Just 11 days ago, the administration sent Congress a broad $27.1 billion emergency spending bill; part of it would allow Colombia to expand its use of American military training, intelligence and equipment beyond its fight against drug traffickers. The idea is to free Colombia's government to use some of its American aid to battle three rebel groups that the U.S. has cited as terrorist organizations, and which it recently has made a point of linking to the drug trade as well.

Drug Enforcement Administrator Asa Hutchinson, who traveled to Colombia last week to discuss the initiative with law-enforcement officials and President Andres Pastrana, says the administration is moving because it increasingly sees links between terrorism and drug-trafficking money. The U.S., he argues, merely is recognizing the groups' multiple roles and "the multifaceted nature of the operations of the Colombian military, that they are counternarcotics but also counterterrorists."

Others aren't so sure. Critics on Capitol Hill worry that lifting current restrictions on aid might allow the Colombian military to ignore the drug war and focus solely on fighting internal rebels. Some also worry that without restrictions on the Colombian army's ties to paramilitary groups, the proposal will invite human-rights violations. And there are fears that the plan is too open-ended and lacking a clear mission.

Democratic Reps. James McGovern of Massachusetts and Ike Skelton of Missouri have drafted a letter of concern to send to President Bush, and are asking colleagues to sign by next week. Two influential senators have raised caution flags as well: Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that handles foreign aid, and Iowa Republican Charles Grassley, a leader of the Senate drug caucus, both say they want to see more details.

"The administration has requested broad new authority to permit U.S. aid to the Colombian military to be used for any purpose as long as it relates to Colombia's security," says Sen. Leahy. "That is not the type of blank check that Congress should sign."

In an interview Saturday in the daily newspaper Reforma, President Pastrana said he had won the political battle against Marxist rebels since halting peace talks more than a month ago, and he called on Congress to support his government by approving the Bush administration's request.

Colombia and its role in the U.S. drug problem have long presented a problem for U.S. presidents. The country is the oldest democracy in South America. But it also is rife with corruption and drug factions, and is responsible for producing the majority of the cocaine that is used in the U.S. At the same time, it is mired in a 38-year-old civil war that now pits the government against three insurgency groups: the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the National Liberation Army and the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. The FARC, created in 1964 as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party, is the oldest, largest and arguably best equipped of the three.

Until now, U.S. policy has distinguished between the fight to stem Colombia's drug traffickers, which the U.S. was prepared to assist, and Colombia's civil war, which the U.S. has tried to avoid. Washington has been providing equipment -- including dozens of helicopters -- and helping to train Colombian soldiers in counternarcotics operations. Colombia received $380.5 million in the current fiscal year for counterdrug initiatives.

Now, though, the Bush administration is trying to knock down that distinction, arguing that there are links between the insurgent groups and the drug trade, some of which date back to the 1970s.

Indeed, in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S., the Bush administration has been moving to strengthen the perception of a link between terrorism and drug trafficking. The Office of National Drug Control Policy began a stark ad campaign suggesting that the money spent to buy drugs in the U.S. supports terrorists. The DEA's Mr. Hutchinson has spoken repeatedly about drug proceeds funding terrorist groups.

All three of Colombia's insurgency groups are now on the State Department's list of terrorist organizations, since the United Self-Defense Forces were added in October. That's in part because of violent acts the groups have committed in response to U.S. support of drug-eradication programs in Colombia.

In the past few weeks, the administration has been trying to draw the links even more clearly. Mr. Hutchinson told a Senate panel recently: "While the DEA does not specifically target terrorists, we will target and track down drug traffickers and drug-trafficking organizations involved in terrorist acts."

A few days later, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that three FARC leaders had been indicted on conspiracy to import cocaine into the U.S., charges that asserted a direct link between the rebel group and drug trafficking. The administration's supplemental-spending plan proposal went to Congress three days after that indictment.

In that proposal, the administration asks Congress for $372.5 million in emergency aid to help the militaries of 19 countries -- including Yemen, Oman, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Colombia -- fight terrorism. Colombia, though, is singled out for a loosening of restrictions on the use of U.S. aid.

Clearly, some on Capitol Hill will strongly support the plan. Sen. Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican on the Armed Services Committee, says he began urging the administration to send up such a proposal more than a year ago. Under current restrictions, he says, the Colombian military can't use American helicopters unless it is on a mission that clearly fits the counternarcotics description. "There's no way we can expect Colombia to stop drug-dealing in their country if they don't control their own territory, so to ask them to help us fight drugs in Colombia means we have to help them," he says.

Sen. Grassley says that while he is happy to see the administration cite the link between terrorism and drugs, he is doubtful that the Colombia proposal will be addressed any time soon. It's likely to be stalled by a concurrent dispute over the Bush administration's refusal to let its director of homeland security, Thomas Ridge, testify before Congress.

In the letter they are circulating to colleagues, Reps. McGovern and Skelton write that while they acknowledge Colombia needs U.S. help, they are concerned that the potential changes are but a "tiny first step" that focuses on a military solution without addressing broader economic problems that produce dissent.

For his part, Mr. Hutchinson says the proposal simply opens the way to a broader training and support role for the U.S., and doesn't represent a move directly into the military conflict there. While the plan would remove some of "the artificial restraints," he says, "we're going to have restrictions and there will be a carefully defined support role" for U.S. money and military advisers.

"What we're talking about is training and the use of the equipment we've provided to them, that it can be used to do drug interdictions which, these days, flows over into terrorism and guerrillas," he says.

Complete Title: Effort To Merge Drug, Terror Wars In Colombia Hits Some Resistance

Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Author: Gary Fields, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
Published: April 1, 2002
Copyright: 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Website: http://www.wsj.com/
Contact: letter.editor@wsj.com

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Dan B

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P4me send this to the IL. man that was disbared.

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Check this out if you haven't seen it yet.
http://www.drugpolicy.org/changeofheart/flash.html

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The first part of the Article is also very interesting. This company called “Qué Pasa?” which apparently sells cannabis...

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He is high on power, and it is the mother of all bad trips.

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