U.S. FACES 'GRAVE THREAT' IN MEXICO'S DRUG FIGHT

Mexican military efforts to crush heavily armed drug-smuggling
operations in five cities along the U.S.-Mexico border pose a "grave
threat" to U.S. authorities and a half-million Americans in the area,
according to former U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and
Naturalization Service officials.

"What we face is more of a challenge than law enforcement can be
expected to cope with," said Kent Lundgren, chairman of the
800-member National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers
(NAFBPO). "The best solution is for the U.S. military to assume armed
positions along the border ... and use whatever force is necessary to
control the border zone."

On Jan. 12, Mexican Brig. Gen. Rigoberto Garcia Cortez said the
Mexican military and other personnel had surrounded five border
cities in the lower Rio Grande Valley -- Matamoros, Reynosa, Rio
Bravo, Miguel Aleman and Nuevo Laredo -- in response to gunfights
between Mexican police, military forces and heavily armed drug smugglers.

Gen. Garcia told reporters last week his soldiers were encircling the
targeted cities and were "organized to fight all criminal activity."
He said it would take time, but the drug smugglers "will not be able
to handle the government and the army. ... We are fighting for the
security of the nation and its people."

A spokesman at the Mexican Embassy in Washington said drug
trafficking is a "shared responsibility and a threat to both our
countries and our people."

"President Felipe Calderon has demonstrated his commitment to fight
drug-trafficking and organized crime head-on and his willingness to
work with the U.S. Irresponsible statements are not the way to deal
with it," the spokesman said.

"Unfortunately, border violence south of our nation's border is not
new," Border Patrol spokesman Michael Friel said, adding that it not
only has increased in Mexico but also has directly affected U.S. authorities.

The number of assaults against Border Patrol agents on the border
rose from 384 in 2005 to 987 in 2007, he said.

"Violence is on the rise, and we are fully aware of that phenomenon,"
Mr. Friel said. "But we feel strongly that as we add resources as we
have been doing, we will gain effective control of the border. We are
working with the Mexican government, along with our state, local and
tribal local law-enforcement partners, to address, decrease and stop
the violence."

Violence has been the key to long-standing efforts by the Gulf Cartel
to control drug smuggling on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Mr. Lundgren said NAFBPO, whose membership includes eight former
chiefs of the Border Patrol and 14 former INS district directors,
thinks the next step for the Mexican military will be to begin
closing the "noose on the gangs," but the targeted cities "abut the
Rio Grande River, the international boundary and Mexican forces must
stop there."

"The predictable consequence is that those bandits will retreat
across the Rio Grande into the United States -- they will not
surrender to Mexican authorities," he said. "We need not expect
Mexican authorities to inhibit their departures.

"This is a grave threat to U.S. Border Patrol officers, other U.S.
law enforcement, and to residents of adjacent cities and towns in the
United States," he said.

The Gulf Cartel, based in Matamoros just across the border from
Brownsville, Texas, is the second largest in Mexico and transports
tons of cocaine, marijuana and heroin into the United States each
year. Using violence and intimidation, it works closely with corrupt
law officials in Mexico.

"They are very well armed, and numerous. Their strength has enabled
them to seriously challenge civil authority in Mexico for control,
with grisly executions being the tool of persuasion when money won't
do," Mr. Lundgren said. "When they come here they will be looking for
new bases of operations, even if only until the situation returns to normal."

He said the drug smugglers would bring "new, unimaginable levels of
venality and violence" to the United States and that deploying U.S.
military troops on the border is the "best solution." He said to do
less would be to "abandon the area and our officers to its fate."