U.S. Military Doing 'Limited' Drug War Work In Mexico, Napolitano Says

In an interview with NPR, Napolitano admitted the following:

Napolitano's response:

"Yes. Let me be very, very clear (because) this is a very delicate subject. ... Our military in certain limited ways has been working with the Mexican military in their efforts against the drug cartels. But, it is at the request of the Mexican government, in consultation with the Mexican government. And it is only one part of our overall efforts with Mexico, which are primarily civilian in nature."

Does this mean the U.S. has advisers on the ground, or "people actually engaged in operations?" Robert asked.

Napolitano wouldn't go into specifics: "All I'm saying in this interview is; that you can deduce from the fact that the chair of the Joint Chiefs was at this meeting and the secretary of Defense was at this meeting that the United States, and its military, are also and have been offering assistance to Mexico."

www.npr.org...

Could this be the reason for the helicopters breaching the Southern Border?

What roles is our military playing in Mexico?

Training? Hope it works better than the last time.

In the mid-1990s, the United States began training Mexico's soldiers in hopes of stopping the flow of drugs through Mexico and ending corruption.

Some of those trained by U.S. forces formed the Zetas, a criminal organization that works as assassins for one of the drug cartels fighting in Juárez, Mexican law enforcement officials said.

www.elpasotimes.com...

Merida Initiative

IMO, helping our neighbors next door is the right thing to do. However, I don't believe it can be accomplished militarily.

I've done a bit of research myself on this issue a few months ago, to see if there was a story there that my readers in the UK would be interested in. I ended up not doing a piece for the Mexican military incursions yet because honestly, I cannot tell heads from tails in it.

The whole thing seems to be FUBAR, everyone is saying contradictory things, and trying to cover their own behinds at the same time. Books should be written on this by the journalists with the time to go and hash it out and put together what actually happened! This could be an enormous story!

What I have pieced together is:

Mexican military or anti-drug police forces have incurred into the United States in the past 4 years. I have no idea how often this happens, some anti-immigration sources claim it is every few days while others, including the Mexican Government, claim it has only happened a couple times.

The legality of the incursions is dubious at best.

The United States of America incurs into Mexican territory as well, but there are usually standing agreements and-or requests that allow this. Remember that the United States has far more technology and resources at her disposal than Mexico. The US does not really need to incur into Mexico to conduct recon on drug and body smugglers, they can say, use a UAV flying right on the American side of the boarder that can see deep into Mexico.

The thing I am absolutely positive of however, is that absolutely nobody fully knows what is happening day-to-day on the US-Mexico boarder. The US side is understaffed, and the Mexican side has rampant corruption. The criminals are constantly fighting each other and the civilians on both sides are caught in the middle of all of this mess!

Thousands are dead, the area is not under control of either government, and there really is no one clear picture of the status either.

reply to post by jam321


COULD the U.S. be conquering Mexico for the banksters to get their hands on the wealth of Mexico while expanding the territory of the U.S. in an effort to force the formation of the North American Union at this particular time?

I mean the American people are WAKING UP. The NWO-types in current or former U.S. cabinet positions (Obama, Clinton, Gates, Nepolitano, Rumsfeld, Rice, Chertoffmay) have had to step up the formation of the NAU before the time when they originally thought they would complete that step.

Rumsfeld has been instrumental in developing the Canadian arm of the Northern Command.

Other pertinent facts: they were >2,000 casualties in Mexico in 2009

A large group of cabinet-level U.S. officials traveled to Mexico last week on March 23, 2010. This group included Sec of State Clinton, Sec of Defense Gates, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mullen.

www.state.gov...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Mexico City, Mexico for the Merida U.S.-Mexico High Level Consultative Group meeting on March 23, 2010. The Secretary was joined by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates; Secretary of Homeland Security Janet A. Napolitano; Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair; Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John O. Brennan; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael G. Mullen; Immigration and Customs Enforcement Assistant Secretary for Homeland Security John Morton; Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary G. Grindler; Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Director Adam Szubin; Office of National Drug Control Policy Acting Deputy Director of the Office of Supply Reduction Patrick Ward; and Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart.

There has been a minimum of 20 casualties in Mexico per day for the past 3-7 days.

A highly revered 80-year-old rancher was killed on his own property in Southern AZ YESTERDAY.

Mexican Black Hawk helicopters have been over multiple American neighborhoods in TX over the past wekk or so (reported YESTERDAY).

U.S. troops have FINALLY been sent to the Southern border of the U.S. along the TX/Mexico border YESTERDAY. This happened even though 1000s of illegals cross our southern border every day for the past 10-12 years! Why send the military troops (Natn'l guard?) NOW and NOT THEN?

Sen. McCain and AZ Gov. are all of a sudden screaming for 250 federal troops to guard the southern border of AZ. The governor made a formal demand to D.C. YESTERDAY. If the AZ Governor doesn't get the troops she's requested by tomorrow she will make her own direct demand from the armed forces.

reply to post by ProjectJimmy

The thing I am absolutely positive of however, is that absolutely nobody fully knows what is happening day-to-day on the US-Mexico boarder. The US side is understaffed, and the Mexican side has rampant corruption. The criminals are constantly fighting each other and the civilians on both sides are caught in the middle of all of this mess!

Pretty good observation.

IMO, corruption on both sides are playing a role. That is one of the reasons that the cartel has grown so strong. Even some of our banks have helped the cartels.

The deferred prosecution agreement announced in Miami, which included a $50 million fine to be paid to the U.S. Treasury, was the largest penalty ever imposed for a violation of the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jeffrey H. Sloman told reporters.

Sloman said a "systematic" failure by Wachovia, now a unit of Wells Fargo & Co, to maintain effective anti-money laundering (AML) controls had led to more than $400 billion in unmonitored funds being channeled to accounts at the bank between 2004 and 2007 by currency exchange houses in Mexico, mostly through wire transfers

www.reuters.com...

The current Mexican administration of Calderon campaigned on a platform of law and order and bringing peace to the countryside, a huge undertaking! Have they even made a dent in the lawlessness is questionable.

The Mexican drug cartels are a big business, an ongoing business, they have always been a part of the business environment and probably always will. The drugs bring in huge revenues and must be maintained. The difficulty is the violence. The Government prefers to favor (yes they apparently take sides) one cartel over the other on the basis of probable kickbacks and lack of violence. They really want these cartels to behave themselves and stop their inside fighting.

In the last couple of years there has been some changes in cartel structure due to old leaders breaking out of jail (El Chapo), upsets in power structures due to groups well trained, well equipped and violent (Los Zetas) and the Mexican government favoring one group over others (the New Federation). New Federation vehicles can be seen clearly marked and operating without government interference in some cities.

The result of recent changes has often been violent bloody clashes between rival groups and cartels. Violence that has often spilled over the border so it is no wonder that US forces have been called into play in the area.

[edit on 9/4/10 by plumranch]