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| Anti-Terror Focus May Affect Colombia |
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Posted by FoM on September 21, 2001 at 08:19:42 PT By Jared Kotler, Associated Press Writer Source: Associated Press 
The war on terrorism is echoing in Colombia, with expectations of more U.S. military aid and less tolerance for talks with this country's leftist guerrillas -- even though they have no reported ties to Middle East terrorists.But the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, has gotten itself on the U.S. State Department's list of international terrorist organizations with killings of American citizens here and attacks on U.S. companies' interests. Even before last week's terrorism in New York and Washington, top U.S. officials were criticizing rebel abuses, including alleged terrorist training inside a safe haven President Andres Pastrana granted the FARC in 1998. The guerrilla sanctuary was supposed to boost talks to end a 37-year civil war, but negotiations in the zone have foundered. While expressing support for peace efforts, Washington has also been pumping in military and intelligence aid for use against rebel and paramilitary units involved in the drug trade. Such aid "will be even easier to obtain now that Colombia can argue that it needs the assistance in the name of fighting terrorism," said Carlos Franco, a political analyst and former guerrilla leader. Franco predicted that Washington would turn against government-rebel peace talks altogether if any evidence surfaces of FARC ties to Middle East terror groups -- or if the rebels carry out new attacks on U.S. interests in Colombia. Already, the FARC has been linked with the Irish Republican Army. Three suspected IRA members were arrested here last month, suspected of giving the FARC training that could be used in an urban bombing campaign. On Thursday, police suggested a possible link with Basque terrorists existed. Colombian police said they captured two suspected FARC members with a partially constructed car bomb closely resembling those used by the Basque separatist group ETA in Spain. "There's no doubt (the FARC) has connections to other terrorist groups," said National Police Gen. Tobias Duran. The U.S. firm Strategic Forecasting said last week's terrorist attacks will likely prompt the United States to "intensify its surveillance of insurgent groups such as the FARC." Given the priority on responding to the terror attacks in the United States, Washington's overall attention to Colombia and other hotspots outside the Middle East is expected to drop. "But to the extent U.S. officials focus on Colombia, they are going to be less tolerant, less willing to accept that this is part of a peace strategy to give a group they call terrorists control over a vast amount of territory," said Michael Shifter, an analyst at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington. FARC, a peasant-based insurgency claiming to be fighting for the poor, sees rising U.S. drug war aid as a counterinsurgency program in disguise. The group has declared U.S. military advisers targets and frequently bombs pipelines and railways serving U.S. companies in Colombia. Its rhetoric toward Washington hasn't softened since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. On Wednesday, the FARC accused the United States of using them to justify a "witch hunt" against revolutionary movements around the world. The rebels also questioned Washington's right to decide "who are the terrorists and who are not." Source: Associated Press Related Articles & Web Site: Colombia Drug War News Colombia Guerrillas Blast U.S. 'Intervention' U.S. Reassesses Colombia Aid Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #4 posted by Rambler on September 23, 2001 at 01:10:13 PT |
| Your comments are great.I agree,the labels of "terrorist","terrorism",and such;are going to be tossed about with an assumed blanket meaning.These terms will be used in the same way the terms,"drug user",or,"drug offender",have been used to create a preconcieved notion of 'good and bad',except,there will never be a term that is used as the 'good'.the terms "terrorist",or,"drug offender",are terms that have no opposite.I guess the closest they could come,would be;"non-terrorist",or,"non-drug offender". It wont matter if you're a non-terrorist,or a non-drug offender,from now on,if you are said to be "connected"to a terrorist,you can be locked up,no questions allowed,or even asked. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #3 posted by Doug on September 21, 2001 at 09:47:58 PT |
| We will see attempts to tie almost everything into Terrorism -- how convenient. Here is an attempt to connect the FARC (yet, what about the paramillitaies in Columbia?). I've already seen reports connecting Saddam Hussein and Osma Ben Laden. And as others have pointed out, the connection Drug Trade = Terrorism is obvious. Lets throw everything we dislike into the Terrorism hopper, and then we can rest assured that we have a blank check -- already provide by Congress -- to attack all those things. It is a dangerous time in America, and for the World.
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| Comment #2 posted by Sudaca on September 21, 2001 at 09:19:19 PT |
| Well, what's going on down in Colombia is the war agains tterrorism now? I thought the US was there to fumigate coca plantations? So now you have a blanket solution that has popular support. Roll over south america, America has come to the bedroom and wants some space. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #1 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on September 21, 2001 at 08:46:55 PT |
| >>But the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, has gotten itself on the U.S. State Department's list of international terrorist organizations with killings of American citizens here and attacks on U.S. companies' interests.<< To paraphrase a line from Animal House: "They can't do that to our citizens. Only WE can do that to our citizens!" >>The rebels also questioned Washington's right to decide "who are the terrorists and who are not."<< In any objective list of terrorist organizations, the FBI and the "Justice" Department would be near the top of the list. I forget who said it, but it was on Politically Incorrect last night - "Are the terrorists just freedom fighters who didn't win the war? Are the freedom fighters just terrorists who won the war?" [ Post Comment ] |
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