State Department

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Why didn't anyone tell MADELEINE ALBRIGHT? Mexico is furious about a drug-sting operation, code name Casablanca, which has led to more than 100 arrests in an elaborate money-laundering scheme. Although stings are illegal in Mexico, U.S. undercover narcotics agents ran much of the operation there. But oddly, nobody told the State Department, even though it has been working hard to get diplomatic immunity for drug agents. As a result of Casablanca, Mexico is considering trying to extradite DEA agents for violating Mexican law. At the U.N. drug conference in New York City last week, Mexico's Foreign Secretary, ROSARIO GREEN, angrily told reporters that the Secretary of State claimed not to have been informed about the operation. The speculation at the drug conference was that Albright had been kept in the dark because she and Green became good friends when they served together at the U.N. The thinking is that if Albright had known about Casablanca, she might have objected to it.

--By William Dowell/New York