-Caveat Lector- Ambassador says Colombia will need hundreds of million in new aid By KEN GUGGENHEIM The Associated Press 12/20/00 3:13 PM WASHINGTON (AP) -- Despite a $1.3 billion anti-drug aid package already approved, Colombia will need up to $600 million a year in additional drug-fighting funds from the United States in the next few years, Colombia's ambassador says. Ambassador Luis Moreno says he is confident U.S. support for Colombia will remain strong despite the change in administrations. "This was a bipartisan policy," he told The Associated Press in a recent interview. "It began as a bipartisan policy and it should remain that way." The $1.3 billion package approved last summer is intended to help Colombia, the world's largest producer of cocaine, cut its drug production in half over six years. Much of the package was for helicopters to help the South American country's military fight leftist guerrillas who finance their insurgency in part by protecting coca fields and cocaine laboratories. President-elect Bush expressed support for the Colombian aid in an Aug. 25 speech in Miami, saying, "This money should help build up the capabilities of Colombia's armed forces." "Our aid will help the Colombian government protect its people, fight the drug trade, halt the momentum of the guerillas and bring about a sensible and peaceful resolution to this conflict," Bush said. Bush, like President Clinton, said he opposed using U.S. troops in battle there. The Clinton administration has stressed that military aid will be used strictly for fighting guerrillas linked to the drug trade and not to help Colombia in its civil war. Some Republicans say it's naive to separate the drug fight from the overall Colombian conflict and that the Bush administration may not be as concerned about making that kind of a distinction. If Colombian President Andres Pastrana becomes frustrated with the peace process, Bush may agree to a request for help in training overall Colombian forces, said Myles Frechette, a Bush supporter who was ambassador to Colombia during the Clinton administration. "None of this is going to be easy, but it's easier for a George W. Bush than it is for an Al Gore," he said. Clinton administration officials have repeatedly said more aid will be necessary in coming years to meet the plan's goals. Barry McCaffrey, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, has predicted $400 million to $600 million will be needed next year for Colombia and its neighbors, but the administration has not said how much will have to be spent beyond that. Moreno said Colombia will likely need $500 million to $600 million for at least three or four years. "I think equipment (such as helicopters) will continue to be important," he said. But he added that as guerrillas are forced out of coca-growing regions, "money will be needed to reach agreements with peasant families to do manual eradication" of coca crops. Frechette said Moreno's projection was conservative: "My own sense is $500 million next year is probably low if we're really serious about dealing with this." Whether Congress will agree is uncertain, as the aid plan is already under attack from many sides. Two powerful Republican lawmakers, Benjamin Gilman of New York and Dan Burton of Indiana, have insisted that more aid should go to Colombia's National Police instead of the military. They and other Republicans have criticized U.S. efforts as slow and ineffective. Some Democrats have been skeptical that the aid will reduce drug production and fear the package will draw the United States into Colombia's guerrilla conflict and help a military linked to human rights atrocities. The plan also has been criticized internationally, with Latin American leaders repeatedly raising concerns that U.S. military aid will only widen Colombia's conflict. Meanwhile, the U.S. government's two top advocates of the Colombian aid package -- McCaffrey and Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering -- are stepping down as the administration changes. Bernard Aronson, assistant secretary of state for Inter-American Affairs when Bush's father was president, said the new administration may be more skeptical about the Colombian peace process and take a harder line toward guerrillas, but would try to develop a policy both Democrats and Republicans could support. "I think it would be very important for the new administration to re-establish the bipartisan nature of the policy," he said. ------ On the Net: State Department on Colombia aid: http://www.state.gov/www/regions/wha/colombia/index.html Center for International Policy, which opposes the aid: http://www <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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