Ex-US drug czar: MOVE CARGO CHECKS AWAY FROM BORDER

Ponderous cargo inspections on the U.S.-Mexico border are killing
commerce and will hurt America's overall economy, a national security
expert said Tuesday in El Paso.

Retired Army Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, a former U.S. drug czar and
member of President Clinton's Cabinet, said the United States should
break bottlenecks at the border by limiting inspections. Most of these
checks of cargo can be carried out in the interior of the United
States and Mexico, he said.

For instance, McCaffrey said, if a shipment of goods left Chihuahua
City for Detroit, it would be inspected by Mexican officials and
sealed in Mexico but not be checked by U.S. agents until it arrived at
its destination.

"In this day and age, it's crazy to think that you are going to
inspect on the El Paso-Juarez border," he said. "We cannot strangle
ourselves economically while providing security along the border. You
can't inspect cargo at the border in the middle of an urban area anymore."

McCaffrey served in the Army for 32 years and retired as a four-star
general. He is now a U.S. government consultant. He was the keynote
speaker at the Border to Border Transportation Conference at the
Judson F. William Convention Center. The conference continues today
and Thursday.

Mayor John Cook, who was at the conference, supported McCaffrey's
thesis. Cook said the ports of entry in this area were built in the
1960s and '70s, before the North American Free Trade Agreement and
before the twin-plant industry in Juarez boomed.

Nowadays about 14,000 El Pasoans work in Juarez, and the two cities do
about $42 million worth of trade each year.

"Our bridges were not built for today," Cook said. "We need to make
sure we are in a competitive global environment by inspecting only
what is needed."

McCaffrey said improvements to border commerce are needed now because
the U.S. cannot wait for the drug war in Mexico to end. Mexico is the
second-largest trade partner of the U.S. -- Canada is first.

As for the drug war in Mexico, McCaffrey said, it will take an
additional five years to wind down. Mexico has been mired in violence
since 2008. More than 30,000 homicides tied to the war have occurred
since 2008, when Mexican President Felipe Calderon vowed to rid the
country of the cartels.

The U.S. is helping Mexico by providing intelligence, equipment and
money to reconstitute the country.

"Inevitably we are going to win this," McCaffrey said. "There will be
a struggle and part of it may go on for 20 years, but there is no way
we, the U.S. and Mexico, don't win this."