Pubdate: Fri, 27 Jul 2001 Source: Houston Chronicle (TX) Copyright: 2001 Houston Chronicle Contact: http://www.chron.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/198 Author: Michael Hedges BUSH POLICY IN COLOMBIA IS UNCHANGED Officials Respond To News Stories About Anti-Drug Effort Expansion WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has no plan to expand America's anti-drug efforts in Colombia, officials said Thursday, backing away from comments attributed to the U.S. ambassador in Bogota that drew fire from Congress. U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Anne Patterson on Tuesday described plans to expand America's role in training the Colombian military to battle drug cartels supported by leftist guerrilla groups. Patterson was paraphrased by the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times as saying the United States was weighing a plan to have American military advisers train Colombian soldiers to go after narco-traffickers in several different parts of Colombia. Those comments rattled many in Washington who are sensitive to any suggestion that U.S. efforts in Colombia could expand into a full blown war against guerrilla groups. American Green Berets already have trained 3,000 Colombian army troops, and the United States is spending $1.3 billion for helicopters and other equipment under "Plan Colombia," an effort aimed at eradicating coca leaves and opium poppies in southern Colombia. The drug eradication campaign by those Colombian battalions -- armed with American Black Hawk helicopters and other equipment -- has not yet commenced. But Patterson said the production of drug crops in Colombia had spread across the country, and additional U.S. trained troops might be needed to extend eradication efforts. The State Department insisted Thursday no final decisions had been made to expand training of Colombian forces by American military advisers. "The U.S. policy has not changed. The U.S. government is continually reviewing the situation, but press accounts have inaccurately implied that additional decisions on training have taken place," said a State Department spokesman. "Any such program would only be implemented after consultation with Congress." The U.S. involvement in Colombia so far has been carefully choreographed among the administrations of former President Clinton and President Bush and Congress. But Patterson was quoted Tuesday saying, "We don't think there is going to be a problem on the Hill" with the possibility of expanding the U.S. training role in Colombia. "The U.S. Congress would be notified if that plan goes forward," she said, according to a partial transcript of the interview quoted by the State Department. A U.S. Embassy official in Bogota did not dispute the news stories, but said, "Some media accounts have overcharacterized what was said. There is no done deal yet. (Ambassador Patterson) did not say there was a firm deal." Key members of Congress from both parties were caught off-guard by the statements, and challenged what appeared to be a Bush foreign policy change without congressional input or approval. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., ranking minority member on the House Judiciary Committee, warned Thursday against "mission creep" in Colombia. "Several safeguards were put into Plan Colombia to prevent an escalation of U.S. involvement without congressional oversight," he said. Some Republicans voiced similar concerns. "We ought to first get the job done in southern Colombia eliminating coca as envisioned by Plan Colombia and end all the opium growth which is fueling the current heroin crisis here at home, before we expand our mission with the Colombian military," said Rep. Ben Gilman, R-N.Y. Gilman, who is vice chairman of the House drug policy subcommittee, also was troubled that Patterson appeared to rule out, under any circumstances, U.S. help to Colombia in its war with leftist guerrillas. "The political stomach for going into the counter-insurgency business is zero. It is not going to happen," she said, according to a partial transcript of the interview. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom