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| Lawmakers Dispute Report Linking IRA, Guerrillas |
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Posted by FoM on April 24, 2002 at 21:58:53 PT By Karen DeYoung, Washington Post Staff Writer Source: Washington Post 
Two foreign policy issues that traditionally evoke passion on Capitol Hill -- Northern Ireland and Colombia -- were joined yesterday in a rancorous House hearing that erupted in allegations of bad faith and hidden agendas."The purpose of this committee hearing is not to determine facts, but to rubber-stamp" conclusions already drawn by staffers working for the House International Relations Committee, chaired by Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.), charged Rep. William D. Delahunt (D-Mass.). Those conclusions were encapsulated, according to Delahunt and several similarly irate committee Republicans, including former chairman Benjamin A. Gilman (N.Y.), in the hearing's title: "International Global Terrorism: Its Links With Illicit Drugs as Illustrated by the IRA and Other Groups in Colombia." A report based on a committee investigation asserted there is strong evidence of ties between the Colombian guerrillas, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and perhaps Iran and Cuba. As a result, the report said, "Colombia is a potential breeding ground for international terror equaled perhaps only by Afghanistan," which "must be addressed by changes in U.S. law that will permit American assistance for counter-terrorism programs" in Colombia. The staff inquiry was led by John P. Mackey, committee investigative counsel, who has long supported U.S. military assistance to Colombia. In an interview Tuesday, Mackey said that the U.S. government was convinced of organized IRA involvement in Colombia and that the explosives techniques favored by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) had clear roots in IRA training. The leftist FARC is Colombia's largest guerrilla army. But Delahunt, Gilman and others argued that neither the report nor the testimony of yesterday's committee witnesses, including Drug Enforcement Administrator Asa Hutchinson and the deputy director of the State Department's counter-terrorism office, supported Mackey's conclusions. Asked by Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.) whether he was privy to any intelligence information indicating IRA involvement, Hutchinson replied, "I don't have any information on this." Another witness, Colombian Joint Chiefs of Staff head Gen. Fernando Tapias, said he had no information about organizational links between the IRA and Colombian terrorists. Nor had the Colombian government detected any terrorist assistance or training in his country by Iran or Cuba, he said. Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.) said he feared the report would be used "by those who want to destroy the peace process" underway for the past four years in Northern Ireland. Smith said in an interview that he had asked Colombia, Britain and the U.S. intelligence community "if there is even one scintilla of evidence of connection between the IRA or Sinn Fein," the IRA's political arm, with the FARC, "and the answer is no." The hearing came as the White House is seeking congressional support for a proposed Colombia policy change that would lift restrictions limiting U.S. military aid to counter-narcotics programs and allow it to be used for counter-terrorist operations there. In addition to its involvement with drug trafficking, the FARC increasingly uses terror tactics, including blowing up energy infrastructure, placing car bombs on urban streets and kidnapping civilians. The administration has listed the FARC as a terrorist organization but has not described it in terms of the "global reach" attributed to organizations such as al Qaeda. It has presented no evidence of FARC ties to any international terrorist network or attempts to target the United States. A number of lawmakers agree it is important to help friendly democracies fight against terrorism even if there is no direct threat to this country. Others have charged that the administration is seeking to link the Colombia situation to its anti-terrorism war as a backdoor way of expanding the U.S. military presence there. Potentially fertile ground for establishing such a link appeared last August, when Colombia arrested two alleged IRA members and a representative of Sinn Fein. The Colombian government has charged that the three, who are still awaiting trial, were training FARC members to use sophisticated explosives techniques. The question raised since then has been whether their activities were authorized by Sinn Fein or the IRA, both of which have denied involvement. British government sources have said it is unlikely that IRA members such as those arrested in Colombia would operate without approval from the IRA or Sinn Fein leadership. The allegations, and yesterday's hearing, received major coverage in the British and Irish media, many of which sent reporters to cover yesterday's hearing. Several members at the hearing said that, despite their support for the Northern Ireland peace process, they would, as Smith put it, "throw the book" at the IRA if there were proof of involvement in Colombia. Note: Some Wary of Counter-Terrorism Plan. Complete Title: Lawmakers Dispute Report Linking IRA, Colombia Guerrillas Source: Washington Post (DC) Related Articles & Web Site: Colombia Drug War News Colombia Rebels Could Be Target in Terror War Official: No Combat Role in Colombia Drug Czar Urges Action on Andean Trade Bill Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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Comment #11 posted by Dan B on April 25, 2002 at 10:44:05 PT:
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| It's a good article, but quite long, too. Have a good one. Dan B [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #10 posted by FoM on April 25, 2002 at 07:57:13 PT |
| Hi Dan, Here's the article. I posted it to the archives instead of the front page yesterday. I'll be able to add more articles to the archives when I get my satellite the end of May! I can't wait! The articles come up in the search tool within one day. Is Taking Psychedelics an Act of Sedition? [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #9 posted by Dan B on April 25, 2002 at 07:03:07 PT:
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| I found this interesting article on Alternet (original source, The Nation) and thought some of you here might enjoy reading it. Is Taking Psychedelics An Act of Sedition? http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12940 Excerpt: The disturbances of Sept. 11 have sent us reeling, driving many to seek relief from anxiety and depression through socially sanctioned psychotropics such as Prozac, Xanax, and alcohol. But some of the so-called psychedelic drugs (cannabis, LSD, peyote, psilocybin, ayahuasca, and MDMA or Ecstasy), targets of America's deeply misguided war on drugs, could have a more profound and healthful effect, if used responsibly. The very idea of going off on a psychedelic "head trip" in this hour of national crisis might be seen as self-indulgent folly, or worse, an act of cerebral sedition. Yet a cold and sober look through the smoldering smoke of Ground Zero leads me to believe that, depending on individual circumstances, of course, there are now even more compelling reasons to sanction the practice of judicious psychedelic use. Read more at the link. Dan B [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #8 posted by mayan on April 25, 2002 at 05:16:43 PT |
| Canadian Alliance MP Keith Martin faces a rare vote of censure for touching the ceremonial mace of the House of Commons. I guess he was protesting Parliament shutting down debate on the decrim bill. Suspended Alliance MP Expected To Apologize: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n794/a03.html?397 [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #7 posted by mayan on April 25, 2002 at 04:00:47 PT |
| I'm waiting for the transcript to come up. I didn't catch all of it but what I saw was great! [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #6 posted by dddd on April 25, 2002 at 00:28:52 PT |
| ...I really enjoyed seeing Bob Weiner on PI tonite!...What a crazy shithead!!..the public needs to see more of guys like Mr Weiner..........but then,,,Bill Maher makes an ass of himself by suggesting that drug testing in schools is a good thing!...........Sanho Tree was the coolest....dddd [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #5 posted by p4me on April 24, 2002 at 23:08:15 PT |
| Here is Nol's thread about the DE2 being raided. http://212.129.240.114/upload/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2712 [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #4 posted by Robbie on April 24, 2002 at 23:07:41 PT |
| one day closer to death. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #3 posted by p4me on April 24, 2002 at 23:04:18 PT |
| I watched PI tonite. Those lunatics spout off numbers like freedom is an equation. The DE2 at Bournemouth was raided and some people got hurt a little although everything is still sketchy right now. I wanted to put the link up where Nol puts it on the messageboard. He has a new description under his name- the undutchable. He also has a little cartoon saying you are under arrest and the tiny character says for what and the other tiny character replies, "ummm." It is pretty neat. Well I guess we are one day closer to relegalization, whenever that is. Starve the economy and have a thrifty meal. VAAI [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on April 24, 2002 at 23:03:38 PT |
| Don't count on many journalists in America today to be mentally capable of understanding the difference between Marxism and right wing nationalism. It's not PC to say this, but I think the IRA is more right wing than Mussolini. I cannot imagine Mussolini joining FARC. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #1 posted by E_Johnson on April 24, 2002 at 22:55:04 PT |
| The IRA is not a left wing organization, they don't read Marx or spout him, they are essentially a right wing nationalistic movement. And the kind of terrorism they are noted for within Ireland today is the kind that the DEA and Joyce Nalepka would applaud -- they kidnap suspected drug dealers, beat the crap out of them and leave them in a ditch broken and bloody. If they leave them at all. So it's pretty difficult if not impossible to imagine the IRA in any kind of real alliance with FARC. [ Post Comment ] |
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