Source(2): Austin American-Statesman
Contact: letters@statesman.com
Website: http://www.Austin360.com/
TITLE (2): MEXICO, PENTAGON SCOLDED IN DRUG WAR

Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 1998
Author: Stanley Meisler, L.A. Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- A U.S. government investigator Wednesday chastised Mexico for
accomplishing little in the war on drugs and lashed out at the Pentagon
for hindering that effort by supplying Mexico with ships and helicopters
that either do not work or have proved ineffective.

The comments by Benjamin Nelson of the General Accounting Office at a joint
House-Senate hearing came as Congress prepared to debate as early as next
week a move to overturn President Clinton's recent certification of Mexico
as a cooperative partner in the fight against narcotics.

Nelson's testimony is likely to bolster critics of the certification
decision. His disclosures on faulty military equipment being sent to Mexico
clearly angered several lawmakers. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a
leader of the effort to overturn Mexico's certification, said she intends
to investigate the equipment issue further.

Relating what sounded like a comedy of errors, Nelson testified that the
Pentagon sold two frigates to Mexico for $7 million. When they arrived last
year, Nelson said, they were found to be unsafe and inoperable. The U.S.
Navy estimated that it would take the Mexican navy two years and $400,000
to repair the ships.

Even though the U.S. Navy knew of the condition of the frigates, Nelson
said, the Department of Defense began a $1.3 million program to train 110
Mexican sailors to use the ships. That training ends this month; the
sailors are destined for other assignments while they wait for the frigates
to become seaworthy.

Nelson - director of international relations and trade issues for the GAO,
the investigative arm of Congress - testified that Pentagon officials told
him they approved the training because they were not informed by the U.S.
Navy that the ships would not be operational.''

The GAO official also had sharp criticism of 73 UH-1H helicopters the
Defense Department sent to Mexico in 1996 and 1997 as part of a $76 million
military assistance program to improve the Mexican army's counternarcotics
efforts.

Nelson said the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City informed him that the
helicopters were incapable of carrying out their main task: swooping down
on opium poppy fields and destroying them. The helicopters are of little
use in altitudes higher than 5,000 feet, he said, and most poppy fields are
cultivated on land higher than that.

The helicopters have proved to be of limited value in ferrying soldiers at
lower altitudes because of delays in the delivery of spare parts and other
logistical problems, he added.

Nelson also testified that the Pentagon supplied four C-26 aircraft to
Mexico for surveillance of drug cultivation and trafficking but neglected
to equip the planes with all the instruments needed to perform those tasks.
To equip each plane will cost the Mexican military at least $3 million.

Gerri Taylor, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said defense officials would not
comment on Nelson's remarks until they review his report.

In assessing Mexico's record in stemming narcotics trafficking, Nelson
noted that the country has passed laws that could lead to extradition of
drug criminals and made reforms that could root out corruption in its
judiciary and police systems.

But, he said, while Mexico's actions represent positive steps, it is too
early to determine their impact, and challenges to their full
implementation remain. No Mexico national has actually been surrendered to
the United States on drug charges, new laws are not fully implemented and
building competent judicial and law enforcement institutions continues to
be a major challenge.''

He added: No country poses a more immediate narcotics threat to the United
States than Mexico.''

Clinton's certification of Mexico will stand unless Congress overturns it
before the end of this month. By law, the president must decide every year
whether other nations are cooperating with drug -fighting efforts. Those
not certified face the loss of U.S. aid.

The anti-certification resolution Feinstein is pushing, however, would
exempt Mexico from punishment.

Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and Pete Domenici, R-N.M., are
sponsoring a compromise bill that would give qualified certification'' to
countries that cooperate with the United States but fail to make sufficient
progress in stopping drug production or trafficking.