The US is looking at sending troops or anti-narcotics agents to the Mexican border to fight the scourge of violent drug cartels, a US general said on Tuesday.
A team from several government agencies was drawing up a strategy to work with Mexico in its escalating war against the drug mafia, and would examine whether National Guard reservists were needed at the border, General Victor “Gene” Renuart, head of Northern Command, told a Senate hearing.
“Certainly, there may be a need for additional manpower,” Renuart said before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“Whether that is best suited or best provided by National Guard or additional law enforcement agencies, I think, this planning team will really lead us to,” he said.
The mounting drug violence that has claimed thousands of lives in northern Mexico has emerged as a fully fledged national security threat for the US, with the US’ top military officer engaged with the problem.
US President Barack Obama said last week the government was considering deploying the National Guard to the border to prevent spillover from the bloody drug wars.
But for the moment, Obama said the spiraling border violence did not warrant “militarizing” the region.
The governor of the border state of Texas, Rick Perry, last month asked the president for 1,000 soldiers as a precaution.
“The Guard, Reserve and active components are partnering with the law enforcement agencies and the states to ensure that the governors get the kind of support they feel they need,” said Renuart, who as head of Northern Command oversees US interests in the border region.
The general said the military was using techniques and technology employed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to monitor cartels operating on the border, including unmanned aircraft, sensors and cameras to track the cartels.
There had been a “great transfer [of experience] from Afghanistan into our southwest border,” he said.
“We manage and operate a series of sensors along the border, cameras, listening posts, aerial vehicles, both manned and unmanned, with night vision capability ... to provide that information to law enforcement authorities who then conduct the appropriate operations,” he said.
The military has said it is moving quickly to deliver equipment such as helicopters and surveillance aircraft to help Mexican authorities fight the well-financed and heavily-armed cartels.
The Mexican drug cartels, who rake in billions of dollars in profits and are present in hundreds of US cities, resembled insurgents elsewhere in the world, Renuart said.
“They are well trained, they’re well equipped, their tactics are good,” he said.
Unlike the corruption-plagued police, the Mexican army was credible and “the lack of corruption in the Mexican military is noteworthy,” Renuart said.
Senators at the hearing expressed concern that the cartels were buying their illegal weapons in the US.
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