PENTAGON EXPECTED TO END BORDER TROOPS

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Pentagon officials are finalizing recommendations on the
future use of armed military patrols for anti-drug operations along the
U.S.-Mexico border.

"Officially, no decision has been made by the secretary of defense whether
or not to resume the use of active-duty ground forces in the use of
counterdrug operations," Pentagon spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin said Thursday.
Unofficially, however, it appears that defense officials will recommend the
end of such patrols -- a practice that provoked controversy after a West
Texas teen-ager was killed last year by a U.S. Marine on patrol along the
border.