U.S. STATE DEPT. USES MATA AS WAR TRAINING GROUND

By Juan Montoya
 Think about it.
Tobin Bradley, the new US. consul assigned to Matamoros was transferred here after having performed yeoman's work to make elections possible in war-torn Iraq.
As a result organizing 15 local elections in southern Iraq and developing a voting system that the U.N. used as the basis for the January 2005 national elections, he was awarded the International Affairs Medal by the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.
"While leaders were asking if elections could be held, Bradley was actually holding them in more than a dozen cities in southern Iraq," the organization's announcement of the award state. "And the voting system he employed would eventually be used as the basis for the January 2005 national elections."
From (2007-2010), Bradley was the director for NATO and Western European Affairs, Executive Office of the President, Europe, Russia, and Central Asia-National Security Staff.
While in the Foreign Service, he has also been posted to the U.S. Mission to NATO and the U.S. Embassy in Amman Jordan, another strife-ridden post.
Bradley was then transferred to Mexico City and then to Matamoros, the major city in northern Tamaulipas that – despite the Mexican government's denials – is in a state of war.
Not only is Bradley's new service post smack in the middle of holding elections, but it is also one of the states leading the Mexican nation in kidnappings, extortion and murders. The ongoing war pits the government against different drug cartels and criminal organizations.
Against this backdrop, Bradley's choice as consul only makes sense.
And the departing consul Thomas Mittnacht, was transferred to Afghanistan after he finished his assignment at the consulate located at Calle Primera #2002 Colonia Jardín.
(In the picture at right, smoke billows from a firefight between armed groups and the military in the Buena Vista section of Matamoros May 30.)

Interestingly, before coming to Matamoros, he worked as Information Officer (Director de Prensa) at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, another hot spot on the hemisphere. There, he was in charge of countering Venezuela' President Hugo Chavez's constant diatribes against U.S. foreign policy.
Mittnacht was also Public Affairs Officer in Yerevan, Armenia. He served in Washington as Special Assistant to Under Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky, with responsibility for human rights, democracy promotion and international labor issues.
He has reported on political and economic developments for the State Department in Croatia, Russia, and Chile. His first assignment in the diplomatic service was as Vice Consul in Monterrey, Mexico.
Mittnacht's departure from Matamoros was cloaked in secrecy and was announced after he had left. An interim consul was appointed until Bradley arrived. All that is known in Matamoros is that he had been reassigned to Afghanistan.
With the U.S. State Dept. basically conceding that Tamaulipas is in a state of war and using the consul assignments as posts for combat training, it gives lie to the Mexican government's claim that things are under control. It is, as the U.S. government assignments of its diplomatic personnel indicates, a failed state at war.