Pubdate: Fri, 03 May 2002 Source: Associated Press (Wire) Copyright: 2002 Associated Press Author: Ken Guggenheim, Associated Press EMBASSY DOCUMENTS SAY HASTERT BELITTLED RIGHTS CONCERNS IN COLOMBIA WASHINGTON - Before becoming House speaker, Rep. Dennis Hastert told Colombian military officers that he was "sick and tired" of human rights considerations controlling U.S. anti-drug aid, according to a newly declassified government document. At the time, the Clinton administration was pushing Colombia to improve its human rights performance as a condition of receiving U.S. aid. Leading a May 1997 congressional delegation to Colombia, Hastert also encouraged Colombian military and police to bypass the White House and deal directly with Congress, according to a cable signed by then-Ambassador Myles Frechette. John Feehery, Hastert's spokesman, said the speaker strongly supports human rights efforts in Colombia and that the language in the cable likely reflected that Hastert "did not have a particularly strong relationship" with Frechette. The Frechette cable was among 70 documents obtained by the National Security Archive, an independent foreign policy research center. It was posting the documents on its Web site Friday. Some of the documents show that as early as 13 years ago, U.S. officials had been debating whether fighting drugs and fighting leftist insurgencies in Colombia should be linked. The debate continues today: the Bush administration recently proposed to allow Colombia to use anti-drug military aid to fight guerrillas. Other documents show that in 2000, U.S. officials feared that Colombian soldiers from a U.S.-trained counternarcotics battalion were interacting with soldiers from Colombia's 24th Brigade, which has been linked to right-wing paramilitaries. Colombia's paramilitary units, whom the United States describes as terrorists, are blamed for most of the country's massacres. The military's historic link to paramilitaries is a major reason U.S. lawmakers have been reluctant to expand U.S. aid. Hastert, a Republican from Illinois, then chairman of the government reform national security subcommittee, denounced tying aid to human rights performance when he met with Colombian police and military officials in 1997, the cable said. It quoted Hastert as telling Colombian military and police officials that he and other lawmakers were "sick and tired of people who spend most of their lives living outside the U.S. inhibiting the process by placing conditions on military aid when the lives of U.S. children and youth are being destroyed by drugs." It said, "He decried 'leftist-dominated' U.S. Congresses of years past who 'used human rights as an excuse to aid the left in other countries' and vowed that he was committed to 'correcting' that situation." Hastert concluded by saying police and military "already knew they could bypass the U.S. executive branch and communicate directly with the Congress; he encouraged them to continue to do so," the cable said. In another cable two months later, Frechette said the Hastert visit was partly responsible for difficulties he was having in reaching an agreement with Colombia to assure that newly arriving military aid would be subjected to human rights conditions. Feehery said the cables "have to be taken with a grain of salt" because of Hastert's differences with Frechette. About bypassing the executive branch, Feehery noted that Hastert worked closely with President Clinton in developing the $1.3 billion Plan Colombia aid package in 2000. Frechette, now retired from the foreign service, said in an interview that the cable "was not intended to point fingers at Hastert." He said he was trying to provide an honest account of the visit to the State Department. He said it was "ridiculous and absurd" to suggest that his relationship with Hastert colored the language. He said, though, that Hastert frequently criticized him because he generally didn't like the Clinton administration's policies toward Colombia. "Hastert didn't like the policy, so he attacked me. I liked Hastert just fine," Frechette said. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth