US officials ignored Mexican corruption for decades during drug war, Grassley says

U.S. officials and anti-narcotics agents turned a blind eye to Mexican corruption for decades, according to a report due to be released on Thursday by U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley's office and which called for a re-think of future security cooperation. Grassley, the Republican co-chair of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, has been a thorn in the side of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), often accusing it of mismanaging resources and failing to conduct oversight of foreign operations despite mounting evidence of problems. Grassley's efforts to question DEA leaders and seek answers have largely been met with silence, prompting his office to take the unusual step of writing about the perceived failures in joint U.S.-Mexico efforts to fight drug cartels.