ALBRIGHT BOTH PROTECTIVE, CRITICAL OF U.S. STING IN MEXICO

WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright admonished
Mexico yesterday to refrain from carrying out its threat to indict
U.S. agents who delved into Mexican territory to catch Mexican bankers
in the Operation Casablanca money-laundering sting.

Despite her public defense of the U.S. agents, new evidence suggests
that, behind the scenes, Albright has been highly critical of the
Treasury Department handling of this matter.

In a letter to Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, published yesterday in
the Congressional Record, Albright complained about his failure to
notify her office and Mexico before announcing the sting three weeks
ago.

"We might have achieved more favorable results," Albright wrote, "if
we had brought (Mexican) Attorney General (Jorge) Madrazo and a few
others into our confidence a few days before the public
announcement.

"In this regard," she went on, "I believe State should have been
consulted. We would have been able to offer some advice that could
have ameliorated the negative reaction."

Her admonition to the Mexicans about the threatened prosecution of
U.S. agents came at a news conference closing the annual meeting of
the two nations' Cabinets. "I do think that prosecution and
extradition would be counterproductive," she told reporters. "We need
to concentrate on the criminals. That is the point of this."

But Mexican Foreign Secretary Rosario Green insisted the Mexican
attorney general had no choice but to keep investigating whether U.S.
agents broke Mexican law by staging a sting in Mexico.

Green noted, however, that Operation Casablanca would not prompt
Mexico to rule out future U.S.-Mexican anti-drug actions, so long as
Mexican sovereignty was respected.

After a meeting in New York Monday, President Clinton and President
Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico told Attorney General Janet Reno and Madrazo
to work out procedures for future operations.

Mexican officials were incensed that U.S. agents operated on Mexican
soil without Mexican authorization and lured Mexican bankers into a
sting that is regarded as illegal entrapment under Mexican law.

But U.S. Treasury officials continue to express pride in the
operation. In testimony before the House Banking Committee yesterday,
Undersecretary of the Treasury Raymond Kelly called Operation
Casablanca "the largest drug money-laundering investigation in U.S.
history" and "a significant step forward to curb money
laundering."

Albright's letter to Rubin was inserted in the Congressional Record by
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who attacked the secretary of state for
complaining about the sting instead of praising it. The senator did
not say how he had obtained the letter, dated May 22.

Checked-by: (trikydik)