Pubdate: Mon, 21 Jan 2002
Source: News Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2002 The News Herald
Contact:  http://www.newsherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1018

CLUELESS IN COLOMBIA

Not Pulling Back: Despite Warnings, Bush Follows Clinton Into The Mire.

The demands of an all-out war on terrorism do not seem to have imposed a 
sense of priorities or proportion on U.S. policymakers, who act as if they 
believe this country can conduct numerous vaguely defined wars on numerous 
fronts without losing focus. The latest evidence is an apparent 
intensification of U.S. involvement in the ongoing civil war and drug war 
in Colombia.

One of the last acts under the Clinton administration was to authorize $1.3 
billion in aid and equipment for the Colombian government, which is 
fighting a war against narcotraffickers that is inextricably linked to a 
civil war that has plagued the country at various levels of intensity for 
at least 40 years. Despite warnings from numerous Latin American experts 
that this would inevitably get the U.S. involved in Colombian domestic 
politics - allied to a military with a less-than-sterling human rights 
record - the Clintonites pushed ahead. The Bush administration gave signals 
early on that it would reconsider this commitment, but it's not pulling back.

Recently, U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Anne Patterson turned over 14 Black 
Hawk helicopters to the Colombian military. "We will continue working 
together to liberate Colombia, the region and the hemisphere from 
narcotics," she bravely declared.

Sure. That will happen about the same time the war on terror eliminates 
evil from the world for all time. Unfortunately, U.S. taxpayers will 
continue to pay for this exercise in folly in Colombia.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D