Pubdate: Sun, 28 Nov 2004 Source: Joplin Globe, The (MO) Copyright: 2004 The Joplin Globe Contact: http://www.joplinglobe.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/859 Author: Jean A. Blackwood CANCEL PLAN COLOMBIA During President Bush's visit to Colombia he vowed to renew Plan Colombia for another five years. This could mean another $3 billion in taxpayer funds going to fund an inhumane counternarcotics effort and to prop up an abusive military. U.S. assistance to Colombia has already totaled about $3.9 billion from 2000 to 2005. Eighty percent - $3.14 billion of it - has gone to Colombia's military, police and a drug crop-eradication program based on aerial herbicide fumigation. Yet a recent DEA report found that availability and purity of cocaine in the U.S. has remained stable. Though cocoa production in Colombia has dropped, it has increased by the same amount in Bolivia. Why continue a policy that doesn't work? The Colombian military has a long history of human-rights abuses; rather than insisting on reforms, the United States has rewarded the military with more aid. We know that U.S. forces are stretched thin and there is talk of sending 50,000 more troops to Iraq, yet Congress recently approved a Bush administration proposal to double the number of U.S. troops stationed in Colombia. If Plan Colombia is reauthorized for another five years, we could see even greater levels of U.S. involvement. The Congress told Mr. Bush "no" recently when he asked for more funding to develop new nuclear weapons. They should also say no to a renewed Plan Colombia. Jean A. Blackwood Carthage - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin