Pubdate: Mon, 26 Feb 2001
Source: Register-Guard, The (OR)
Copyright: 2001 The Register-Guard
Contact:  PO Box 10188, Eugene, OR 97440-2188
Fax: (541) 338-2828
Website: http://www.registerguard.com/
Author: Jared Kotler, Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/area/Colombia (Reports about Colombia)

CRITICS CHALLENGE USE OF U.S. CONTRACTORS ABROAD

BOGOTA, Colombia - Flying missions over guerrilla-infested coca fields or 
manning remote radar stations in the jungle, private American citizens are 
working perilously close to the front lines of the drug war in Colombia.

Referred to as "contractors" by the Washington agencies who hire them and 
"mercenaries" by critics, they are supposed to number no more than 300 at a 
time in the South American country.

Yet with the U.S. government "outsourcing" much of its drug war aid to 
these contractors, officials are already indicating that the ceiling needs 
to be raised.

As Colombian President Andres Pastrana travels to Washington to meet with 
President Bush on Tuesday, worries are mounting about the danger the U.S. 
contractors face - and whether their presence and that of U.S. troops could 
lead to deeper involvement in Colombia's decades-old civil war.

"Once this juggernaut starts rolling it's extremely difficult to put a 
stopping point on it," said Robert White, a former U.S. ambassador to El 
Salvador who heads the Center for International Policy, a Washington think 
tank.

"Once there are a few Americans killed, it seems to me that things begin to 
unravel," he added. "And then you can find yourself, indeed, fully involved."

Some of the riskiest jobs in a $1.3 billion U.S.-financed counterdrug 
offensive have been contracted to companies including DynCorp of Reston, 
Va., whose employees last weekend flew into a firefight involving leftist 
guerrillas to save the crew of a downed Colombian police helicopter.

The company provides rescuers, mechanics and helicopter and airplane pilots 
for aerial eradication missions over cocaine and heroin-producing 
plantations that are "taxed" and protected by the rebels.

Because they are kept away from the media, it is difficult to know whether 
DynCorp's employees live up to their image as a rowdy group of daredevils 
and combat veterans. Janet Wineriter, a DynCorp spokeswoman, said that 
under terms of the company's contract with the State Department, she could 
not discuss DynCorp's operations in Colombia.

Some critics charge that the contractors are being used in dicey areas to 
avoid the scandal that would erupt if U.S. soldiers began returning from 
Colombia in body bags.

Some worried about the growing U.S. role in Colombia have compared it to 
Vietnam, where an initially small U.S. involvement ballooned. Eventually, 
scenes of U.S. soldiers dying abroad helped turn public opinion against the 
Vietnam War.

Using contractors will "reduce the potential fallout when mistakes happen 
or Americans are caught in harm's way," said Tim Reiser, an aide to Sen. 
Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., an opponent of U.S. military aid to Colombia.

While pointing out that no Americans have been killed by enemy fire on 
spraying missions, a U.S. Embassy official admitted that they regularly 
come under attack.

"Sure the Americans get shot at," the official said. "We had 125 bullet 
impacts on aircraft last year, and I'm sure there were Americans who were 
flying some of those aircraft."

In addition to the almost 300 U.S. soldiers currently in Colombia, the 
Pentagon employs about 70 Department of Defense contractors, according to 
Steve Lucas, a spokesman for the U.S. Southern Command, which heads 
military operations in Latin America.

They are among a larger group of contractors, whose precise number was not 
available, but apparently is approaching 300.

The contractors include radar technicians and a private company operating 
reconnaissance planes.

U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson recently told visiting members of Congress 
that the ceiling of 300 U.S. contractors established by Congress last year 
- - including those retained by the Pentagon, State Department, and the U.S. 
Agency for International Development - may need to be raised soon.

Colombia lacks qualified pilots to operate fumigation aircraft, and 
additional contractors are needed to manage aid to human rights groups, the 
justice system and for voluntary drug crop eradication programs, embassy 
officials said.

Bush told a Washington press conference on Thursday that he would not want 
U.S. troops to go beyond their current role of training Colombian forces.

"I know we're training, and that's fine," Bush said. "But the mission ought 
to be limited to just that. And so I share the concern of those who are 
worried that at some point in time the United States might become 
militarily engaged."

The current cap on the number of U.S. military personnel in Colombia is 
500. Journalists are generally barred from interviewing or photographing 
the American soldiers and contractors.

About a third of the U.S. troops here are Green Berets training Colombian 
soldiers at Larandia army base, a two-hour drive from the stronghold of the 
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, Colombia's biggest rebel 
group. They are authorized to carry sidearms for self-defense, but are 
prohibited from joining operations.

"That's the rule. That's the law," Lucas said. "Ours is a supporting role 
only."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens