INSTEAD GIVE THE FUNDS TO OUR LAW ENFORCEMENT ALONG OUR BORDERS!!!!

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5762622.html

May 8, 2008, 12:13AM
Bush pitches funding plan for military aid to Mexico
President seeks $500 million to help fight the war on drug cartels


By STEWART M. POWELL
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

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THE MERIDA INITIATIVE

Among the items in the $500 million requested by President Bush to assist Mexico in its drug war are:
• $2.8 million : to upgrade and equip two Citation surveillance aircraft for Mexico's attorney general

• $104 million : to buy eight medium lift 13-passenger utility helicopters for Mexico's air force

• $100 million : to provide four maritime patrol aircraft to supplement seven surveillance aircraft already operated by the Mexican navy
WASHINGTON — President Bush on Wednesday showcased his request for $500 million in U.S. military assistance to help Mexico combat murderous drug cartels in a bid to build congressional support for the more contentious part of his spending package — the latest multibillion dollar request for emergency war spending in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Bush crafted plans for the U.S. military assistance to Mexico at a meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderon 14 months ago and sketched details last October, including money for military equipment such as helicopters, training and assistance in combating corruption in the criminal justice system.


Council of the Americas
Bush pitched his financing plan to the Council of the Americas, an organization of international businesses that backs free trade and democracy. The U.S. military assistance — $500 for Mexico and $50 million for Central American nations — will help them "deal with the scourge of these unbelievably wealthy and unbelievably violent drug kingpins," Bush told the organization's conference at the State Department.

Administration officials have said the remaining $900 million originally proposed in the Merida Initiative will be requested later.

Some members of the Houston-area congressional delegation have been leading advocates of helping Mexico beef up security forces along the U.S.-Mexico border to help stem a wave of drug-related killings that claimed an estimated 2,700 lives last year.

"There is a war going on down there and if Mexico loses that war it will be worse in our own country," said Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston. "If Mexico can control these drug traffickers, it means they don't come here."

Bush pivoted off the remarks at the Council of the Americas to appeal for favorable congressional action on his entire emergency spending request, not just the tiny share set aside for U.S. military assistance to Mexico and Central American nations.


Bush, Democrats differ
The total for the supplemental spending package was in flux. The Bush administration sought at least $108 billion to finance operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through Sept. 30. The House Democratic leadership fashioned a spending package of nearly $195 billion that included domestic spending that Bush has threatened to veto.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill may get a more detailed look at the program's spending blueprint today when the House Foreign Affairs Committee's panel on Latin America hears testimony from the State Department's top Latin America specialist, Thomas Shannon.

Adam Isacson of the Center for International Policy, a non-profit think tank that opposes the Merida Initiative, said the administration included financing for the program within the emergency war supplemental bill because it would be ''hard to strip out any part of that spending package.''

Details of the spending proposal were not made available by the White House.

But Isacson's organization published on its Web site (www.ciponline.org) two State Department documents that he said had been used to brief members of Congress on details of the Merida Initiative.

The documents showed that most of the $132.5 million designated to bolster Mexican law enforcement agencies would be poured into the Mexican Federal Police Force with another $112 million being used to assist operations by Mexico's attorney general and the criminal justice system.


Culberson opposes aid
Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, said he opposed providing the assistance to Mexico. "These resources should go to our own law enforcement officers rather than Mexico's," Culberson said.

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, said he favored providing U.S. military assistance. ''We must fight to keep these drug cartels from operating with impunity on our border," he said.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, vowed to work in the Senate to win the requested money.

But Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, opposed including the funds in the war supplemental. A spokesman said Cornyn "believes additional funding requests should be reviewed on their merits through the normal appropriations process."

stewart.powell@chron.com