Pubdate: Thu, 25 Apr 2002
Source: Post and Courier, The (SC)
Copyright: 2002 Evening Post Publishing Co.
Contact:   http://www.charleston.net/index.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/567
Author: Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/area/Colombia (Colombia)

OFFICIAL INSISTS U.S. SOLDIERS WILL HAVE NO COMBAT ROLE IN COLOMBIA

WASHINGTON-A State Department official assured senators Wednesday that U.S. 
soldiers will not be fighting Colombian rebels even if Congress lets 
Colombia use anti-drug helicopters and other equipment to battle the 
insurgents.

"Not one of us here is talking about U.S. troops in a combat role," said 
Marc Grossman, undersecretary of state for political affairs. "The 
Colombians need to take the brunt of this, but we need to be there to help 
them."

The Bush administration has no intention of exceeding the limits of 400 
U.S. military trainers and 400 civilian contractors that were set to join 
in Colombian President Andres Pastrana's anti-drug Plan Colombia, Grossman 
told the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.

Also, the administration "will not stop our human rights vetting of 
Colombian military units receiving U.S. assistance,"

Meanwhile, in Dublin, Ireland, the Irish Republican Army insisted that it 
has not trained rebels in Colombia, as a U.S. congressional report accused 
it of doing.

"The IRA has not interfered in the internal affairs of Colombia and will 
not do so," the IRA said in a statement. The report released in Washington 
said up to 15 IRA members have visited the rebel-held part of Colombia 
since 1998.

Since then, it said, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, 
has begun employing IRA-style car bombs and mortars with devastating effect 
against U.S. interests.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Ariel