Leading Neo-Con Urges "Limited Role" for US Military in New Focus on Mexico

Criticizing over-attention to Syria while Mexico burns, a leading neo-con strategist writes, “Mexico will affect America's destiny in coming decades more than any state or combination of states in the Middle East.”

Robert D. Kaplan asks:

“What if the Mexican drug cartels took revenge on San Diego? Thus, one might even argue that the very noise in the media about Syria, coupled with the relative silence about Mexico, is proof that it is the latter issue that actually is too sensitive for loose talk.”

Kaplan’s article, published in Stratfor could foreshadow a greater national security focus on Mexico, where almost 50,000 have been killed in drug-related conflicts since 2006. Kaplan fails to mention that the Bush administration drug warriors strongly supported the election of hardline Mexican president Felipe Calderon, or that US drug enforcement personnel are covertly involved in the military campaign. But he endorses “a limited role” for the US military:

“...helping to thwart drug cartels in rugged and remote terrain in the vicinity of the Mexican frontier and reaching southward from Ciudad Juarez (across the border from El Paso, Texas) means a limited role for the U.S. military and other agencies -- working, of course, in full cooperation with the Mexican authorities. (Predator and Global Hawk drones fly deep over Mexico searching for drug production facilities.)"

Taking sharp issue with the Eurocentric focus of US foreign policy and think tanks, Kaplan correctly notes that “the fate of Mexico is the hinge on which the United States' cultural and demographic future rests.”