Pubdate: Thu, 25 Apr 2002
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Page: A8
Copyright: 2002 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact:  http://www.boston.com/globe/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Susan Milligan, Globe Staff
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?203 (Terrorism)

COLOMBIAN AID LINKED TO US WAR ON TERROR

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans, seeking to boost American military aid for 
the Colombian government's battle against leftist rebels and drug 
traffickers, sought to tie the struggle in Colombia to the US war on 
terrorism yesterday by charging that the Irish Republican Army was training 
the left-wing insurgents there.

A report by the staff of the House International Relations Committee, which 
has a Republican majority, alleges that the IRA "has well-established 
links" with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and that 
the Irish group's members have been teaching FARC rebels the tactics of 
"urban terrorism," including the use of explosives.

"In light of the long history of very strict IRA discipline against 
free-lancing by its membership, the only real question remaining in the 
committee's inquiry concerns what the Sinn Fein leadership [IRA's political 
wing] knew of these IRA activities in Colombia, and when did they learn of 
them," said the report, the product of a nine-month investigation. The 
inquiry followed the arrest in Colombia last August of three Irish 
nationals who, Colombian authorities said, were connected with the IRA or 
Sinn Fein and who were training FARC members in the use of explosives.

"What you saw was an attempt to utilize the accusations as an attempt to 
develop support for lifting the restrictions on our aid to the Colombian 
military," said Representative William D. Delahunt, Democrat of Quincy, who 
has maintained a longtime interest in Colombia and Latin American affairs. 
"There was a convergence of multiple agendas. They have to make an effort 
to make [Colombian terrorism] appear global in scope."

US military aid to Colombia is currently limited to combating the illegal 
drug trade, but Bush administration officials and many House Republicans 
want to let the Colombian government use the hundreds of millions of 
dollars in aid against the left-wing insurgents there. Delahunt said that 
would be a major change in US policy.

A confidential staff memo to the committee chairman, Representative Henry 
Hyde, Republican of Illinois, was even stronger than the public report 
released yesterday, calling the alleged IRA members' involvement in 
Colombia "a threat to US security. "

"Events in Colombia make it clear that global terrorist networks are 
interchangeable, aggressive, and know no boundaries or borders," said the 
April 15 memo, obtained by the Globe.

The memo recommended that Hyde ask the State Department to formally declare 
the IRA a terrorist organization. Hyde backed off the idea the night before 
the hearing, said a Democratic lawmaker involved in negotiations with the 
chairman.

The IRA released a terse statement yesterday saying it had "sent no one to 
Colombia to train or engage in any military cooperation with any group," 
and that "the IRA has not interfered in the internal affairs of Colombia 
and will not do so."

Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein, also denied the allegation that his party 
was aiding FARC, and refused an offer to appear before the committee yesterday.

GOP lawmakers have proposed giving Colombia $538 million in aid next year 
but without the current restrictions that the money be used only to fight 
drug trafficking. The FARC and other insurgent groups are believed by both 
Colombian and US officials to be using drug-trafficking profits to finance 
their campaigns.

Under questioning by Delahunt and several other committee members, both Asa 
Hutchinson, administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency, and Mark F. Wong, 
the State Department's acting coordinator for counterterrorism, 
acknowledged they had no direct proof that the IRA sanctioned the alleged 
activities of the three Irish nationals detained last year.

General Fernando Tapias, head of the Colombian armed forces, told the panel 
that the number of Irish nationals allegedly aiding rebels may be as high 
as 15. The government suspected seven individuals of helping Colombian 
rebels; three are awaiting trial, two left before they could be detained, 
and two others who were released for lack of evidence, Tapias said.
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