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| Powell Plans Reassurances Over US Aid to Colombia |
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Posted by FoM on September 08, 2001 at 20:41:42 PT By Christopher Marquis Source: New York Times 
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell travels Monday to South America, where he will witness first-hand Colombia's struggle with an intensifying, four- sided war and the American efforts to support its government.Mr. Powell's first task will be to reassure Colombian officials that, while the Bush administration is reviewing its policy toward their country, it is not contemplating a change in its basic approach, which includes strengthening the military, eradicating drug crops and supporting peace negotiations, aides said. The American commitment to continuing a policy that began with the Clinton administration's $1.3 billion package of mostly military aid to Colombia and its neighbors comes as the fighting there with leftist rebels has intensified. "This is a huge investment on the part of the people of the United States, and we need to make sure that it is done right," said one senior official involved in the government- wide review of the policy. But, the official added: "The fundamentals aren't changing; the core principles are going forward." Mr. Powell intends to underscore that commitment by notifying the presidents of Colombia and Peru that he is determined to resume anti- drug flights that were suspended after a Peruvian fighter jet shot down a plane carrying American missionaries in April, officials said. A C.I.A.-operated surveillance plane had identified the missionary plane as a suspected drug flight. A joint investigation by the United States and Peru found that a series of mishaps involving faulty procedures, language difficulties and an overtaxed communications system led to the attack, which killed Veronica Bowers, a Baptist missionary, and her infant daughter. Colombian and Peruvian officials last week implored the Americans to continue the flights, saying that, in their absence, traffickers have stepped up operations in both countries. "The interdiction program is paralyzed," the Colombian president, Andr้s Pastrana, told reporters. "According to our information, this has permitted a great deal of drugs to overfly our territory." But American officials are still debating safety and liability issues surrounding the surveillance flights and Mr. Powell does not plan to make an announcement during his three-day trip, aides said. "It's a question of how and when, not if" the flights will resume, said one American diplomat. Such caution suggests a broader predicament. The United States has ample resources and a deep interest in curtailing the flow of drugs across its borders, but officials are nervous about being drawn into a chaotic war in Colombia that has simmered for decades and, they say, can only result in a stalemate. Morris Busby, a former ambassador to Colombia, said conditions have worsened significantly in the last 18 months. Rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, have enriched themselves through the drug trade and used a demilitarized zone to carry out attacks, while right-wing paramilitaries have thousands of new recruits. "Colombia is one of the most serious foreign policy problems that we have," Mr. Busby said. "It's almost like China, where you had warlords fighting with each other, and a weak central government. It's a terrible situation." It is a scenario that defies Mr. Powell's own doctrine for American engagement there is no clear end to the mission and no one argues that government forces can defeat the rebels militarily. But officials insist they have incorporated the lessons of the past by barring American troops from a combat role and broadening the presence of the state by bolstering development projects and the justice system. Through aerial spraying, they add, Colombian and American teams have eradicated 62,000 acres of drug crops in the southern Putumayo province. The strategy is "not only going well, but probably going better than we would have expected it to be going at this point in time," said William Brownfield, the deputy assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs. The Bush administration has asked Congress for $882 million to provide Colombia and six of its neighbors with funds for additional security and development aid. The House approved $676 million in July; the Senate has not yet acted. Mr. Powell, who travels first to Lima, Peru, arrives in Colombia Tuesday night and will meet with Mr. Pastrana, Colombian defense officials, human rights leaders and many of the candidates vying for the presidency in next year's elections. Aides said he hopes his visit will lend encouragement to ordinary Colombians, who are increasingly demoralized by a sour economy and concessions by Mr. Pastrana that have not produced a peace agreement with the rebels. Source: New York Times (NY) Related Articles & Web Site: Colombia Drug War News Powell Preps for South American Trip Colombia Calls for Drug War Summit Powell To Travel To Colombia Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #6 posted by dddd on September 09, 2001 at 12:45:49 PT |
| .....Powells assessment of Colombia,,,will be the classic milquetoast,ass smoochin' comments that he always makes. Powell is a parlor poodle of the party line,,,he's a party animal. His scripted comments will begin with tales of how we need to keep Plan Colombia,and the Andes initiative in full gear,,,he'll say we have made great progress in fighting the murderous FARC rebels,and that crop eradication has been an excellent tool in the eradication of "crops",,{("man that roundup sure does work good!)},,,, .....Does anyone remember Colin Powell ever making any waves that were contrary to his handlers agenda??????Powell is a team player, He will back up the party line,,,,,,His speech will be previewed by oil company executives,and the new czar......In his speech,there will be the usual nebulous tidbits of hinting critism,,,but I woudnt expect to hear anything contraversial from this fake war hero......dddd [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #5 posted by Lehder on September 09, 2001 at 10:40:19 PT |
| If you start getting reminders in the mail about it, you might want to check out 'vacation spots' in Canada...lest your children return from an all expense paid 'civic service' trip in Colombia...in an aluminum coffin. ...and with a dead belly full of heroin, kap, same as Vietnam. when the news services are moving their offices into Bogota, you know there's no looking back. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #4 posted by rabblerouser on September 09, 2001 at 09:10:18 PT |
| Many people tink that 'trickle down economics' was brought to light in the early Reagan years by Donald Regan. This is not true. Trickle down economics was first used and coined way back in1854. It was likened then to what comes out of the back end of horse. Rather fitting in today's economy, also, it is. What will be the 'trickle down economics' if there is an all out war in Colombia involving US troops. Here is my take: "The Colombians want to legalize drugs? My God im Himmelstein what in the world is the matter with them? Oh, oh I know! Let's send Good ol' American boys, and send back body bags. But don't tell anybody that they will be filled with drugs. Shhhhhhh! And if they are found, we will blame the drug using American populace. We can Cover our asses that way. Peice of cake." That will be 'trickle down economics', perfect plan, I might add. No pun intended on 'add'. [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #3 posted by kaptinemo on September 09, 2001 at 08:26:41 PT:
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| From the following link: http://www.drugwar.com/cv22.htm LINKAGE BETWEEN DRUG WAR AND WALL STREET HEALTH BECOMING TRANSPARENT FTW, March 15, 2001 - Less than a week after diplomats from 25 Latin American and European countries, as well as Japan, defied US interests by meeting jointly with representatives of rebel groups at the invitation of the Colombian government, and just days after two sharp losses caused the Dow to plunge more than 700 points, President Bush added $550 million to Plan Colombia and acknowledged its regional dimensions by re-christening it "The Andean Initiative." Signaling the opening moves in a regional war, Equador has simultaneously moved 10,000 troops to the Colombian border in anticipation of increased hostilities as US military personnel increase air operations from the US base in the coastal city of Manta. All of these events, occurring in close proximity, add further credibility to FTW's long held position that a Vietnam-style conflict in Colombia was essential to prevent the total collapse of the American stock market. FTW has previously documented how an estimated $250 billion in illegal drug money is laundered through the US economy annually and how a 1999 "solicitation" by NYSE Chairman Richard Grasso for the FARC guerillas to invest their drug profits in Wall Street was summarily rejected. The leftist rebels chose instead to keep their money in Colombia. Also irritating for the American economy and markets is the fact that Colombian rebels, who now control the southern third of Colombia, occupy lands estimated to hold billions of barrels of high grade crude oil sought after by, among others, Occidental Petroleum. A total US market collapse, if unchecked, would also threaten to destabilize the US dollar which is the dominant reserve currency around the world. That could have the effect of setting off a worldwide depression similar to that of 1929-38. As a rapidly coalescing European Union attempts to find economic strength by distancing itself from US influence (and instability) the US has countered with increasing disregard for near unanimous global opposition to its plans for war. That war will inevitably involve US military personnel in combat operations. I pause here to remind all and sundry that in 1999 Captain Jennifer Odom, (an experienced pilot well versed in flying over mountainaous terrain) and her spy plane crew were 'lost' over territory controlled by the Rebels, under highly suspicious circumstances. The Delta Force team sent to collect the bodies also completely destroyed the remains of the aircraft, making a forensic examination of what brought it down impossible. Odom had complained to her husband that she had been targeted numerous times by hostile surface-to-air missile radar of a sophisticated nature. We already have had US casualties; will we let there be more?) The strongest confirmation that we have seen of the inevitability of war is a report today on www.narconews.com citing Village Voice media critic Cynthia Cotts who noted on March 2 that "The New York Times plans to move its Buenos Aires bureau to Bogota or Caracas sometime soon. Other papers are following suit. The Los Angeles Times plans to open a Bogota Bureau next week and the Washington Post is moving its Caracas bureau chief there as well... Even the Wall Street Journal recently established an Andean Bureau in Caracas [Venezuela]." The press smells blood, and is moving to get a better ringside seat when the balloon goes up. Okay, all you DARE sticker-festooned, minivan-driving Soccer Moms and Daddy Portfolios, I've got a question for you: did your eighteen year old sons register with the Post Office for their Selective Service cards? If you start getting reminders in the mail about it, you might want to check out 'vacation spots' in Canada...lest your children return from an all expense paid 'civic service' trip in Colombia...in an aluminum coffin. [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on September 09, 2001 at 08:05:11 PT:
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| But American officials are still debating safety and liability issues surrounding the surveillance flights and Mr. Powell does not plan to make an announcement during his three-day trip, aides said. "It's a question of how and when, not if" the flights will resume, said one American diplomat." Whose airspace is it? Colombia's? Peru's? Brasil's? Or the US's? From the tone of the statement by this comfortably anonymous wonk, the US has already laid claim to the area. Which should give everyone in the affected area, as well as here at home, the willies. Because there's only one reason for making that kind of statement: invasion. Ol' Colin spent some time in Panama before he went to Colombia. Interesting how the US press has said nothing about his hush-hush visits to former US military bases there. The same bases the DrugWarriors p*ssed-and-moaned to the Congresscritters about losing because of their effectiveness in their shoot-on-sight programs like the one that killed the Bowers woman and her child. Evidently, Colin is trying to get them back. Last year the Colombian press was abuzz with talk about a possible military intervention by the US in their civil war. Our Ambassadors pooh-poohed the idea. Yet Powell goes to Panama on the sly...to look at military bases. Isn't it odd how quiet it's gotten? Like the kind of quite you get before the storm? I suggest the curious go here: When the Children of the Bull Market Begin To Die and here: "FASTEN SEAT BELTS" To get an idea why we have this recession right now...and what some very slimy SOB's in Washington and on Wall Street are planning to do about it. You won't like what you read... [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #1 posted by bruce42 on September 08, 2001 at 22:17:19 PT |
| Ever notice our country is being run by a Bush, a Dick, and a Colin? Boy I sure feel better that we are sending our "token black guy" down to Colombia to tell all the people there that we have no problem with dumping thousands of tons of toxic chemicals on you if we don't shoot you first. And they wonder why these rebels are so pissed. "It is a scenario that defies Mr. Powell's own doctrine for American engagement there is no clear end to the mission and no one argues that government forces can defeat the rebels militarily." - except for the die hard drug warriors. Boy this is sounding more and more like Nam all the time. I swear to god, bushy-baby is going to get us into WWIII yet. Hold on to your bongs boys and girls, its gonna be a bumpy ride... [ Post Comment ] |
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