00:00The U.S. is preparing military attacks on Mexican cartels, according to a report.
00:07The report from Ken Klippenstein says the Trump administration has directed the military to prepare for lethal strikes against cartels.
00:16The attacks will reportedly be ready by mid-September.
00:19One of the military sources quoted says the military action could come without the approval of the Mexican government.
00:26And if that cooperation gets lost, the question is, is it worth it to have done it?
00:32Is targeting one high-value target or even a few or even 10 or many high-value targets, is that worth the loss of Mexican cooperation on a whole plethora of other issues?
00:45It's unclear what the military attacks would look like and whether there would be actual U.S. military boots on the ground in Mexican territory.
00:53A separate report from The New York Times reveals the CIA has increased reconnaissance operations over Mexico with drones.
01:01Any country would find it inappropriate if foreign soldiers without permission were being actively deployed on their territory.
01:10So it says a whole bunch of things.
01:15There are, however, models for success, ways in which this can be done legally without violating Mexican sovereignty.
01:23Finding and taking down Mexican cartels has been a priority for President Trump.
01:28Finding specific cartel leaders can be tough, but it can also be done, especially if they're still actively involved.
01:34It took a long time to find bin Laden because bin Laden wasn't talking to anybody.
01:38And he wasn't of operational significance.
01:40He was a strategic visionary leader.
01:42He was putting out the occasional letter.
01:44But basically, he was completely cut off using a one-man courier.
01:48Even Jabba Guzman had people near him who were using phones, who could be targeted by U.S. signal intelligence, be it law enforcement or military.
01:56And so he could be found once his network, you know, once there was a focus on targeting his network.
02:08And we could see this for a lot of high-value targets.
02:12It's unclear exactly what the U.S. strategy is at this point when it comes to military action against cartels.
02:18But Dr. Jones says the strategy is the most important part.
02:23I have no doubt that if the United States were to send in, say, special operations raids of some kind, I have no doubt that anywhere they go, they will defeat Mexican cartels.
02:35It's also completely irrelevant to the broader strategic context.
02:39You can win every battle and still lose a war.
02:41We saw that in Vietnam.
02:43For Straight Arrow News, I'm Lauren Keenan.
02:45If you want more on this story, download the Straight Arrow News app or visit SIN.com.
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