Pubdate: Mon, 01 Apr 2002
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: Gary Fields

POLITICS AND POLICY

Effort to Merge Drug , Terror Wars In Colombia Hits Some Resistance

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration's plan to merge the war on drugs in 
Colombia with its war on terror already is running into flak on Capitol 
Hill, even while most lawmakers are still away on their spring recess.

Just 11 days ago, the administration sent Congress a broad $27.1 billion 
emergency spending bill; part of it would allow Colombia to expand its use 
of American military training, intelligence and equipment beyond its fight 
against drug traffickers. The idea is to free Colombia's government to use 
some of its American aid to battle three rebel groups that the U.S. has 
cited as terrorist organizations, and which it recently has made a point of 
linking to the drug trade as well.

Drug Enforcement Administrator Asa Hutchinson, who traveled to Colombia 
last week to discuss the initiative with law-enforcement officials and 
President Andres Pastrana, says the administration is moving because it 
increasingly sees links between terrorism and drug-trafficking money. The 
U.S., he argues, merely is recognizing the groups' multiple roles and "the 
multifaceted nature of the operations of the Colombian military, that they 
are counternarcotics but also counterterrorists."

Others aren't so sure. Critics on Capitol Hill worry that lifting current 
restrictions on aid might allow the Colombian military to ignore the drug 
war and focus solely on fighting internal rebels. Some also worry that 
without restrictions on the Colombian army's ties to paramilitary groups, 
the proposal will invite human-rights violations. And there are fears that 
the plan is too open-ended and lacking a clear mission.

Democratic Reps. James McGovern of Massachusetts and Ike Skelton of 
Missouri have drafted a letter of concern to send to President Bush, and 
are asking colleagues to sign by next week. Two influential senators have 
raised caution flags as well: Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, chairman of 
the appropriations subcommittee that handles foreign aid, and Iowa 
Republican Charles Grassley, a leader of the Senate drug caucus, both say 
they want to see more details.

"The administration has requested broad new authority to permit U.S. aid to 
the Colombian military to be used for any purpose as long as it relates to 
Colombia's security," says Sen. Leahy. "That is not the type of blank check 
that Congress should sign."

In an interview Saturday in the daily newspaper Reforma, President Pastrana 
said he had won the political battle against Marxist rebels since halting 
peace talks more than a month ago, and he called on Congress to support his 
government by approving the Bush administration's request.

Colombia and its role in the U.S. drug problem have long presented a 
problem for U.S. presidents. The country is the oldest democracy in South 
America. But it also is rife with corruption and drug factions, and is 
responsible for producing the majority of the cocaine that is used in the 
U.S. At the same time, it is mired in a 38-year-old civil war that now pits 
the government against three insurgency groups: the Revolutionary Armed 
Forces of Colombia, the National Liberation Army and the United 
Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. The FARC, created in 1964 as the military 
wing of the Colombian Communist Party, is the oldest, largest and arguably 
best equipped of the three.

Until now, U.S. policy has distinguished between the fight to stem 
Colombia's drug traffickers, which the U.S. was prepared to assist, and 
Colombia's civil war, which the U.S. has tried to avoid. Washington has 
been providing equipment -- including dozens of helicopters -- and helping 
to train Colombian soldiers in counternarcotics operations. Colombia 
received $380.5 million in the current fiscal year for counterdrug initiatives.

Now, though, the Bush administration is trying to knock down that 
distinction, arguing that there are links between the insurgent groups and 
the drug trade, some of which date back to the 1970s.

Indeed, in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S., the Bush 
administration has been moving to strengthen the perception of a link 
between terrorism and drug trafficking. The Office of National Drug Control 
Policy began a stark ad campaign suggesting that the money spent to buy 
drugs in the U.S. supports terrorists. The DEA's Mr. Hutchinson has spoken 
repeatedly about drug proceeds funding terrorist groups.

All three of Colombia's insurgency groups are now on the State Department's 
list of terrorist organizations, since the United Self-Defense Forces were 
added in October. That's in part because of violent acts the groups have 
committed in response to U.S. support of drug-eradication programs in Colombia.

In the past few weeks, the administration has been trying to draw the links 
even more clearly. Mr. Hutchinson told a Senate panel recently: "While the 
DEA does not specifically target terrorists, we will target and track down 
drug traffickers and drug-trafficking organizations involved in terrorist 
acts."

A few days later, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that three FARC 
leaders had been indicted on conspiracy to import cocaine into the U.S., 
charges that asserted a direct link between the rebel group and drug 
trafficking. The administration's supplemental-spending plan proposal went 
to Congress three days after that indictment.

In that proposal, the administration asks Congress for $372.5 million in 
emergency aid to help the militaries of 19 countries -- including Yemen, 
Oman, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Colombia -- fight terrorism. Colombia, 
though, is singled out for a loosening of restrictions on the use of U.S. aid.

Clearly, some on Capitol Hill will strongly support the plan. Sen. Jeff 
Sessions, an Alabama Republican on the Armed Services Committee, says he 
began urging the administration to send up such a proposal more than a year 
ago. Under current restrictions, he says, the Colombian military can't use 
American helicopters unless it is on a mission that clearly fits the 
counternarcotics description. "There's no way we can expect Colombia to 
stop drug-dealing in their country if they don't control their own 
territory, so to ask them to help us fight drugs in Colombia means we have 
to help them," he says.

Sen. Grassley says that while he is happy to see the administration cite 
the link between terrorism and drugs , he is doubtful that the Colombia 
proposal will be addressed any time soon. It's likely to be stalled by a 
concurrent dispute over the Bush administration's refusal to let its 
director of homeland security, Thomas Ridge, testify before Congress.

In the letter they are circulating to colleagues, Reps. McGovern and 
Skelton write that while they acknowledge Colombia needs U.S. help, they 
are concerned that the potential changes are but a "tiny first step" that 
focuses on a military solution without addressing broader economic problems 
that produce dissent.

For his part, Mr. Hutchinson says the proposal simply opens the way to a 
broader training and support role for the U.S., and doesn't represent a 
move directly into the military conflict there. While the plan would remove 
some of "the artificial restraints," he says, "we're going to have 
restrictions and there will be a carefully defined support role" for U.S. 
money and military advisers.

"What we're talking about is training and the use of the equipment we've 
provided to them, that it can be used to do drug interdictions which, these 
days, flows over into terrorism and guerrillas," he says.
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