cannabisnews.com: The Other Drug War 





The Other Drug War 
Posted by FoM on March 28, 2000 at 09:08:23 PT
Exclusive By Michael Isikoff & Gregory Vistica
Source: Newsweek 
Is a $1.3 billion Colombia aid package smart policy, dirty politics, good business or a costly mistake? Only last summer, the White House seemed wary of greater U.S. involvement in Colombia's vicious drug war. Republicans on Capitol Hill wanted to add muscle to Colombia's anti-drug forces, but administration officials favored more diplomacy. 
A top State Department official returned from a visit to Bogota and described himself as "sobered, but certainly not panicked." Then, two months ago, the president announced a stunning $1.3 billion aid package, including 63 U.S.-made helicopters and other military hardware. If approved by Congress, the massive program would be the largest single increase in drug-war spending since Bill Clinton took office. Critics—including some inside the administration—fear a nasty entanglement. "When I first saw this," says a veteran U.S. anti-drug official, "my reaction was, 'What, are they nuts?' "Why did Clinton suddenly change tack? The answer, according to a NEWSWEEK reconstruction, is a surprising Washington tale of the pressures that influence White House foreign policy in an election year. No one doubts that Colombia is a serious policy challenge, and many strongly believe the aid package is a vital response. But a series of other factors also came into play. Domestic politics was one—and lobbying efforts by arms producers may have been another.According to the White House version of the story, it was Clinton's drug czar, Gen. Barry McCaffrey—the former commander of all U.S. forces in Latin America—who convinced Clinton something had to be done about Colombia. In White House meetings and in memos, McCaffrey repeatedly pointed to Colombia's surging coca crop and increasing ties between the country's Marxist guerrillas and its drug lords. By last spring, the guerrillas were making daring raids into government-controlled territory. The U.S. drug czar prodded Colombia's new president, Andres Pastrana, to take more aggressive action, telling him the guerrillas would be "outside his window" if his military didn't strike harder. McCaffrey was similarly blunt with his own boss, warning President Clinton that his legacy was at stake. If the administration failed to act against Colombia's narcoguerrillas, he told Clinton last summer, the United States would soon face a blizzard of Colombian cocaine more intense than anything seen before. "The country will say you let this go," McCaffrey said to the president.But it wasn't McCaffrey alone who prodded Clinton into action. Despite the drug czar's warnings, officials say, few in the White House paid much heed until last September, when Democratic pollster Mark Mellman showed up with worrisome news: the public perceived that "drug use" was on the rise and was inclined to blame Democrats. (In fact, government figures show overall drug use has been static for the past five years.) Drugs, according to Mellman's polling, were one issue where Republicans had a clear edge in the upcoming election. "This issue is an Achilles' heel" for the party, Mellman warned.As it turned out, the poll was hardly the idea of a disinterested party: NEWSWEEK has learned that it was commissioned by Lockheed Martin, the giant defense contractor. As the maker of P-3 radar planes used to track drug smugglers, the company had been pushing for heavy increases for drug interdiction. But Lockheed was facing resistance, especially from "liberal" Democrats on Capitol Hill, a company official says. Mellman's findings—based on telephone interviews with 800 registered voters—concluded that "56 percent" of the electorate would support a $2 billion increase in funding for "tracking planes to be flown in drug producing areas."Other powerful interests also weighed in. Occidental Petroleum, which has large investments in Colombia, pressed for greater U.S. engagement, and the Colombian government retained the powerhouse Washington law firm of Akin, Gump, to push for increased aid. Lobbyists from two U.S. helicopter companies were even more aggressive: Textron, maker of the Bell Huey, and United Technologies Corp., whose Sikorsky Aircraft division makes the Black Hawk. Both firms sent choppers to Washington's Reagan National Airport to impress congressional members with gut-twisting rides.The companies also made large campaign contributions. Federal election records show that Textron and United Technologies donated $1.25 million to both parties between 1997 and 1999. Last year UT made a strategic shift: having long favored gift- giving to Republicans, the Connecticut-based firm earmarked two thirds of its "soft money" to the Democrats, writing four checks totaling $125,000 to various Democratic committees. The bulk of that money, $75,000, was deposited in party accounts on one day, Dec. 31, 1999—11 days before the Colombia package was announced. (The company and the Democratic National Committee deny any link between the events: "We didn't even know the Black Hawks were going to be in there" until the plan was released, a UT spokesman said. Lockheed and Textron officials also denied trying to influence the White House.)Republican operatives have pointed to the role of Sen. Christopher Dodd, a former DNC chair. The aid deal includes $400 million for 30 new Black Hawks, which are made in Dodd's home state of Connecticut. Even administration officials acknowledge the Colombian Army lacks enough hangars and pilots to handle so many choppers. "A year ago we couldn't get them to fund three Black Hawks—and now they want 30?" says one GOP staffer. Dodd, who visited Colombia last December, denies ever mentioning his home-state choppers to administration officials—or knowing anything about the company's last-minute campaign infusion.McCaffrey acknowledges that it will be some time before the Colombians will be able to use the choppers, even if the package survives the scrutiny of Republicans in Congress. "This is a five-year engagement," he says. By then, Clinton's Colombia troubles will be in someone else's hands.With Steven Ambrus in BogotaPolitics Talk:http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/zforum/00/poltalk_033000.htmThe Other Drug War: Is a $1.3 billion Colombia aid package—including 63 U.S.-made helicopters and other military hardware—smart policy, dirty politics, good business or a costly mistake? Join us for Politics Talk, Thursday March 30 at noon E.S.T. Submit Questions Early:http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/zforum/00/submit_poltalk_033000.htmPublished: Newsweek, April 3, 2000 © 2000 Newsweek, Inc. Related Articles:Drug War Funding Faces Delayhttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5196.shtmlDrug Money - Arianna Huffington - Salon Magazinehttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5085.shtmlThe Narco-Guerrilla War - Newsweekhttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread2382.shtml 
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Comment #3 posted by dddd on March 28, 2000 at 23:22:59 PT
MONEY
 Thanks to kaptinemo for another excellent insight. Candidates,politicians have a common theme when asked what their priorities are.The top of the list is always campaign finance reform,and/or education.The bogus nature of these "priorities" is confirmed by where the money ends up. Big oil companies,and pharmaceutical firms,and military contractors have nothing to gain from improving schools,and alot to lose with campaign finance reform.While huge sums of money flow into drug war/military interests,money for education is a trickle.,,but there is no shortage of money for "education",when it is used to pay off the media to "educate" the masses...........dddd 
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Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on March 28, 2000 at 17:39:44 PT:
Money, money, everywhere, but not a buck 
for Johnny's education - which is why he STILL can't read! Our schools are crumbling, our infrastructure teeters on a supply of fuel that's constantly in danger of attack by some crazy or another, and yet we still find it possible to throw freight trains full of money - and now helicopters, bombs, bullets - to foreign nations that haven't an icicle's chance of settling their civil war so long as the profits from illegal drugs continue to power their armies.'Other powerful interests also weighed in. Occidental Petroleum, which has large investments in Colombia, pressed for greater U.S. engagement, and the Colombian government retained the powerhouse Washington law firm of Akin, Gump, to push for increased aid. Lobbyists from two U.S. helicopter companies were even more aggressive: Textron, maker of the Bell Huey, and United Technologies Corp., whose Sikorsky Aircraft division makes the Black Hawk. Both firms sent choppers to Washington's Reagan National Airport to impress congressional members with gut-twisting rides.The companies also made large campaign contributions. Federal election records show that Textron and United Technologies donated $1.25 million to both parties between 1997 and 1999. Last year UT made a strategic shift: having long favored gift- giving to Republicans, the Connecticut-based firm earmarked two thirds of its "soft money" to the Democrats, writing four checks totaling $125,000 to various Democratic committees. The bulk of that money, $75,000, was deposited in party accounts on one day, Dec. 31, 1999—11 days before the Colombia package was announced. (The company and the Democratic National Committee deny any link between the events: "We didn't even know the Black Hawks were going to be in there" until the plan was released, a UT spokesman said. Lockheed and Textron officials also denied trying to influence the White House.)'Yup, can't get any clearer; never mess with Big Oil. Ask Saddam why, I'm sure he'd be happy to tell you. After all, we helped make him into the monster he is; we sold him just about everything he wanted. So he would be a bulwark against Iranians coveting on the Saudi oil fields. And look what he did with it. He killed scores of his own people in Stalinesque paranoia revolving around fears for his own saftey from 'counter-revolutionaries'. But because he was an 'ally', we let it slide. But when he began the threaten the denizens of the boardrooms of Big Oil, all of a sudden he became Public Enenmy Number One. All for oil. And that's what all this cock-and-bull about the DrugWar is really hiding in our sudden interest in Colombia. All to protect Big Oil.
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on March 28, 2000 at 10:44:58 PT:
Stopping Traffic - Newsweek - Survey Results
Stopping Traffic Newsweek, April 3, 2000 Newsweekhttp://newsweek.com/ Last summer, the White House seemed to have little interest in stopping the flow of drugs into the United States until a survey conducted by noted Washington pollster Mark Mellman showed the issue would be an "Achilles Heel" for Democrats in the fall elections. Here, selections from the National Drug Policy Survey, conducted by The Mellman Group, in September, 1999. Voters Want Education, Social Security and Drug Trafficking to Be Top Priorities for the President and Congress. Voters Want Drug Trafficking to Be a Top Priority in Washington.   Please tell me whether the following should be a top priority for President Clinton and Congress to do this year...(% one of the most) Click the link to read the complete article.
Stopping Traffic 
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