[1484] in peace2
U.S. Considers Colombia Rebels as Terror Target (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Aimee L Smith)
Sun Feb 24 22:46:04 2002
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Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 22:45:50 -0500
From: Aimee L Smith <alsmith@MIT.EDU>
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> http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-022302colomb.story
>
> February 23, 2002
> U.S. CONSIDERS COLOMBIA REBELS AS TERROR TARGET
> Latin America: Officials point to link between guerrillas and Libya.
> Proposed reclassification would test Congress' support for Bush's
> war.
>
> By PAUL RICHTER, Times Staff Writer
>
>
> WASHINGTON -- Alarmed by signs of weapons traffic between Colombian
> rebels
> and the Middle East, the Bush administration is weighing a proposal
> to
> declare the destruction of leftist guerrillas in the South American
> country an explicit goal of U.S. policy.
>
> Some senior officials are also pushing for the administration to
> assert,
> for the first time, that the Colombian rebels are a specific target
> of the
> worldwide U.S. war on terrorism, administration officials said.
>
> Such declarations would mark a significant toughening of U.S. policy
> and
> pose an important test of how much leeway Congress will grant
> President
> Bush to expand military operations around the world in the post-Sept.
> 11
> era.
>
> For years, Congress has strictly limited the U.S. military mission in
> Colombia, fearing that if the anti-drug campaign escalated to a
> broader
> fight against insurgents, the United States could sink into a costly
> quagmire with echoes of Vietnam.
>
> Under federal law and presidential directive, U.S. military
> assistance in
> the country's 38-year-old conflict has been generally limited to
> support
> for the Colombian government's counter-narcotics activities. The
> small
> number of U.S. troops there are barred from a combat role.
>
> Yet as rebels have stepped up attacks in recent months,
> administration
> officials have come to the view that only sharply increased military
> pressure--with U.S. backing--can force the large and well-financed
> rebel
> forces to the negotiating table. This week, Colombian President
> Carlos
> Pastrana broke off talks with the guerrillas, and the Colombian army
> moved
> Friday to take over a zone ceded to the rebels three years ago.
>
> The administration officials argue that the United States should seek
> to
> foster Colombian democracy and that the collapse of the Colombian
> government would risk violence and turmoil throughout a strategic,
> oil-producing corner of the hemisphere.
>
> Seeking to underscore the security risks posed by the rebels,
> officials
> pointed this week to classified reports indicating that crudely
> manufactured mortars used in Libya have been found in the hands of
> Colombian rebels.
>
> These weapons, made out of natural-gas canisters, fire conventional
> shells
> but have also been used to bombard targets with unconventional
> materials,
> including excrement. Used that way, they can spread contagion, and
> become
> a kind of cheap and frightening biological weapon, according to U.S.
> officials.
>
> The rebels are among the largest and best-funded insurgent groups in
> the
> world. They earn hundreds of millions of dollars from drug traffic as
> well
> as kidnapping and extortion operations.
>
> Michael Shifter, an expert on Colombia at the Inter-American Dialogue
> research organization in Washington, said it would be a "radical
> departure" for the administration to commit itself to destroying the
> rebel
> organization, or even to making it an official target of the war on
> terrorism.
>
> He noted that Bush had excluded the Colombian insurgents last fall
> when he
> defined the war's object as terrorist groups with "global reach."
>
> Declaring the rebels part of the broader terrorism war would probably
> bring still more money and resources to the battle and give the
> problem
> more high-level attention in Washington. It would reflect the
> administration's view that the insurgents are a threat beyond
> Colombia's
> borders and could spread instability to neighboring Venezuela, a
> major oil
> producer, Bolivia, Ecuador and Panama.
>
> It would also make the U.S.-led war on terrorism appear broader than
> a
> campaign against only Islamic militants.
>
> Shifter said there have been past reports of contacts and arms
> traffic
> between the Colombian rebels and Middle Eastern groups, although
> none, as
> far as he knew, came from official sources. He said he had been
> skeptical
> of the reports because the rebels are "provincials" without wide
> contacts
> abroad. Yet he added, "I wouldn't be shocked" if the reports were
> true.
>
> Last year, several suspected Irish Republican Army militants were
> arrested
> in Colombia and charged with helping the guerrillas there.
>
> The Bush administration has been searching for a tougher line on
> Colombia,
> and an intense internal debate rages over how far the administration
> should go in reshaping what has been a strictly anti-narcotics
> campaign.
>
> This month, the administration formally requested as part of its 2003
> budget $98 million to train a new Colombian brigade to protect the
> key
> Cano Limon oil pipeline, which is operated by Occidental Petroleum of
> Los
> Angeles. U.S. officials are also seeking permission to give the
> Colombian
> government new intelligence information to help it locate rebel
> forces, as
> well as additional spare parts for its military.
>
> But U.S. defense officials said this week that they expect the
> military
> mission to be expanded to far more than protecting a single pipeline.
>
> They predicted that the new brigade will protect other parts of the
> infrastructure that has been a target of rebel attacks, including
> roads,
> bridges and electric power installations. The overriding purpose is
> to
> protect or reclaim territory so that the Colombian government can
> assert
> its sovereignty over the great expanses of the country that have been
> lost
> to rebel control, one defense official said.
>
> And although U.S. troops are barred from combat, defense officials
> believe
> that American advisors will be allowed for the first time to
> accompany
> Colombian troops in firefights to help guide their activities,
> defense
> officials said. Despite their increased proficiency, the Colombian
> troops
> "lack self-confidence," said a defense official who requested
> anonymity.
>
> In the debate over the policy, the State Department and National
> Security
> Council are urging a cautious approach, while the Pentagon is arguing
> for
> a more assertive stance.
>
> A senior State Department official said in an interview that the
> request
> for aid to protect the pipeline marked a "big step forward." Yet the
> official sought to make clear that, from the department's point of
> view,
> the mission should still be strictly limited.
>
> "We don't want to make too big a deal of this," the official said.
>
> In testimony this month, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell struck
> the
> same note, saying the new military mission would be a "passive" one,
> in
> which the U.S. forces would try to deter attacks but not search the
> jungle
> for the enemy.
>
> Congressional critics of U.S. involvement in the conflict have
> succeeded
> in restricting the American mission, beginning, notably, with an
> amendment
> proposed by Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) in 1996.
>
> But critics and supporters alike acknowledge that a tougher U.S.
> approach
> has won converts in light of the Sept. 11 attacks and the changing
> attitude of Colombians toward the war. As the rebels have carried out
> a
> string of kidnappings and bombings that have hurt civilians and
> soldiers
> alike, more Colombians have urged a harder line.
>
> Administration officials say they intend to fashion their new policy
> in
> consultation with lawmakers and believe that they can build wide
> support
> on Capitol Hill if they have a chance to present their views.
>
> "There has not been a real discussion on Capitol Hill on Colombia for
> three years," said Roger Pardo-Maurer IV, the Pentagon's top official
> in
> Western Hemisphere affairs.
>
> Administration officials say they don't believe that the Colombian
> army
> can end the war with a military victory. But increased military force
> can
> build the pressure on the rebels, convincing them that their side is
> weakening and may be better off negotiating, they say.
>
> So far, the rebels have not been serious about peace talks because
> they
> don't believe that they are truly threatened by the government, U.S.
> officials say.
>
> Pardo-Maurer said a well-known rebel leader from the Central American
> wars
> of the 1980s acknowledged that the decision to negotiate is all about
> calculations of the balance of power. He said that onetime Salvadoran
> guerrilla leader Joaquin Villalobos believed that cease-fires came
> about
> "not through trust, but through a correlation of forces."
>
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