cannabisnews.com: US Finds a Word for Military Aid to Colombia US Finds a Word for Military Aid to Colombia Posted by CN Staff on May 05, 2002 at 20:30:59 PT By Bryan Bender, Globe Correspondent Source: Boston Globe Members of Congress and top Bush administration officials, seeking to broaden US aid to the Colombian military, are increasingly painting that country's battle against leftist insurgents and drug traffickers as part of the larger struggle against terrorism. To bolster their argument, the officials are accusing the Colombian guerrillas of having links to some of the same global groups that are the target of Washington's expanding war on international terrorism. The new aid for Colombia, being considered on Capitol Hill, would for the first time allow the US military to help and train forces in the battle against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the largest Colombian guerrilla group, which controls about 40 percent of the country. US law has limited American assistance to the Colombian government to fight the drug trade. But critics of expanding US military aid from counternarcotics to broader counterinsurgency operations say that alleged ties between Colombian guerrillas and such global terror groups as the Al Qaeda network are weak at best, and that supporters of a shift in policy are taking advantage of the Sept. 11 attacks to make their case. Calling for a ''unified campaign against narcotics traffic and terrorist activities,'' the administration in March requested more than $500 million in supplemental spending to expand US military assistance in Colombia to counterinsurgency. The request was made after the government of President Andres Pastrana moved military forces back into a demilitarized zone that had been ceded to the FARC three years ago in an effort to jump-start peace talks. Spurred in part by a recent House committee report that found Colombia ''a potential breeding ground for international terror equaled perhaps only by Afghanistan,'' top administration officials are now frequently using the US-led war on terrorism to help build the case for a greater US military role in Colombia's struggle against the FARC and other guerrilla groups linked to the drug trade. The groups have been blamed for hundreds of attacks on government forces, including kidnappings, assassinations, and hijackings. ''In the past year, there's a lot of fertilization taking place between different terrorist organizations and, with each passing day, you can begin to see different connections emerge that have to be pursued,'' Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said in testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee last week. ''We have to have the flexibility it needs to go after this kind of threat'' in Colombia. Powell's comments followed a report April 24 by the Republican staff of the House International Relations Commitee alleging connections between the FARC and various international terrorist organizations and supporters, including the Irish Republican Army, Iranian agents, the Lebanese Hezbollah, and Al Qaeda. The staff said they based the allegations on intelligence reports. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, in testimony April 18 before the House Appropriations Committee, said Al Qaeda supporters have been active in the tri-border area of Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador. He did not specify what evidence the United States has to support the allegation. Other administration officials have weighed in. Attorney General John Ashcroft, announcing the indictment of FARC leaders for the slaying of three American citizens in 1999, last week called the insurgents a ''fiercely anti-American terrorist organization.'' John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, later told reporters that the Colombian rebels and other groups dependent on the illegal drug trade are closely tied to global terrorist groups. Although US officials have not gone so far as to say the FARC and other Colombian guerrillas are terrorist organizations with global reach - a point that has been emphasized in the campaign against Al Qaeda - their statements underscore a growing sentiment that the war on terrorism is being viewed as a broad struggle against a wide array of threats. ''It is certainly clear that there is nobody willingly supporting the FARC other than terrorists and militants,'' said Alberto Alesina, a specialist on Colombia at Harvard University. ''The view of the left that these people are some sort of freedom fighters is totally misguided. Like terrorists, they have no interest in negotiating. The change in policy is to eliminate them militarily.'' Critics who warn that the United States could be walking into a quagmire question whether global terrorism is truly at play in Colombia. They accuse the White House and Republicans in Congress of using the war on terrorism to further their goal of greater US intervention in South America. ''I think it's strained,'' US Representative William D. Delahunt, Democrat of Quincy, said in a recent interview. The FARC ''has transformed itself more into a criminal organization, but it is not a terrorist group with global reach,'' he said, citing recent intelligence briefings. ''To call it that is an effort to secure more involvement and military assistance to Colombia.'' A US intelligence official, asked about potential links between the FARC and global terrorist groups, said there is no strong evidence of any linkage. ''It's a very lawless, Old West-type of place and every type of bad person operates there,'' the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said of the border region. ''But as for direct links between the FARC and Al Qaeda or Hezbollah, those kinds of groups, the experts just laugh.'' A recent report published by the Council on Foreign Relations said ''there is no evidence linking the Islamists of Al Qaeda to the FARC'' or two right-wing paramilitary groups in Colombia, the National Liberation Army, and the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. Delahunt said he worries that additional military assistance, such as training the Colombian Army to protect oil pipelines from attack, eventually could include more direct US military involvement. This story ran on page A22 of the Boston Globe on 5/5/2002. Complete Title: US Finds a Palatable Word for Military Aid to Colombia Source: Boston Globe (MA)Bryan Bender, Globe CorrespondentPublished: May 5, 2002Copyright: 2002 Globe Newspaper CompanyContact: letter globe.comWebsite: http://www.boston.com/globe/Related Articles & Web Site:Colombia Drug War Newshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/colombia.htm Bush Ready To Shoot Down Drug Planes in Amazon http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12747.shtmlThe Colombia Quandary - Patrick Leahy http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12746.shtmlU.S. Expects Wider War on Two Fronts in Colombia http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12660.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #8 posted by Jose Melendez on May 06, 2002 at 08:27:24 PT: No way, Jose! from"?http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n864/a02.html?397U.S. WILL REVIVE POLICY TO DOWN NARCOTICS PLANES WASHINGTON - The Bush administration will revive a policy to help Peru and Colombia shoot down suspected narcotics planes in the Andean region within six months but is edging the CIA out of any involvement. The shoot-down program was suspended a year ago after a CIA spotter aircraft helped Peruvian warplanes mistakenly pursue and fire on a U.S. missionary plane over the Amazon River, killing an American mother and her infant. Renewal still needs final White House approval, and Congress must be formally notified. But a senior State Department official this week said U.S. officials are designing ''a very robust oversight program'' to avert new tragedies once the program is renewed.(continued...) Arrest Prohibition [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by Jose Melendez on May 06, 2002 at 08:06:33 PT here is another word: staged from:http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAY5FVDW0D.htmlQUIBDO, Colombia (AP) - The death toll in an isolated village where rebels and paramilitaries were battling rose Sunday to 108 - including 40 children - while troops began to move into the region. U.N. officials said they warned the government that a tragedy was about to occur before the fighting started. "It's lamentable that the government authorities ignored the early warning," the United Nations said in a prepared statement. Among the dead were dozens who had taken refuge in a church in the village of Bojaya on Thursday. Authorities said the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, fired homemade mortars into the church. It was unclear if they were aiming for the church.(continued...)In the past year, there's a lot of fertilization taking place between different terrorist organizations and, with each passing day, you can begin to see different connections emerge that have to be pursued,'... what's another word for fertilzation? Bullsh*t.from:One entry found for stage. Main Entry:2stage Function:transitive verb Inflected Form(s):staged; stag·ing Date:1879 1 : to produce (as a play) on a stage2 : to produce or cause to happen for public view or public effect stage a track meet> stage a hunger strike>- stage·able /'stA-j&-b&l/ adjective Looking for loaded locutions, Mr. Secretary? Drug War is TREASON! [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by goneposthole on May 06, 2002 at 07:14:43 PT "Fiercely anti-American terrorist organization&quo Sounds like the Bush administration. Madman theory at work: War on anything. Why isn't the EU doing all of this? The US government is running wild, there is nothing better to do. They only have themselves to blame. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Jose Melendez on May 06, 2002 at 06:09:44 PT here is a word for U.S. Military Aid to Colombia graft Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth EditionCopyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. graft \Graft\, n. [Prob. orig. so called because illegitimate or improper profit was looked upon as a graft, or sort of excrescence, on a legitimate business undertaking, in distinction from its natural proper development.] 1. Acquisition of money, position, etc., by dishonest or unjust means, as by actual theft or by taking advantage of a public office or any position of trust or employment to obtain fees, perquisites, profits on contracts, legislation, pay for work not done or service not performed, etc.; illegal or unfair practice for profit or personal advantage; also, anything thus gained. [Colloq.] 2. A ``soft thing'' or ``easy thing;'' a ``snap.'' [Slang] Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by mayan on May 06, 2002 at 03:57:45 PT Pocket Change... Sure, let's spend some more money that we don't have. Has anyone seen the U.S. national debt lately? This country is in sad shape. http://www.toptips.com/debtclock.htmlBush protest in Chicago on 5/13! http://makethemaccountable.com/misc/BushProtest.htm [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by b4daylight on May 06, 2002 at 00:25:47 PT: thats nothing 500 million we spend 10 billion buying oil in the middleeast and then spend a nother 50 billion protecting our purchase. source harper's monthlywe will spend 10 billion leaseing 767's for tankering cause we dont have another 10 billion dollars to buy them ! the lease last only ten years and then they are converted back to passenger jetswe will spend five million on wood research"$5,000,000 added by the Senate to provide computer equipment, internet access, and other assistance to schools in Armenia. Yes, that's Armenia, not America. " from citizens against goverment waste a great site donate now! another anti gov site [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by dddd on May 05, 2002 at 23:27:57 PT .....Not much will be reported,, ,,in the mainstream "news" about the coming slaughter of the FARC..It will happen within the next year.. The empire will approve money,and military hardware to slaughter the "narco-terrorists",that threaten oil production,and pipelines.....The label of "terrorist", can be bestowed on virtually ANYONE now!!..Proof is not really necessary,,and if it is,,then "proof" can be fabricated quicker than the usa/patriot act was passed.into law. . The US empire continues to proceed towards military world domination....I wonder how many citizens are concerned by primetime TV shows,that are sponsored by the US military!?.. I gasp in disbelief when I see the multi-million dollar hi-tech ads for the navy,and marines!,,but I'm afraid it's a harbinger of the times to come. The empire of corporate/military Amerika is beyond out of control.It is now an entity that is seperate from the American People. ..There will be a bloodbath in Colombia..the "news",will portray it as a fight against "terrorists",,and only "terrorists" will die..just like Isreal did in Jenin...civilian casualties will be blamed on terrorists using them as human shields...You will see very little outrage by American Sheeple,,because they will not be allowed to know what really happenedddd [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by p4me on May 05, 2002 at 20:52:53 PT Which makes more sense... The government is increasingly painting Columbia's battle against leftist insurgents and drug traffickers as part of the larger struggle against:A: any rival to the most addictive and most deadly of all drug abuse many times over everything else combined and is truly the American governments drug of choice.B: another extension of the military industrial complex that Eisenhour spoke of that will increase the national debt another trillion dollars before Busch is mandated out of office in 32 monthsC: in defiance of any logical drug policy and in complete violation of Columbia's national sovereignty despite the catastrophic results to both the environment and the suffering impoverished peasants wanting new loin clothes for their children [ Post Comment ] Post Comment