U.S. REASSESSES COLOMBIA AID

Anti-Drug Efforts Studied As Powell Visits Bogota.

As Secretary of State Colin L. Powell leaves today for South America, U.S.
officials are considering how to expand their training of Colombian
security forces with the battle against cocaine cultivation and trafficking
spreading from southern Colombia to other parts of the country,
administration officials said.

Among the options under consideration is training a new Colombian
anti-narcotics battalion beyond the three that already have received
instruction under a year-old, $1.3 billion U.S. aid package, a senior
administration official said.

Another alternative would be training an existing military battalion in
fighting drug trafficking, but the official said support for that option
could be tempered by U.S. concerns about the human rights record of regular
Colombian army forces.

Administration officials stressed that the training would support only the
"existing mission" of combating the drug trade, and not designed to bolster
the Colombian government's long-running war against leftist rebels.

A final call about whether to step up U.S. military training would likely
be made over the next four to six months, with an eye toward winning
congressional approval for the funding for fiscal 2003.

"We have certainly been talking to the government of Colombia about it, but
no decision has been made," a senior State Department official said.

This consideration comes as some top Pentagon officials are apprehensive
that the United States could be drawn deeper into Colombia's 37-year-old
civil war.

The drug trade provides enormous profits to the guerrillas and right-wing
paramilitary groups fighting in the conflict. Officials outside the
Pentagon said they were confident their counterparts in the Defense
Department would feel more comfortable as they became more familiar with
the counter-narcotics program.

The concerns are "raised by civilian guys in the Pentagon who are new on
the job, who are getting their feet on the ground," a State Department
official said. "Once they go to Colombia and see how it's done, they'll
feel better about it."

He and other U.S. officials emphasize that the current aid package,
composed primarily of transport helicopters and military trainers for the
security forces, is aimed at uprooting drug trafficking in Colombia. The
country accounts for up to 90 percent of the world's cocaine.

Powell's trip to Colombia will follow an overnight visit to Peru for a
meeting of the Organization of American States. His trip comes as the Bush
administration has been reviewing U.S. policy toward Colombia, where
President Andres Pastrana's peace effort is flagging in the face of a
well-funded rebel insurgency.

The anxiety felt in some parts of the U.S. government was reflected by
Peter W. Rodman, assistant defense secretary for international security
affairs, who told reporters late last month that the administration was
facing "some agonizing decisions" about its Colombia strategy.

"Are we getting deeper into a conflict or not?. . . . What is at stake?"
Rodman said. "I think we as a country are not quite sure where we are heading."

He added it was natural that the Bush administration would want to reassess
whether the goal of American involvement is solely to curb narcotics or
also to help ensure the survival of the Colombian government.

"I think any new administration would have come in and looked and said,
'Where are we heading there, given the military engagement?' "

In his talks with Pastrana, Powell will make clear the Bush administration
remains committed to the policy initiated last year by President Bill
Clinton, U.S. officials said. The $1.3 billion U.S. aid package formed part
of Pastrana's Plan Colombia, which combines an anti-narcotics campaign with
development projects.

"He will tell Pastrana that we support the peace process, that we support
Pastrana and that the peace process is a big element both in Pastrana's
ability to continue with Plan Colombia and for our ability to support Plan
Colombia," another senior State Department official said.

U.S. officials said that in Colombia and Peru, Powell will signal the
administration's intention to resume anti-drug air patrols, which were
suspended in April after an American missionary plane was mistakenly
identified by a CIA surveillance plane as a narcotics flight and shot down
by a Peruvian jet. Peruvian and Colombian leaders have been pressing for
the patrols to resume.

But the conditions for restarting the air interdiction program have yet to
be set, and no official announcement is expected during Powell's visit,
officials said. The Senate intelligence committee is scheduled this week to
review a report on the downing of the plane, in which two people were killed.

Powell's trip to Bogota, which is expected to include meetings with
Pastrana, military officials, leading political figures and human rights
groups, comes at a time of mounting uncertainty about the peace process.

Officials in Colombia and the United States have grown increasingly
uncomfortable with the despeje, the Switzerland-size swath of southern
Colombia turned over by Pastrana to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC) three years ago as a safe haven for peace talks.
Administration officials have accused the FARC rebels in recent weeks of
misusing the territory -- for instance, by receiving training in
bomb-making, holding kidnapping victims and trading in drugs.

Although administration officials said they privately discussed Pastrana's
negotiating tactics with him, they said it remains his call whether to
renew the despeje by Oct. 6, the government-imposed deadline for deciding
its disposition. "This is a Pastrana decision," a senior administration
official said. "We're not going to second-guess him."

Indeed, Pastrana's peace endeavor could be entering its twilight, since his
term will end next year and the candidates running to replace him have
criticized his handling of negotiations.

At the same time, the ultimate impact of Plan Colombia remains unclear. The
United States is just beginning to deliver the 16 Blackhawk transport
helicopters that form the centerpiece of American aid. The first three were
provided last month -- two for the police and one for the army -- and
another three for the army should arrive this week, administration
officials said.

The balance, all bound for the army, should be delivered by the end of the
year, officials said.

The United States has already supplied 15 aging Huey helicopters. An
additional 25 newly refurbished Hueys should be delivered through next
year, officials said.

To assist the aerial spraying of drug crops, the administration has
promised to augment Colombia's fleet of sprayer airplanes. But the U.S.
delivery has fallen behind because the company contracted to supply them
has gone bankrupt, U.S. officials said.

Administration officials acknowledge that other elements of Plan Colombia,
including support for farmers to substitute crops for coca and for
improvements in the Colombian judicial system, remain in the early stages.

As the crackdown on coca cultivation in southern Colombia has progressed,
particularly in Putumayo province, the drug business has rapidly spread
elsewhere in the country. Congress is reviewing an administration request
for another $882 million in the coming year to address the spillover of
drug activity across the Andean region and beyond.

A little less than half the funds would go to Colombia, with the remainder
designated for six other Latin American countries. The initiative would
finance social and economic development, as well as law enforcement and
security assistance.

The administration is also asking Congress to adjust a limit on Americans
working in Colombia as part of the anti-drug effort, which caps U.S.
military personnel at 500 and contract employees at 300. Bush officials
have agreed to maintain the overall limit of 800, but they say the number
of contract employees will have to exceed 300 once Plan Colombia fully ramps up.