Pubdate: Fri, 25 Feb 2000 Source: Orange County Register (CA) Copyright: 2000 The Orange County Register Contact: P.O. Box 11626, Santa Ana, CA 92711 Fax: (714) 565-3657 Website: http://www.ocregister.com/ Section: news,page 31 Author: JARED KOTLER-The Associated Press COLOMBIAN ANTI-DRUG SQUAD TAKES AIM Foreign Policy: A U.S-trained Battalion Conducts Live Fire Exercises. TRES ESQUINAS, Colombia-Rockets,morters and machine gun fire lit up a patch of Colombia's southern jungles Thursday as White House drug czar Barry McCaffrey witnessed the opening of a new chapter in the war on drugs. McCaffrey, in Colombia to promote a $1.6 billion anti-narcotics aid package, squinted into a green expanse where troops from a new, U.S.-trained, anti-drug battalion conducted a live-fire exercise. As soldiers in foxholes lobbed shells into the trees, a U.S.-donated helicopter slammed a rocket at imaginary guerrilla columns. Following the exercise, McCaffrey, a retired general and Vietnam War hero, addressed some of the soldiers. "You are the ones Colombia has asked to step forward. Good luck, troops," he said to enthusiastic applause. Training and equipping new Colombian battalions such as the 950-man unit based at Tres Esquinas, 250 miles south of Bogota, is the centerpiece of Washington's strategy for stemming an explosion of cocaine and heroin production. More than half of the aid package now before the U.S. Congress would go toward creating two new battalions such as the one already up and running, and providing the army and air force with 63 helicopters. Critics say the plan could embroil the United States in a brutal, decades-old civil conflict reminiscent of those fought in Central America during the 1980s. Leftist rebels control vast tracts of southern jungle, financing their insurgency by protecting drug traffickers and taxing peasants who grow drug crops. Human rights groups, meanwhile, charge Washington is allying itself with a military of dubious credentials. They say the Colombian armed forces work in concert with right wing paramilitary militias who massacre alleged guerrilla sympathizers and are also involved in the drug trade. In Washington on Thursday, the plan drew a mixed reaction at a Senate hearing, with lawmakers questioning whether the money would have its intended effect. "The more the administration spends in Colombia, the more coca is grown," said Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. and chairman of the foreign operations subcommittee. The base at Tres Esquinas will be the command post for a major push into the surrounding jungles. The U.S. military presence in Colombia fluctuates between 150 and 200 uniformed personnel on any given day, the U.S. Embassy says, and none are allowed to accompany Colombians into combat. Cocaine production here has more than doubled since 1995. Colombia produces 90 percent of the world's supply and also produces heroin. - --- MAP posted-by: Allan Wilkinson