Pubdate: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 Source: Houston Chronicle (TX) Copyright: 2000 Houston Chronicle Contact: Viewpoints Editor, P.O. Box 4260 Houston, Texas 77210-4260 Fax: (713) 220-3575 Website: http://www.chron.com/ Forum: http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html Page: 1 Author: Elizabeth Becker, New York Times U.S. GIVES $1.3 BILLION TO COLOMBIA DRUG WAR WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration announced a $1.3 billion, two-year emergency aid package to fight narcotics in Colombia that deepens U.S. involvement in that country's long and violent war against narcotics traders and rebels. President Clinton said the emergency aid was "urgently needed" not only to help Colombia and its struggling democracy but to keep "illegal drugs off our shores." The plan unveiled Tuesday received immediate praise from congressional Republicans, who said it mirrored their own legislation introduced last autumn, with the exception that Clinton wants to spend even more money than the Republicans had proposed. Most of the money would be spent on military training and equipment for the Colombian armed forces and police in their anti-drug war, but significant funds also would be spent on improving the judicial system and institutions protecting human rights as well as bolstering the economy. The Colombian government, which already is the third-largest recipient of U.S. aid behind Israel and Egypt, could begin receiving the funds as early as March. Colombian President Andres Pastrana welcomed the program, saying that fighting the narcotics trade is a "shared responsibility" between countries that produce drugs, such as Colombia, and those that consume drugs, including the United States. Under the proposal, the Colombian military would receive 30 Blackhawk helicopters and 33 Huey helicopters to ferry soldiers into two southern provinces that have become the center of coca production (cocaine is derived from coca plants). There, the army will protect the national police and help in their counterdrug mission. In addition, the $600 million set aside for military assistance will include funds to train and equip two more counternarcotics battalions. Colombian farmers who grew coca or poppy and villagers displaced by the war will receive $145 million in economic aid to help them find new livelihoods and new homes. Another $93 million will be spent to strengthen Colombia's judicial system in its ability to protect human rights, enforce anti-drug laws, and crack down on money laundering. "This is a comprehensive approach that could be the basis for the peace process," Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Tuesday at a press conference. "It is based on the program President Pastrana has developed." To underline the administration's emphasis on the crisis in Colombia, the secretary of state will visit Bogota this weekend to go over the details of the program with Pastrana and to figure out how to convince other countries to contribute money to the drug war, according to James Rubin, State Department spokesman. Republicans said Tuesday's proposal showed that the president had come to accept, or appropriate, many of their ideas for combating drugs before they reach the United States. Rep. Bill McCollum, a Florida Republican, applauded Clinton for creating a proposal that he said took many ideas from his legislation that became the 1998 Western Hemisphere Drug Elimination Act. Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, said he "finally" welcomes a White House plan that will give badly needed assistance to fight narcotics in Colombia. His legislation, which is co-sponsored by Sen. Paul Coverdell, R-Ga., was by comparison more modest and would have cost $1.6 billion over three years and involved, for instance, the purchase of only 15 Blackhawk helicopters. In answer to the Republicans, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the administration has "benefited from the debate over the past months." He said he expected that Congress and the White House would come to an agreement for immediate aid to Colombia. Some Democrats cautioned that the strategy would require many more years and billions of dollars more than this plan envisages -- with no assurances that the United States could avoid being tainted by -- or even drawn into - -- a civil war that has killed tens of thousands of people over the past 40 years. "Everyone wants to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the United States, but we have spent billions trying to do that and the flow has gotten worse, not better," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. "What we are seeing is a dramatic ratcheting up of a counterinsurgency policy in the name of counterdrug policy." The drug trade underwrites the insurgency. The rebels earn as much as $100 million a year from taxing the narcotics trade, making them self-sufficient and, perhaps, the wealthiest insurgency in history. The administration insists that U.S. military equipment will be used only against drugs and not in the civil war, but officials admit that it is often difficult to distinguish one from the other. With as many as 150 U.S. military personnel in Colombia at any moment, many of them training and advising, there is a concern that they will get caught in the fighting. "I understand the slippery slope argument that American soldiers will eventually get involved in the war, but we have established a red line that we will not cross -- no U.S. personnel will ever take part in the conduct of a counterdrug operation," a senior Defense Department official said. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart