it," Mullen said. "I haven't seen anything on the  
military side at this point that would indicate that that's a limiting  
factor."

The admiral said he and his Mexican hosts did not discuss the  
possibility of placing U.S. troops on the U.S.-Mexican border, an idea  
suggested by Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

He also visited Brazil, Peru, Chile and Colombia. (Reporting by David  
Morgan, editing by Anthony Boadle)