Good Reading in the Post

Here's a rundown of the US's dilly-dallying in making the payments under the Mérida Initiative. The gist:

In June, Congress appropriated $400 million to assist Mexico under the first installment of the Merida Initiative, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush. The three-year aid package was passed as an emergency measure because of deteriorating security in Mexico. In December, the State Department announced that $197 million had been "released."

But a closer examination shows that just two small projects under Merida -- the delivery of high-speed computer servers in December and an arms-trafficking workshop attended by senior U.S. officials at a Mexican resort last week -- have been completed.

U.S. officials acknowledged that about $7 million from the aid package has been spent -- mostly on administration and planning. The most critical items, a $50 million surveillance plane and five rapid-response helicopters, may take as long as two years to deliver.

Here's an Outlook interview Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard. Some of the better stuff:

Should marijuana be legal?

I personally don't think so. But I believe that we need to put all of the various options on the table. Legalization is one of those options. Would it reduce the profits of the cartels? Would it increase the risk to the population of the United States?

I don't have the ability to answer those questions. It might reduce the profits, but on the other hand, I don't believe I've ever heard an adequate answer for what is an acceptable amount of marijuana in a school bus driver's bloodstream.

What about preventing people from taking drugs?

We do a lousy job. I think there was so much adverse reaction to the Reefer Madness campaigns and some of Nancy Reagan's histrionics that there's a perception that prevention doesn't work. I don't happen to believe that. Here in Arizona, the Arizona Meth Project has actually cut the use by teenagers of methamphetamines in half in just two years.

The Obama administration wants to cut the guns going to Mexico. But in many states, including Arizona, if you buy multiple handguns you have to fill out a form, but you can buy an infinite number of AK-47s without filling out a form.

It does seem logical that if you could buy a two-shot Derringer, and if you bought more than one of them, you'd have to fill out a separate multiple-weapons form, which puts ATF on notice that you bought multiple Derringers. But if you're buying multiple AK-47s you don't have to fill out a similar multiple-weapons form.

So you favor closing that loophole?

Oh, absolutely.

Aren't you afraid of the NRA?

I'm not afraid of them. I'm respectful of them.

[Break]

Why isn't there a coordinated federal response to the border problems?

Now you're beyond my pay grade. But perhaps the best example I can give is my own testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where I was there talking about money-laundering, the guy next to me was talking about gun-smuggling, the guy next to him was talking about drug-smuggling, and the guy next to him was from ICE and was talking about people-smuggling. We're the victims of the way law enforcement in the United States has segmented its response to criminality.