Pubdate: Sun, 23 Apr 2000 Source: Fayetteville Observer-Times (NC) Copyright: 2000 Fayetteville Observer-Times Contact: P.O. Box 849, Fayetteville, North Carolina 28302 Website: http://www.fayettevillenc.com/foto/ Forum: http://webx.fayettevillenc.com/webx/cgi-bin/WebX Author: Henry Cuningham, Military editor COLOMBIA'S DRUG WAR INSPIRES GREEN BERETS Special Forces In Latin America Timeline Sgt. 1st Class Scott Grimm carefully set up a series of booby traps to test his Colombian students. Grimm, a Fort Bragg-based Green Beret, was in Colombia as part of a team training a specialized battalion of that country's army to deal with drug traffickers. The Special Forces engineer hooked up pressure-sensitive trip wires to poppers and light-makers that would let the students know right away that they had made a mistake that could have gotten them killed if the booby traps were real. "They found every one of them and disarmed them, and they did that at night," the 40-year-old sergeant said. "I was impressed." The recent exercise in Colombia was an encouraging moment in an often frustrating battle to stem the flow of cocaine and heroin from Colombia into the United States. Fort Bragg is the main source of military trainers for the Colombian counternarcotics units. It's a battle that is raising concerns among some members of Congress and other critics, who see similarities to the early stages of the Vietnam War and fear an expanded conflict in the South American country. About 60 Green Berets from Fort Bragg typically are involved in training a Colombian battalion, but some critics worry the U.S. presence will grow into thousands of soldiers -- from Fort Bragg and elsewhere -- fighting in the jungles of Colombia. Some of that fear comes from the appearance that the drug war in its current form isn't working well, at least in the eyes of U.S. law enforcement officials. Cocaine and heroin still flow freely into the country. Leading importer Colombia has coasts on the Caribbean and Pacific and shares borders with Peru and Bolivia, which grow large amounts of coca. Colombia supplies more illicit drugs to the United States than any other country -- 80 percent of the cocaine and most of the heroin, the State Department estimates. The United States has an $18.5 billion National Drug Control Strategy to eliminate production at the source, interdict drug shipments, prosecute traffickers and cut consumption through prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. On a national level, illegal drugs cost the United States 52,000 lives and $110 billion annually, the State Department estimates. Despite U.S. efforts to curb the drug trade in Colombia, coca production has more than doubled there in the past five years, the New York Times reported Friday. And officials say the operating power of drug traffickers is growing. Even a high-ranking U.S. Army officer has been besmirched in the Colombian drug war. Col. James Hiett, the former leader of the U.S. anti-drug operation in Colombia, pleaded guilty to a federal charge Monday, admitting that he knew his wife, Laurie, was laundering drug money but failed to turn her in. Hiett was once stationed at Fort Bragg, and his wife taught at Westover High School. Seeking stability President Clinton is asking Congress to support a two-year, $1.6 billion assistance package to support Colombian President Andres Pastrana's plan to battle the drug trade. Advocates say the plan will help Colombia re-establish sovereignty over its southern regions, which are largely controlled by drug traffickers and guerrillas. Critics say the plan is not well thought out and risks deeper U.S. military involvement in Colombia's civil conflicts. In part, that's because Colombia is fighting more than just drug traffickers. A deeply entrenched revolutionary group that has turned to the narcotics trade to fund its war against the government now controls a chunk of the country as large as Massachusetts. Since the fall of Saigon in 1975, any growing U.S. involvement in a world hot spot has drawn unfavorable comparisons to the Vietnam experience. That involvement began with small groups of Special Forces soldiers and official pronouncements that U.S. troops would not be sent to do what local troops should be doing. Then, as things went downhill, the United States began "escalating" the number of troops. Many Vietnam veterans have complained bitterly that the politicians saddled the war fighters with too many restrictions and no clear long-term objectives. Now, critics of U.S. policy in Colombia say the South American country has no clear plan for destroying the drug traffickers and that American military advisers will be sucked into a growing conflict against the revolutionary groups as well as the drug traffickers. The State Department is quick to emphasize that the United States has no intention of committing combat troops. Every deployment order specifically forbids U.S. troops from accompanying Colombians on missions, said Brian E. Sheridan, the assistant secretary of defense who oversees the training programs. A State Department report said Colombia has not asked for an escalation of the U.S. military presence. But the New York Times reported Friday that a poll shows a majority of Colombians are in favor of American intervention into their internal conflict. Objectives of plan Clinton's $1.6 billion aid proposal would focus on the delivery of helicopters and training of pilots. Plans call for a base at Manta, Ecuador, and $341 million to be spent for radar upgrades to help Colombian forces find drug traffickers. The plan also calls for U.S. soldiers to train more Colombians to fight their drug war. Spanish-speaking Fort Bragg Green Berets are playing a key role in that training. The New York Times reported that Colombian soldiers fighting the drug traffickers are poorly supplied and equipped, especially since the enemy has millions to spend on high-tech military gadgetry. But Fort Bragg soldiers from the 7th Special Forces Group who have worked with the Colombian anti-narcotics units have high praise for their abilities. "I thought they were well trained, well motivated for the conditions they were having to live in," said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Waddell, the commander of the 7th Group's 2nd Battalion. Waddell and his men recently returned from a deployment to Colombia. "They seemed very interested in the things we were trying to teach them and real interested in trying to conduct the counternarcotics operations to help the situation." Grimm, the engineer sergeant, is among the Fort Bragg Green Berets who trained the Colombian army's first counternarcotics battalion. The 950-man battalion graduated in December in Tres Esquinas near the Ecuador border. The Colombian soldiers were taught infantry skills, how to protect human rights, how to raid a drug site and how to decide when to shoot. "I was very impressed with their ability to shoot, move and communicate, not only as a platoon but as a company, " said Chief Warrant Officer Brad Smith, 38, a detachment commander. The battalion is designed to work on the ground and in helicopter operations with the Colombian National Police. The Special Forces soldiers noted with pride that the day after graduation, the Colombians seized some coca paste from a boat on a river they were assigned to watch. The counternarcotics battalion's three-phase training program cost $3.9 million, and another $3.5 million went for individual and unit equipment and medical supplies, military officials told Congress. Planning is under way to establish, train and equip two more counternarcotics battalions and a brigade headquarters this year, Gen. Charles E. Wilhelm told Congress March 23. Wilhelm, a Marine four-star general, oversees U.S. military activity in Latin America. "The second CN (counternarcotics) battalion will begin training in April, followed several months later by the third battalion, which will complete training in December 2000," Wilhelm said. Once the training cycles are complete, the U.S. advisers have to be able to step back and let the Colombians train their own troops, the Green Berets said. "It's their nation," Grimm said. "They are going to live there when we go away and we come back to ours." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake