cannabisnews.com: U.S. Role in Colombia Grows More Dubious





U.S. Role in Colombia Grows More Dubious
Posted by FoM on August 20, 2001 at 07:54:52 PT
Bee Editorial
Source: Sacramento Bee
Colombian President Andres Pastrana has signed a law that makes the U.S. commitment to his country's war against drug traffickers look even more hopeless than it did last year, when Congress approved a $1.3 billion aid program. The Colombian law allows the military, for many years a major human rights abuser, to be virtually free of civilian control in "conflict zones" in large areas of the country.This raises serious questions about the wisdom of the U.S. aid program. So does the absence of evidence that Plan Colombia, an internationally backed attempt to wipe out drug trafficking while creating economic alternatives for Colombian peasants, has produced any gains to date. 
At a minimum, Congress must more closely tie U.S. aid to verifiable steps to curb human rights abuse and to reduce the production of cocaine for export to the United States.Fortunately, Congress is becoming more attentive to this problem. The Senate has voted to cut by about one-fourth the Bush administration's request for new aid funds for Colombia and other Andean countries, and there is strong sentiment in the House for similar action. But even a reduced U.S. commitment would make no sense if Plan Colombia turns out to be the failure that growing numbers of critics say it will be.Colombia's loosening of the reins on its military may be matched by U.S. plans to expand the area of the country where U.S. military advisers can train Colombian military units to combat drug traffickers (for which 60 U.S.-built helicopters are being provided). In effect, this would further blur the lines between the antinarcotics struggle, in which Washington is playing a key role, and the struggle between Colombian government forces and two leftist rebel groups engaged in a four-decade-old internal war, which successive U.S. administrations have pledged to avoid. The intense cooperation between the narcotraffickers and the guerrillas makes that virtually impossible.U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson has said that Washington will scrupulously avoid becoming involved in the Colombian government's broader counterinsurgency efforts. "It's not going to happen," she insisted.One would like to believe that. But the history of Colombia's conflict and the extreme difficulty of somehow preventing further human rights abuses -- especially with the growth of pro-government paramilitary units and the military's new free hand -- argues powerfully otherwise.Having committed itself to helping Colombia, the United States should not pull the string on aid now. But Congress should set limits, both in time and money. Beyond that, absent verifiable gains in shrinking the illicit drug industry in Colombia, the United States should cut its losses and use much of the money now being expended abroad to attack the drug problem at home, on prevention and rehabilitation. That war might actually be winnable, if only we would wage it as vigorously as we now seem to have committed to doing, despite the odds, in Colombia. Complete Title: Slippery Slope: U.S. Role in Colombia Grows More DubiousSource: Sacramento Bee (CA)Published: August 20, 2001Copyright: 2001 The Sacramento BeeContact: opinion sacbee.comWebsite: http://www.sacbee.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Colombia Drug War Newshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/colombia.htmColombia Increases Military's Powers http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10642.shtmlPlan Colombia: Latest U.S. Drug War Failurehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10608.shtmlBroader Role by U.S. Likely in Colombiahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10417.shtml 
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Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on August 20, 2001 at 08:05:31 PT:
Sacto Bee!
Demographically, California's Great Central Valley (my home 1973-74 in grad school) more closely resembles Iowa than it does Baghdad by the Bay. Thus, when the Sacto Bee comes out against Amerikan involvement in the developing atrocity in Colombia, it is news indeed.If only the government listened to the people, instead of floundering 10 paces behind. STOP THE WAR!
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