STUDY FAULTS AID SENT TO MEXICO'S ANTI-DRUG EFFORT

WASHINGTON -- After years in which U.S. officials have bitterly criticized
Mexico's cooperation in the battle against drug trafficking, government
inspectors suggested Wednesday that the United States may bear a greater
share of the blame.

According to an assessment by the General Accounting Office, the
investigative arm of Congress, planes, helicopters and ships sent to Mexico
by the United States have largely been inoperable, inadequate or ineffective
in the drug fight.

The inspectors were vague about precisely who was to blame. But they
suggested that poor planning and coordination, particularly by the Pentagon,
was the source of the problem.

``You would think that we would at least provide equipment that is fully
operational at the time that it is provided,'' said Sen. Dianne Feinstein,
D-Calif., adding that she was ``somewhat shocked'' by the GAO's findings.

The GAO disclosures, based on a report that is to be released in the coming
weeks, came in congressional testimony that was intended to examine the
Clinton administration's formal ruling late last month that Mexico was fully
cooperating to fight the drug trade. A Senate vote on a resolution to
overturn the administration's ``certification'' of Mexico is expected next
week.

Echoing the Clinton administration, GAO officials noted that during the last
year, Mexico has established a series of new laws, law-enforcement units and
programs to fight drug traffickers, whose power has risen sharply as they
have gained a greater share of the business of moving cocaine from South
America to the United States.

But the inspectors were for the most part less than impressed with the
effects those changes have had.

They said a new law that was to modernize the Mexican government's fight
against organized crime with innovations like legal wiretapping, plea
bargaining for informers and a witness-protection program had scarcely been
put into effect. They found flaws in a new Mexican law against money
laundering.

And they said new Mexican police units directed at the traffickers had
either not yet been fully staffed or were hampered by a lack of funds for
things like gasoline and equipment.

The senior Justice Department official in charge of law-enforcement
cooperation with Mexico, Mary Lee Warren, called the money-laundering
statute ``quite sufficient'' and the early efforts of the 300-agent
Organized Crime Unit ``remarkable.''

She also cited ``enormous progress'' in persuading the Mexican government to
extradite criminals wanted for prosecution in the United States, even though
several legislators noted that the Mexican government has still not
extradited one of its citizens to face U.S. drug charges.

Administration officials had no response , though, to findings about the
utility of U.S. counter-drug aid.

While the Pentagon provided Mexico with 73 used UH-1H (Huey) helicopters
over the last two years, as many as 65 percent of them were grounded by a
lack of spare parts and other problems, the inspectors noted. The Mexican
army has sought to use the aircraft to help ferry troops on missions to
eradicate heroin poppies, but the helicopters generally cannot fly up to the
high altitudes where the poppies are grown.

Although the National Security Council arranged to send the Mexican military
four C-26 turboprop planes to fly on surveillance missions, none of the
planes can be used for such purposes until they undergo at least $3 million
in modifications.

After U.S. intelligence saw that more cocaine was being moved up Mexico's
coasts by ship, the U.S. Navy sold Mexico two Knox-class frigates last year
for about $7 million. But the ships lacked basic safety equipment that will
cost about $400,000 more and take at least two years to install before they
can be used.

A spokeswoman for the Defense Department, Gerri Taylor, said tonight that
she could not comment on the findings of the General Accounting Office
because the Pentagon had not yet received its report.