Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

U.S. to Widen Colombian Involvement
AP • Reuters ^ | 02/05/2002 8:34 PM EST | By ANDREW SELSKY

Posted on 02/05/2002 7:21:58 PM PST by Bronco Buster

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - A top-level Bush administration delegation unveiled plans Tuesday to widen United States involvement in Colombia's civil war, including providing training, weapons and aircraft to Colombian troops to protect a pipeline carrying U.S. oil.

Until now, U.S. military aid to Colombia has been limited mostly to attempts to wipe out cocaine- and heroin-producing crops which finance leftist rebels and their right-wing paramilitary foes.

But with Colombia's 38-year-old conflict killing about 3,500 people every year and stunting the potential of this resource-rich, strategically located country, the officials say Washington needs to do more.

"We are committed to help Colombians create a Colombia that is a peaceful, prosperous, drug-free and terror-free democracy," Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman told a news conference.

The U.S. officials drove through the streets of this Andean capital in bulletproofed vans to meetings with President Andres Pastrana and other top officials.

In a city that has been the scene of recent bomb attacks, the Americans were escorted by a truckload of Colombian troops in full combat gear.

The projected U.S. military involvement in Colombia falls short of the American role in Central America's wars during the 1980s - when the United States trained and equipped Salvadoran counterinsurgency troops and aided Contra rebels who battled Nicaragua's Sandinista government.

But critics of the new U.S. proposal see mission creep in the evolving American aid program here.

Colombian Defense Minister Gustavo Bell applauded the proposals by the delegation, which also included Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Otto Reich and the chief of U.S. military operations in Latin America, Maj. Gen. Gary Speer. (AP) Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman speaks to reporters during a news conference at the...

The plan faces potential opposition in Congress, where some members fear U.S. troops could become involved in combat and reject tighter links to a military with a poor human rights record.

But one of the visiting U.S. officials, in a briefing with foreign correspondents, said the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington might spur U.S. lawmakers to approve President Bush's request.

The plan calls for $98 million to train and equip a Colombian army brigade to protect the Cano-Limon oil pipeline. It carries oil belonging to Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum and other companies from the country's second-biggest oil field, in Colombia's humid eastern plains, to the Caribbean coast.

Rebel bomb attacks on the 480-mile-long pipeline put it out of commission for 266 days last year, crippling crude oil production.

Much of the $98 million would go for aircraft for the troops, the U.S. officials said, although specific plans have not been drawn up yet.

The Bush administration will also argue that the United States needs to assure a reliable flow of oil from Colombia, closer to U.S. shores than the volatile Middle East, U.S. officials said.

Washington is also seeking funding for training more Colombian counternarcotics troops, in addition to the roughly 3,000 who have been undercutting rebel and paramilitary financing by wiping out their cocaine-and-heroin-producing crops.

In Washington on Tuesday, three respected human rights groups charged that Pastrana's government has failed to meet human rights conditions for continued U.S. military aid.

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the Washington Office on Latin America accused Colombian government forces of extensive collaboration with an illegal right-wing paramilitary group that has been killing suspected rebel collaborators.

One of the visiting U.S. officials said some of the reports' findings appeared to be outdated, but studied nevertheless. In addition to pipeline protection, the United States is preparing to assist Colombia in combatting kidnapping, Grossman said. Most of the 3,000 abductions each year in Colombia are carried out by rebels for ransom.

Washington also plans to rebuild some of the police stations that have been leveled by rebel attacks, leaving 192 municipalities in Colombia without a permanent police presence, a U.S. official said. Funding for the rebuilding is already available and doesn't need Congress' approval, the official explained.

Copyright © 2001-2002 The Excite Network, Inc. All rights reserved.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: columbia; wodlist
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-98 next last
To: Wolfie
Good idea: Protect the oil pipeline from commie thugs.

Bad idea: Sink more US dollars into phoney WOsD.

41 posted on 02/06/2002 2:27:14 AM PST by metesky
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: Chapita
You two got screw worms burrowing into your heads the jungle sucks and from what I've seen of Columbia they have no shortage of jungle and all that comes with it.
42 posted on 02/06/2002 6:27:18 AM PST by junta
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Chemist_Geek
I take it "matar" is Spanish for wackem and stackem?
43 posted on 02/06/2002 6:30:23 AM PST by junta
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: Chapita
Polar beer from Venezuela......ahhhhhhhh :o)

I found that in almost every country in SA.

Caja fuerte de la estancia mi amigo !!

44 posted on 02/06/2002 7:52:51 AM PST by Squantos
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: Travis McGee
re : If I was a little younger and unmarried I'd go in a heartbeat.

With the ever widening war, coupled with widening commitments, in gods knows how many counties the list grows each day. You may find your self back in duty again age or no age.

LOL Hell if my country decides to join your country in this brave new effort, I may find myself mud slogging again.

What the hell happened to looking forward to a peaceful retirement.

Cheers Tony

45 posted on 02/06/2002 8:02:04 AM PST by tonycavanagh
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Chapita
Only if we can get a beachfront.
46 posted on 02/06/2002 8:23:20 AM PST by breakem
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: pariah
re 33 we could nuke the country and the first industry to flourish after will be drugs
47 posted on 02/06/2002 8:25:55 AM PST by breakem
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: Wolfie
re 37 You're preaching to the choir. Next time I'll post a sarcasm alert. My comment was addressed to two of our favorite devout drug warrior.
48 posted on 02/06/2002 8:27:23 AM PST by breakem
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: tonycavanagh
Who wants a peaceful retirement? Ugh.
49 posted on 02/06/2002 9:00:45 AM PST by Travis McGee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

Comment #50 Removed by Moderator

To: junta
I thought you got jailed for beating some guy to death?
51 posted on 02/06/2002 9:03:47 AM PST by Chapita
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: junta
The higher you get, the nicer it gets! Now, figure that one out! Ha!
52 posted on 02/06/2002 9:05:18 AM PST by Chapita
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: tonycavanagh
*************"What the hell happened to looking forward to a peaceful retirement."**************************************************

Retirement can bore you to death!

53 posted on 02/06/2002 9:08:26 AM PST by Chapita
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: breakem
I know a nice little beach, if we can keep the Jivaros off our ases!
54 posted on 02/06/2002 9:10:59 AM PST by Chapita
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: Bronco Buster
Now if we could only develop a car that ran on cocaine, all the problems would be tied up with a neat little bow.
55 posted on 02/06/2002 9:12:10 AM PST by Lazamataz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Squantos
Conoces a Ron Rico o Santa Rosa?
56 posted on 02/06/2002 9:13:41 AM PST by Chapita
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: junta
I take it "matar" is Spanish for wackem and stackem?

Si, in so many words.

57 posted on 02/06/2002 11:24:04 PM PST by Chemist_Geek
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: Lazamataz
re : Now if we could only develop a car that ran on cocaine, all the problems would be tied up with a neat little bow.

LOL I dont know why but this really tickled my funny bone.

Cheers Tony

58 posted on 02/07/2002 3:57:07 AM PST by tonycavanagh
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: tonycavanagh
:o)
59 posted on 02/07/2002 4:00:29 AM PST by Lazamataz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]

To: boston_liberty
The Agency must be running low on cash since the demise of the Bin Laden/Afghani heroin trade (could be just a temporary downturn until they establish a more friendly gov't,reseed the fields and reestablish the supply links). Time to muddy up Columbia some more, create more covert ops, play both sides and cash in. Gotta have money for the covert war on the American people.
60 posted on 02/07/2002 4:14:00 AM PST by KirkandBurke
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-98 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson