A top Pentagon official said Friday the US military is ready to help Mexico in its deadly war against drug cartels with some of the same counterinsurgency tactics used against militant networks in Iraq and Afghanistan. Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, chair of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the comment after meeting with high-ranking Mexican officials in Mexico City. Mullen said he emphasized the Pentagon’s readiness to provide new intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance help, such as unmanned drones to spy on armed drug gangs, especially along the US border. Last week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the US military will increase its support of Mexico.

Robert Gates: “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.”

David Gregory: “You mean providing military support?”

Robert Gates: “Providing them with — with training, with resources, with reconnaissance and surveillance kinds of capabilities, but just cooperation, including in intelligence.”