Pubdate: Tue, 02 Jul 2002
Source: Blade, The (OH)
Copyright: 2002 The Blade
Contact:  http://www.toledoblade.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/48

CAUTION FOR COLOMBIA

Colombian President-elect Alvaro Uribe Velez used his visit to the United 
States last week to push hard for more U.S. military assistance to his 
country in its nearly four-decades-long struggle with rebel forces.

He deserved a sympathetic ear but not an open wallet.

The reasons are several. The Colombian government's own commitment to 
ending the conflict is not convincing, and the argument that extirpation of 
the rebel movements in Colombia will end or even reduce Colombian narcotics 
exports to the United States doesn't hold water. The United States should 
resist Mr. Uribe's pleas that America become more deeply involved in this 
particular "big muddy" for now.

The new Colombian president was elected in May on a platform that promised 
a more muscular approach to the country's rebel movements than that taken 
by his predecessor, President Andres Pastrana. The outgoing president spent 
three years in negotiations with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of 
Colombia, the FARC, and this produced some periods of relative quiet in the 
country but no resolution of the conflict. Colombia has received some $2 
billion in aid from the United States in recent years, mostly in the form 
of military equipment and training. It is the third largest U.S. aid 
recipient, after Israel and Egypt.

The Colombian government's war with its rebels is fundamentally a local 
affair, and the government's own commitment to winning is not overwhelming. 
U.S. military strategists consider its army of 35,000 to be too small to do 
the job. At the same time, young Colombians who are college-bound - in 
other words, the children of the elite of Colombian society - are exempt 
from the draft. The number of U.S. troops stationed in Colombia is capped 
at 400. That sounds about right.

Finally, the basis of the $2 billion aid program in the first place - the 
idea that getting rid of the rebels would somehow reduce if not eliminate 
illegal Colombian narcotics exports to the United States - turns out to be 
false when put to the test. A recent study indicates that narcotics 
production and exports are not related in practice to turns in the tide in 
the civil war.

The right American position toward the Colombian conflict is continuing 
interest, but no increase in U.S. involvement in spite of the lures of talk 
about the war on terrorism, the war on drugs, protecting petroleum 
pipelines, or whatever other combination makes the military aid lottery pay 
off in Washington.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth