cannabisnews.com: Meanwhile, Back in Colombia





Meanwhile, Back in Colombia
Posted by FoM on September 24, 2001 at 08:26:13 PT
Editorial
Source: Chicago Tribune 
It is unavoidable, but still unfortunate, that the recent terrorist attacks will push examination of U.S. policy toward Colombia further down the list of congressional priorities.On Sept. 11, precisely the day of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Secretary of State Colin Powell was scheduled to visit Bogota for consultations with President Andres Pastrana and an update on the progress of the U.S. government's $1.3 billion Plan Colombia, designed to fight production of narcotics there.
Powell's visit was supposed to be a prelude to consideration by Congress of the Bush administration's request for an additional $882 million to fund the new Andean Initiative aid package for Colombia and its neighbors.Had Powell had the chance to evaluate the progress of Plan Colombia, he would have found little encouraging news. If anything, the urgent request for more money suggests that the American strategy is foundering--a case of putting good money after bad.The other option, which Congress and the administration ought to take, is to step back from the Colombian quagmire and spend the proposed American aid here on drug rehabilitation, treatment and prevention programs.Investing on the consumption side of the narcotics equation is a long-term proposition. Drug addiction is not the kind of disease susceptible to one-shot cures.Yet treatment is far more likely to impact the American drug problem than airdropping bundles of dollars over Colombia, a country where drug trafficking, corrupt politics and violence have merged into a whirlwind no outsiders or money can hope to manage, let alone control.Pastrana was elected in 1998 on the promise that he would negotiate a peace with the two guerrilla armies. But his dramatic gestures--most notably ceding to the guerrillas a chunk of land the size of Switzerland--have yielded little. If anything, it seems the guerrillas have used this land to regroup their military forces and narcotrafficking operations.Meanwhile, political assassinations, kidnappings and massacres continue unabated, carried out mostly by paramilitary units with the complicity of the Colombian army. Pastrana hasn't made a dent on this problem either.Prior to Powell's visit, the U.S. formally added Colombia's largest paramilitary group to the official list of "terrorist organizations." But that is not likely to have any impact on those groups, which finance themselves by kidnapping and protection of drug producers.And a program to spray herbicides over coca crops--the centerpiece of the U.S. effort--has not done much, if anything, to reduce drug production. Widespread fumigation in the southern province of Putumayo has just shifted coca plantations to other areas and raised alarm over the impact of such large-scale spraying on people, legal crops and animals.In a moment of candor, Peter Rodman, assistant defense secretary for international affairs, summed up the misgivings some U.S. officials have about Plan Colombia and its sequel. "Are we getting deeper into a conflict or not? What is at stake?" he asked. "I think we as a country are not quite sure where we are heading."As the Bush administration launches worldwide anti-terrorist initiatives, it may not seem like the most opportune time to scale back or rethink our involvement in Colombia. But it is. With the growing squeeze on federal spending and so many pressing security concerns on the national agenda, this is the right time to abort a policy in Colombia that has yielded little and promises more of the same.Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)Published: September 24, 2001Copyright: 2001 Chicago Tribune CompanyContact: ctc-TribLetter Tribune.comWebsite: http://www.chicagotribune.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Colombia Drug War Newshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/colombia.htmColombia Guerrillas Blast U.S. 'Intervention' http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10925.shtmlPowell Flies Home After Terrible, Terrible Tragedy http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10896.shtmlU.S. Reassesses Colombia Aid http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10877.shtml
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Comment #3 posted by Sudaca on September 24, 2001 at 09:38:38 PT
not 230, just 30 
phat phinger
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Comment #2 posted by Sudaca on September 24, 2001 at 09:37:41 PT
metamorphosis
watch as the grand fumigation on the war against drugs just drops into high gear as the war on terrorim at South America.I just can't see the powers that be recanting anything they've done in the past now that they're firmly enthroned by the fear this society's immersed in.Now that the righteous hold the reins I would be astounded if they discovered the humility to actually back off from 230 years of hardheadedness.
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Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo MD on September 24, 2001 at 08:37:16 PT:
One More Thing
Add legalization of drugs to this list of suggestions, and real progress is possible.
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