http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6288370.html

Gates says U.S. military can help Mexico in drug fight
By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL Associated Press
March 1, 2009, 12:41PM

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military is in a better position to provide Mexico’s military with training, resources and intelligence as its southern neighbor battles deadly drug cartels, Defense Secretary Robert Gates says.

More than 1,000 people have been killed in Mexico in drug-related violence this year. In 2008 the toll doubled from the previous year to 6,290. Both the U.S. and Canada have warned that murders related to drug activity in certain parts of Mexico, particularly along the border with the U.S., raised the level of risk in visiting the country.

“I think we are beginning to be in a position to help the Mexicans more than we have in the past. Some of the old biases against cooperation with our — between our militaries and so on, I think, are being set aside,â€