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Update by CBS Today 3-3-11 
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Ok it is finally on Drudge
Here is another timeline to think about.
Politics
The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come From U.S.
By William La Jeunesse & Maxim Lott
Published April 02, 2009
Read more: FoxNews.com - The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come From U.S.
You've heard this shocking "fact" before -- on TV and radio, in newspapers, on the Internet and from the highest politicians in the land: 90 percent of the weapons used to commit crimes in Mexico come from the United States.
-- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it to reporters on a flight to Mexico City.
-- CBS newsman Bob Schieffer referred to it while interviewing President Obama.
-- California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said at a Senate hearing: "It is unacceptable to have 90 percent of the guns that are picked up in Mexico and used to shoot judges, police officers and mayors ... come from the United States."
-- William Hoover, assistant director for field operations at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, testified in the House of Representatives that "there is more than enough evidence to indicate that over 90 percent of the firearms that have either been recovered in, or interdicted in transport to Mexico, originated from various sources within the United States."
Read more: FoxNews.com - The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come From U.S.
But Tom Diaz, senior policy analyst at the Violence Policy Center, called the "90 percent" issue a red herring and said that it should not detract from the effort to stop gun trafficking into Mexico.
"Let's do what we can with what we know," he said. "We know that one hell of a lot of firearms come from the United States because our gun market is wide open."
Read more:FoxNews.com - The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come From U.S.
Now fast forward to January 2011
he U.S. has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in support and will deliver another half-billion in equipment and training this year. It has helped train thousands of policemen and sent helicopters and other crime-fighting technology.
Clinton has been frank about the shared American responsibility for the drug problem. Stubbornly high U.S. demand drives the trade, and firearms smuggled from the United States are involved in much of the violence, an issue reinforced by a small group of protesters who greeted Clinton’s arrival with chants and signs saying “No more U.S. guns.”
Toeing a sensitive line meant to address Mexico’s concerns while avoiding a fight with firearms supporters in the United States, Clinton said the administration “was committed to doing what could be done” to require dealers near the Mexican border to report multiple purchases of high-powered rifles, which have become the weapon of choice for cartels.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives asked the White House for the requirement last month, and the move is likely to face stiff opposition from gun rights advocates. Clinton said the bureau should have “additional tools” shortly, but said officials were working to ensure that any regulation “isn’t challenged and it is sustainable.”
Few hold out hope that the Mexican government can rout the cartels quickly. It faces numerous challenges from sentencing criminals to stamping out corruption in its police ranks.
Clinton previously has compared the fight to Colombia’s decades-long battle against drug gangs and compared Mexico’s criminal groups to “insurgencies.” Harsher critics even have described the country as in some ways resembling a failed state – an assessment that causes Mexican officials to bristle.
But Clinton stressed that there has been great progress. She said nearly two dozen high-level traffickers have been captured or killed in the last year, and that the U.S. has blocked business for hundreds of companies linked to drug kingpins.
Hillary Clinton supports Mexico in 'messy' drug war - El Paso Times
01/24/2011 05:25:42 PM MST
Originally Posted by golocx4 
