AMERICAN GUNS HELP FUEL MEXICO'S DRUG TRADE KILLINGS

Mexico City -- For more than a decade, Mexico has had military
checkpoints on all northbound highways leading to the United States.
It's part of the campaign to crack down on the flow of drugs to the
United States. This summer, things have changed, and Mexico's military
is inspecting vehicles traveling on the southbound lanes, checking for
shipments of weapons.

This reversal is testament to the dangers Mexico faces, bordering the
United States, a country unable to secure its own borders, where
assault and paramilitary weapons are sold to anyone with ready cash.

"We are concerned about the number of weapons coming into Mexico and
Central America illegally from the United States," Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales said last month when he was attending a conference in
Cuernavaca, south of Mexico City. "There is more that we can do, and
we are looking to do, to try and stem the flow of illegal weapons into
Mexico."

Mexican officials are frantic over the escalation of violence -- more
than a thousand people have been slain throughout the country in the
first six months of this year in drug-related violence as drug cartels
establish new leaders to replace the ones who have been arrested and
extradited to the United States.

"The firepower we are seeing here has to do with a lack of control on
the (American) side of the border," Patricio Patino, Mexico's top
anti-drug intelligence officer, told reporters in June. "What we have
asked the American government ... is that they put clear controls on
the shipments of weapons."

American officials claim that they are doing all they can to stem the
flow of weapons. Gonzales' office pointed out that the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, is pursuing Operation
Gunrunner to stop the "iron river" of weapons flowing from the United
States into Mexico.

Unfortunately, the river continues to flow. "There is a direct
relationship between the flow of these weapons and the explosion of
violence (in Mexico)," Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, Mexico's deputy
attorney general for organized crime, told reporters.

Combat-style rifles pour into Mexico, and this has escalated since the
end of the U.S. Assault Weapons Ban in 2004. "In the United States,
all you need is a pile of cash to buy all the weapons you want," said
Santiago Vasconcelos. "These weapons are being sold like candy."

The expiration of the Assault Weapons Ban has made it possible for
assault rifles, including the AR-15, AK-47 copies and the TEC-9
pistols, which were banned, along with 16 other types of semiautomatic
weapons, to be shipped throughout Mexico. The AK-15, a version of the
U.S. Army's famous M16, and the AK-47, of Russian design, have been
used in recent execution-style killings among rival gangs, and in
attacks on Mexican police officers and soldiers.

"Mexicans who are doing their job protecting the public and fighting
the drug trade are being killed with American assault weapons,"
Santiago Vasconcelos said. "What is the U.S. doing to stop this?"

The White House claims that it is doing all it can: Joint police
forces along the border look for weapons leaving the United States,
Mexican police are equipped with X-ray scanners, and border cities
have stepped up their gun "buy-back" programs.

This has proved to be ineffectual: Mexico's military took over the
airport at Mexicali to prevent shipments of smuggled weapons from
being flown into the interior of the country; Mexico now X-rays all
baggage arriving from U.S. flights into Mexico, because U.S. airlines
do not prevent passengers from carrying weapons in their checked
luggage; and the mandatory military checkpoints along the highways
have seized more than 11,000 weapons in the first half of this year.

Mexico has strong gun control laws. In a country of 110 million
people, there are fewer than 6,000 legally registered guns. But it is
now reeling from the gun-related violence. Making matters worse is
the refusal of American officials to be on the same page. Although
Gonzales admitted that the "iron river" of weapons was a problem,
months ago, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told
Congress: "I don't know where the weapons come from."

That infuriated Mexican officials. "The ATF's Operation Gunrunner
knows where these weapons are coming from," fumed Santiago
Vasconcelos.

This summer, Mexican President Felipe Calderon ordered the military to
set up checkpoints on all highways leading to Monterrey, Guadalajara
and Mexico City. The signs read "Temporary Mandatory Stop and
Inspection," and young soldiers, armed with weapons, inspect vehicles.
The sense of urgency is fueled by recent execution-style killings that
involved .50-caliber machine guns.

The task is thankless. In the unforgiving summer sun, during a year
when record temperatures are scorching the deserts, thousands of
soldiers stand in the heat, inconveniencing multitudes, in search of
assault rifles.

Gonzales faced reporters in Mexico last month. Eyes rolled when he
assured the Mexican media that the United States was "committed to
collaborating in the development of a regional security and law
enforcement strategy." It's little solace to what's happening in
Mexico, a country being consumed by a level of violence unprecedented
in scope, with rivers of blood being spilled by American weapons.