[1137] in peace2
Sat. Oct. 20: Senator Kerry holds Town Meetings
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Aimee L Smith)
Thu Oct 18 14:36:05 2001
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Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 14:35:59 -0400
From: Aimee L Smith <alsmith@MIT.EDU>
What are you doing Sat morning?
This announcement is from a Columbia focused group, but we could
certainly bring our concerns about WAR, refugee deprivation, civil
liberties, and any other concerns that have been stirring around inside
lately in re our fine government!
Peace,
Aimee
------- Forwarded Message
Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 20:04:35 -0400
From: Martha Soto <martha.soto@umassmed.edu>
Subject: Sat. Oct. 20: Senator Kerry holds Town Meetings
Hi everyone,
There will be two Town Meetings this Saturday with Senator John Kerry:
Boston, 10 a.m.: Floridan Hall, 55 Hallet St. in Dorchester
Worcester, 2 p.m.: Clark University, Tilton Hall, 950 Main St.
Both should last 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
These Town Meetings would be a great opportunity to meet with the
Senator face to face, and to use the Question and Answer period to
raise some of the issues that he will have influence over in the
coming weeks, including:
- - Support for the Wellstone Amendment to the Andean Initiative which
would shift money away from military aid to Colombia and direct it to
drug treatment and prevention programs in the U.S.
In asking for a less militaristic approach to Colombia, to be
replaced with support for civilian initiatives for peace, please keep
in mind the two articles below stating that the State Department
considers Colombia a target in the war against terrorism. We have
also heard that the Colombian generals flew to Washington to ask for
a tripling in the amount of military aid.
- - Serious investigation of the effects the aerial spraying (or
fumigations) of powerful herbicides mixed with other chemicals is
having on the people and the environment of Colombia's forests.
Would he support a halt to the spraying given what eye witnesses have
seen and what the people there report?
- - Otto Reich appointment to the State Department as Assistant
Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. We have heard
that he strongly opposes the nomination of Otto Reich. Reich was
accused by Congress in 1987 of engaging in "prohibited, covert
propaganda activities" in his
efforts to promote the Reagan administration's policies toward
Nicaragua, among other activities. It would not hurt for Senator
Kerry to hear that his constituents agree with him, will support him
if he comes under fire for this, and hope he doesn't let the
pressure to "rush things through" interfere with his commitment to
oppose this nomination.
I will be at the Worcester Town Meeting. If you can attend the Boston
one, please let me know, and if you get to ask a question, please
report back.
On a related note, it sounds like the Anthrax scare is seriously
affecting business in Washington. As you probably heard, several
congressional buildings were closed so they can be decontaminated.
This will probably slow down legislation even more. Many offices are
not opening their mail, so the usual request that you write to your
Members of Congress may change if things don't improve.....
hoping you are all well,
Martha
U.S. Official Reveals Colombia as Target - The Andes is in Military's
Sites (Agence France Press)
U.S. may use military in Western Hemisphere to fight terrorism
(Associated Press wirestory)
U.S. may use military in Western Hemisphere to fight terrorism
Copyright APonline State Department counterterrorism office
By KEN GUGGENHEIM, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (October 15, 2001 6:26 p.m. EDT) - The United States will
use its military where appropriate to battle terrorism in the Western
Hemisphere, the State Department's top anti-terrorism official said
Monday.
"Our strategy in this hemisphere is similar to our strategy around the
world, and it involves the use of all the elements of our national
power as well as the elements of the national power of all the
countries in our region," said Francis X. Taylor, head of State's
Office of Counterterrorism.
Taylor spoke with reporters at the headquarters of the Organization of
American States after addressing a closed-door meeting of the group's
Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism.
He said he discussed U.S. actions following the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks and offered U.S. support for improving counterterrorism
cooperation among the 34 member nations.
Of the 28 terrorist groups identified by the State Department, only
four are based in the Western Hemisphere: three in Colombia and one in
Peru.
But U.S. officials have stressed the region's importance in fighting
terrorism. The long borders with Canada and Mexico offer terrorists the
opportunity to sneak into the United States. The "Triple Border" region
where Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil meet is a focal point for Islamic
extremists, according to State.
The State Department has said it is developing a counterterrorist
strategy for Colombia and other Andean nations. Taylor declined to
provide details, but he said the regional strategy - like the global
one - will be based on law enforcement cooperation, intelligence
exchanges, blocks on terrorist financing and "where appropriate - as we
are doing in Afghanistan - the use of military power."
Taylor told lawmakers last week that the Andean counterterrorist
strategy would complement last year's $1.3 billion package to fight
drugs in Colombia and an $882 million follow-up package that Congress
is considering.
Much of that money is to help the Colombian government fight left-wing
guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary groups who partially finance
their forces by protecting drug fields and traffickers.
The State Department's list of terrorist organizations includes the
leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and National Liberation
Army, and the paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia.
In pushing for the earlier aid packages, U.S. officials stressed that
Colombian military aid would be limited to fighting the drug war and
the United States would not be drawn into Colombia's 37-year guerrilla
war.
Asked if the same distinction would be made between fighting terrorists
and fighting guerrillas, Taylor said the three Colombian groups "get
the same treatment as any other terrorist group in terms of our
interest in going after them and ceasing their terrorist activities."
The Peruvian group on the State Department's terrorism list is the
Maoist-inspired Shining Path.
Copyright =A9 2001 Nando Media
U.S. Official Reveals Colombia as Target
State Dept.'s Taylor at OAS:
The Andes is in Military's Sites
<http://www.narconews.com/oas1.html>
By Agence France Press -- October 16, 2001
Translated from original Spanish by The Narco News Bulletin
Washington, October 15, 2001: The terrorist organizations that operate
in Colombia are also targets of the global anti-terrorist campaign
launched by the United States after September 11th, said Francis
Taylor, anti-terrorism coordinator of the State Department.
"All the resources" available to the United States will be used in that
campaign, including, "where appropriate, as we have done in
Afghanistan, the use of military force," Taylor told journalists today
in the headquarters of the Organization of American States (OAS) in
Washington, DC.
The high functionary spoke briefly with the press after giving a
closed-door report about the development of the anti-terrorist campaign
to a meeting of the Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism (CICTE,
in its Spanish acronym).
Questioned about whether the campaign will include the Colombian
guerrillas, which the State Department characterizes as terrorist
organizations, as a target, Taylor responded affirmatively.
"The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the National
Liberation Army (ELN), and the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia
(AUC), are on the list because they participate in terrorist
activities.
"They will receive the same treatment as any other terrorist group," he
said, "in terms of our interest in pursuing them and putting an end to
their terrorist activities."
"All the groups on our list are terrorists, and a subject to this anti-
terrorist campaign," the high functionary reiterated.
Taylor declined to explain if the anti-terrorist campaign would lead to
raising the level of military assistance to the Colombian government.
He also would not get into details about how the United States
differentiates between anti-terrorism operations and anti-insurgency
operations, which Washington has promised not to involve itself with in
Colombia.
Taylor said that the United States anti-terrorist strategy in the
Western Hemisphere is the same that it will apply throughout the world,
and "it will include the use of all the resources in our power as well
as those available to the countries in the region" that condemn
terrorism and have promised to cooperate with Washington.
Those elements include political cooperation, exchange of intelligence
information and the use of financial tools available to the U.S.
Department of Treasury and those of other government "to identify and
destroy the financial schemes that these criminals use," he added.
It will also include, "where appropriate, as we are doing in
Afghanistan, the use of military force, if that is appropriate to put
an end to their activities," said Taylor.
for Colombia Vive
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