Pubdate: Tue, 19 Feb 2002
Source: U.S. News and World Report (US)
Copyright: 2002 U.S. News & World Report
Contact:  http://www.usnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/464
Author: Linda Robinson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?203 (Terrorism)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

NEXT STOP, COLOMBIA

President Bush's War On Terror Could Soon Be Fought On A New Front-in 
America's Backyard

While U.S. special forces continue to hunt down remnants of the Taliban and 
al Qaeda in Afghanistan, a much less publicized front in the global war on 
terror may be about to open closer to home. The Bush administration is 
proposing going beyond the extensive counternarcotics assistance Washington 
now provides Colombia to help it take more aggressive action against three 
armed insurgent groups there. All three, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of 
Colombia (FARC), the National Liberation Army (ELN), and the United 
Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), are on the U.S. list of foreign 
terrorist organizations.

The proposal has been advertised as a limited effort to train troops to 
defend an Occidental Petroleum oil pipeline repeatedly blown up by rebels. 
But it's far more ambitious than that. Of the $537 million earmarked for 
Colombia in President Bush's budget request, nearly a fifth-$98 
million-would be used to train a new brigade of Colombian soldiers and 
supply them with 10 "Super Huey" helicopters.

The language in the Bush budget is fuzzy-reflecting indecision on how best 
to sell the program to Congress. But Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has 
directed Pentagon planners to draft a stiffer version of the proposal, now 
called "The Way Ahead." Government officials say the new version will 
provide a broader security rationale for America to equip and train the new 
"critical infrastructure brigade." It would be created from the four 
battalions of Colombia's 18th Brigade-combat-skilled soldiers who can be 
fielded quickly. The 18th Brigade is currently based in northern Arauca 
province, where much of the pipeline runs. Training could be completed in 
as little as three months.

The new brigade would initially guard the pipeline. But U.S. News has 
learned that it would expand its protection to other potential terrorist 
targets, including electrical pylons, bridges, and roads. The brigade would 
be proactive, with small roving units, rather than employing the static 
defense that has failed the overstretched Colombian Army. The pipeline "is 
just the first step," says a Pentagon official. "We need a far more 
aggressive approach to help Colombia deal with the FARC, ELN, and AUC."

Kidnappers. U.S. aid to Colombia has so far included millions for 
intelligence gathering by P-3 aircraft, ground-based radars, and spy 
planes, but only information useful for counternarcotics missions has been 
shared. Under the new plan, that restriction would be lifted. The U.S. 
military also wants permission to "advise and assist," which means 
accompanying Colombian forces into the field to assess the effectiveness of 
their training, as it is doing in the Philippines.

Because more than half the world's kidnappings occur in Colombia, the Bush 
plan also includes antikidnapping assistance. Assistant Secretary of State 
Rand Beers recently told members of Congress that the 76 helicopters the 
United States has already supplied Colombia to fight drugs might also be 
used in antikidnapping operations. Noting that 70 American citizens have 
been kidnapped in Colombia in the past decade, House International 
Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde and four other Republican 
congressmen wrote Beers on February 6, saying they would "warmly welcome" it.

But the venture won't be easy. Backed by millions in drug money and 
ransoms, the FARC, ELN, and AUC together number over 30,000 armed 
combatants. And the conflict is intensifying-a captured guerrilla document 
revealed plans to take the war to the cities, and the first U.S.-supplied 
helicopter was shot down last month. (No Americans were killed, though a 
U.S. helicopter helped in the search and rescue effort.) Marc Grossman, 
under secretary of state, has the task of selling the policy to Congress. 
Doubters, like Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, worry that 
crossing the counternarcotics line will lead to a counterinsurgency morass. 
But Bush's global war on terror could win over enough fence-sitters. "The 
facts are on our side," says Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Roger 
Pardo-Maurer. "Everybody knows what is going on in Colombia."
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