Pubdate: Thu, 23 Nov 2000
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2000 The New York Times Company
Contact:  229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036
Fax: (212) 556-3622
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Forum: http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/
Author: Stephen Young
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1714/a07.html
Note: This LTE is a result of DrugSense FOCUS Alert #190 - Even Supporters 
See Disaster in Plan Colombia
http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0186.html

A FAULTY COLOMBIA PLAN

To the Editor:

Re "Key House Leader Withdraws Support for Colombia Aid Plan" (news
article, Nov. 17): It has long been clear that Plan Colombia, the $7.5
billion strategy drafted jointly by American and Colombian officials
and passed by Congress, will neither stop drugs from reaching
Americans nor stabilize Colombia. But new objections from
Representative Benjamin A. Gilman, formerly one of the plan's
strongest supporters, show how awful the plan truly is.

Mr. Gilman may have problems only with the details, but as history
shows, the whole concept of fighting drugs with force is always a
failure. The outcome of Plan Colombia can only be more violence and
increasing involvement by the United States in the affairs of South
America.

STEPHEN YOUNG

Roselle, Ill., Nov. 18, 2000
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake