COLOMBIAN MILITARY AID PLAN LOSES BACKER

House Panel Chairman Labels It 'major Mistake'

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Benjamin Gilman, chairman of the House International
Relations Committee, has abruptly withdrawn his support from the decision
to funnel $1.3 billion in mostly military aid to Colombia, arguing that the
United States is on the brink of a "major mistake."

Gilman, R-N.Y., sent a letter this week to the White House drug policy
coordinator, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, contending that the U.S. plan to
increase the role of the Colombian military in the drug fight will end
disastrously because the military has undermined its political support
after a history of corruption and human-rights abuses. That position echoes
other critics of the plan.

Gilman called on the Clinton administration to redirect its assistance,
including at least 40 Blackhawk helicopters, from the military to the
national police in Colombia. Gilman has long admired the police, whom he
views as more effective and less tainted by human-rights violations.

"If we fail early on with Plan Colombia, as I fear, we could lose the
support of the American people for our efforts to fight illicit narcotics
abroad," Gilman said. "If we lose public support, we will regret we did not
make the midcorrections for Colombia that I have outlined here."

Last summer, Gilman voted to support Plan Colombia, a $7.5 billion strategy
drafted jointly by U.S. and Colombian officials and passed by Congress.

In addition to the military spending, the program allocates money to
promote alternative crops, economic renewal and human rights. The plan
seeks to halve drug production over five years in Colombia, reportedly the
source of most of the cocaine and heroin that enters the United States.

Congressional sources said Gilman was troubled by recent military failures
in rural areas where rebel forces operate.

It is unclear what effects, if any, Gilman's shift will have.

A Senate Republican aide who follows Colombia closely said it was "far too
early" to criticize the plan. Gilman is expected to relinquish his
chairmanship next year because of term limits.

Critics of Plan Colombia have argued that the military aid would merely
intensify the conflict in which two rebel groups have joined forces with
narcotics traffickers against the government, a conflict that could
eventually draw the United States directly into fighting the rebels.

Leaders of Colombia's neighbors also have expressed fears that the fighting
will spill into their countries.

Washington counters that Colombia's increasingly jumbled battle lines make
it necessary to equip and deploy the military in the fight against drugs.

The U.S. plan calls for training three counternarcotics battalions, with a
total of up to 3,000 troops. The administration also has promised to watch
over the military's record on human rights.

Robert Weiner, a spokesman for McCaffrey, said Thursday that denying aid to
the military on the basis of its past performance would ensure defeat.

"Granted, they're not a superpower," Weiner said. "One of the major
purposes of the Plan Colombia is to provide the military with the resources
they need. This actually scares the cartels to death."

In southern Putumayo province, where half of the coca in Colombia is grown,
rebels have sealed off roads, arguing that the military has to rein in
right-wing gunmen who are associated with the armed forces.

A botched operation in a northern town, Dabeiba, resulted last month in the
downing of one of the army's seven American-made Blackhawk copters and the
deaths of 22 troops.

The helicopter had been carrying reinforcements to assist soldiers locked
in a firefight with rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
But sloppy communications led the pilot to land in a rebel-controlled area,
a U.S. official said.