Pubdate: Sun, 24 Sep 2000
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Copyright: 2000 Chicago Tribune Company
Contact:  435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611-4066
Website: http://www.chicagotribune.com/
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Author: Pedro Ruz Gutierrez and E.A. Torriero
Bookmark: additional articles on Colombia are available at 
http://www.mapinc.org/latin.htm

MILITARY CONTRACTORS LINE UP FOR U.S. DRUG WAR IN COLOMBIA

FLORENCIA, Colombia -- The hotshot pilot swoops down at 200 m.p.h. in his 
Vietnam-era crop duster, gliding 50 feet over the coca valleys he has been 
hired to destroy.

The U.S. Army veteran earns $90,000 a year tax-free as a civilian pilot, 
but he understands the downside of this job very well. More than once he 
has had to dodge bullets from peasants and guerrillas trying to protect 
Colombia's multibillion-dollar cocaine trade.

This is one pilot who won't mind giving up a big paycheck should his 
working conditions continue to deteriorate.

"If we start getting into a civil war, I'm out of here," he said.

For now, though, he is part of a growing civilian army hired by Uncle Sam 
to help fight Colombia's war on drugs, to be financed largely by $1.3 
billion in U.S. aid.

Daredevil pilots with military experience, retired top brass and former 
Green Berets are all part of the effort as the first $300 million in aid 
heads to Colombia next month. Expertise in intelligence and law enforcement 
is a must. Fluency in Spanish and knowledge of counter-terrorism, jungle 
warfare and counter-surveillance is a plus.

While there are limits to the number of American military people who will 
be involved in training Colombian troops, there are fewer restrictions on 
how many U.S. civilians can be hired by military contractors.

"Every pirate, bandit--everyone who wants to make money on the war--they're 
in Colombia," said one congressional aide in Washington. He described 
efforts to snare contracts as a "free-for-all."

"This is what we call outsourcing a war," he said, referring to the use of 
free-lance help.

Much of the effort, however, will come from businesses familiar to the U.S. 
government.

With as much as $4 billion in U.S. aid expected to flow into the Andean 
region in coming years, at least a dozen U.S. corporations are lining up to 
bid on Uncle Sam's foreign venture.

Pay is high, but so are the risks.

The crash of a U.S. Army spy plane that killed five American soldiers last 
summer underscored the potential for casualties. Relatives dispute the Army 
version of pilot error and suggest a rebel missile could have shot down the 
reconnaissance plane.

Three civilian pilots of Virginia-based DynCorp. and EAST Inc. , under 
contract with the State Department, have died in plane crashes since 1997. 
DynCorp. has up to 30 pilots and crews in charge of fumigating coca fields 
with glyphosate, a stronger version of the household Roundup weed killer. 
Their presence has grown from a few pilots several years ago to more than 
60 workers at the Larandia military base near Florencia.

It is difficult to predict how many Americans will become part of the 
Colombian conflict. Up to 100 Special Forces and Navy SEALs already are 
teaching Colombia's new military-led counter-narcotics battalions. U.S. 
workers operating ground-radar stations and civilian coca-spraying crews 
provide aircraft maintenance at Colombian bases.

On any given day, 150 to 250 Americans are helping in Colombia's drug war. 
That number will grow to 500 U.S. military personnel and 300 civilians 
under new caps that can be increased by the president. American officials 
say that the U.S. military will not be directly involved in operations and 
the U.S. soldiers will act solely as trainers.

Much of the contract work for non-military help will be given first to U.S. 
companies that will then parcel the work to Colombian sub-contractors.

Of the $120 million in U.S. non-military aid in the next three years, more 
than two-thirds of the contracts will go to U.S. businesses or charity groups.

American companies already are cashing in on the spoils of war.

Bell-Textron and United Technologies' Sikorsky Aircraft have signed to 
deliver 18 new UH-60 Blackhawks and 42 "Super" Huey II helicopters.

Orders are pending for at least 14 more by the Colombian Defense Ministry, 
making the windfall for the helicopter makers in excess of $600 million. 
Military Personnel Resources Inc., a Virginia-based military-consultant 
company run by retired U.S. generals, already is advising the Colombian 
armed forces. Other U.S. companies have started peddling nighttime 
surveillance gear, riverboat technology, aircraft maintenance services and 
other wares.

While U.S. businesses are leading the rush, foreign companies also are 
looking to benefit. Israeli Defense Industries is trying to sell 
observation technology to the Colombian Air Force to outfit its Vietnam-era 
OV-10 "Bronco" planes, the same ones leased by the U.S. in fumigation raids.

But it is the growing U.S. presence that has critics from Bogota to 
Washington calling the American aid package a prelude to another Vietnam 
debacle, with U.S. forces being lured into combat.

Mostly, American pilots fly fumigation missions in daylight and darkness. 
They work in three-week shifts and often shuttle back to the states for a 
week off.

Colombian helicopters fly cover for the American pilots. But increasingly, 
the Americans are becoming targets for the rebels.

Two American pilots flying Vietnam-era OV-10 Broncos in the rebel-infested 
Caqueta province last month aborted their spraying mission when they 
encountered gunfire.

One pilot believes the tide will turn once the full force of the U.S. 
commitment takes place. The rebels, he said, will lose their willpower.

Yet he also predicts the Colombian pilots aren't prepared for battle. "They 
want us to fight their war for them."
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MAP posted-by: Thunder