A COMPACT WITH MEXICO

A White House pledge of $1.4 billion to Mexico to stem the northward
flood of drugs comes loaded with problems and doubts. But on one
score the package succeeds: The two countries are at last cooperating
on a serious subject.

Illegal immigration and trade are far bigger concerns and remain
radioactive, too hot for Washington to touch. But drugs are a close
third in importance, and the surge in trafficking has never gotten
the attention it deserves. Both sides prefer easy stereotypes of each
other: Mexico is hopelessly corrupt and the U.S. is obsessed with
immigration only.

The aid agreement could produce a thaw in these frozen positions. The
three-year package includes planes, speedboats and helicopters to
hunt shipments, police training and tech hardware to search cargo for
hidden drugs. It will allow Mexico's president Felipe Calderon to
further a high-profile drive against narco-gangs blamed for 2,000
killings last year and spreading drug use.

For President Bush, it's a chance to re-start relations on tough
topic. After warm moments in the opening days of his first term,
cross-border relations have steadily chilled culminating with this
summer's failed immigration reforms.

The anti-drug aid is already labeled by doubters as Plan Mexico, a
mocking title comparing it to Plan Colombia, a similar effort which
has cost $5 billion over seven years and brought in U.S. advisers.
That initiative shored up a weak government facing civil war but did
little to stem cocaine exports. The Mexico package won't include the
U.S. military and comes with a smaller price tag.

There are other doubts. When pressure's applied, drug channels have a
nasty habit of finding new routes to U.S. cities. Also, the aid does
nothing to diminish this country's appetite for cocaine, heroin and
methamphetamine. Legislators in both countries are also annoyed at
being left out of the deal-making.

So what can Yankee dollars do? The money buys time for Mexico's
Calderon-directed house-cleaning. It tells entrenched gangs that
their murderous hold on border areas and supply routes won't go unchallenged.

Just as important is the political quotient.

Stamping out a thriving trade may be the long term goal, but there's
a more immediate reward as well. The aid agreement knits together the
frayed ties between Washington and Mexico, and that's no small thing.