U.S. MAY USE MILITARY IN HEMISPHERE

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States will use military force where
appropriate to fight 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.

State'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 State's terrorism list is the Maoist-inspired Shining
Path.