OFFICIAL INSISTS U.S. SOLDIERS WILL HAVE NO COMBAT ROLE IN COLOMBIA

WASHINGTON-A State Department official assured senators Wednesday that U.S.
soldiers will not be fighting Colombian rebels even if Congress lets
Colombia use anti-drug helicopters and other equipment to battle the
insurgents.

"Not one of us here is talking about U.S. troops in a combat role," said
Marc Grossman, undersecretary of state for political affairs. "The
Colombians need to take the brunt of this, but we need to be there to help
them."

The Bush administration has no intention of exceeding the limits of 400
U.S. military trainers and 400 civilian contractors that were set to join
in Colombian President Andres Pastrana's anti-drug Plan Colombia, Grossman
told the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.

Also, the administration "will not stop our human rights vetting of
Colombian military units receiving U.S. assistance,"

Meanwhile, in Dublin, Ireland, the Irish Republican Army insisted that it
has not trained rebels in Colombia, as a U.S. congressional report accused
it of doing.

"The IRA has not interfered in the internal affairs of Colombia and will
not do so," the IRA said in a statement. The report released in Washington
said up to 15 IRA members have visited the rebel-held part of Colombia
since 1998.

Since then, it said, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC,
has begun employing IRA-style car bombs and mortars with devastating effect
against U.S. interests.