BUSH TARGETS DRUGS DURING TRIP

Amid Tight Security, He And Colombian Leader Vow To Fight Traffickers

BOGOTA, Colombia - Amid tight security, the presidents of the United
States and Colombia vowed an ongoing alliance to fight the drug trade
and the rebel groups that feed off it.

"This country has come through some very difficult times," President
Bush said at the side of President Alvaro Uribe, a close ally whose
country receives more U.S. aid than any outside the Middle East. "I'm
looking forward very much to ... continuing to work with you to
defeat the drug lords and narco-traffickers - the narco-terrorists."
Mr. Bush has proposed about $700 million in direct annual aid on top
of the $4 billion Colombia has received since Mr. Uribe took office
in 2002. The Colombian leader prodded Mr. Bush for even more, saying
U.S. support has helped curb crime, corruption and the drug trade and
weakened left-wing guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries.

But a scandal linking top Colombian officials to brutal right-wing
groups blamed for countless massacres in a 42-year civil war cast a
shadow over the visit. Eight Uribe allies in Congress have been arrested.

The foreign minister resigned when her brother and father were
implicated. Mr. Bush asked Mr. Uribe about the scandal and said he
came away assured. "If there are members of this government that have
any links to these organizations, they will be immediately removed
from their offices," Mr. Uribe said. "Our commitment is the full
defeat of terrorists and the total recovery of justice and of
democratic institutions." Mr. Bush spent six hours in Bogota, all
inside two of the city's most fortified buildings, the presidential
palace called Casa de Narina, where he received a red-carpet welcome
with military honors, and the U.S. Embassy. Also Online Expect Bush,
Calderon to be all business on border, drugs About 2,000 protesters
gathered about a mile from the palace chanting "Down with Bush" and
burning American flags.

Scattered graffiti called him an assassin. Security was extraordinarily tight.

One unusual tactic involved an entire decoy motorcade.

More than 20,000 police and security personnel were deployed. A key
focus of Sunday's meeting was a six-year-old joint project known as
Plan Colombia, which aims to quell violence and drugs.

Spraying has wiped out record acreage of coca. But street prices
remain near all-time lows. "We've spent a tremendous amount of money,
and the amount of stuff is the same as ever," said Riordan Roett,
director of Latin American Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of
Advanced International Studies. "The Colombians have to come up with
different strategies."

But both presidents affirmed a strong commitment to the plan. Human
rights advocates had hoped Mr. Bush would put more public pressure on
Colombia. A State Department report released last Tuesday indicated
that while conditions have improved, "forced disappearances" persist,
as do murders by security forces, corruption and collaboration
between soldiers and drug traffickers and terrorists.

The two leaders also discussed the plight of three U.S. military
contractors who have been held hostage by FARC rebels for four years.

The men were on a drug surveillance flight when their plane crashed
in a remote, rebel-controlled area in southern Colombia. Mr. Uribe
has refused to trade the hostages for imprisoned guerrillas.

Mr. Bush sidestepped a question about whether a rescue operation is
being considered. "I am concerned about their safety," he said of the
captives. "These are three innocent folks who have been held hostage
for too long. ... We hear from their families.

Their kidnappers ought to show some heart."