BUSH: DRUG FIGHT PART OF TERROR WAR

President Assures Colombia Leader On Combating Traffickers

WASHINGTON - President Bush told Colombian President Andres Pastrana on
Thursday that helping the South American country defeat drug traffickers is
part of the U.S. campaign against terrorism.

"My biggest job now is to defend our security and to help our friends
defend their security against terror," Mr. Bush said in an Oval Office
meeting with Mr. Pastrana.

Mr. Pastrana said Colombia and the United States "are fighting a common
enemy that is narco-trafficking and narco-terrorism."

Mr. Bush has asked Congress to remove restrictions that bar Colombia from
using U.S. helicopters and other drug-fighting assistance against leftist
guerrillas in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which
the State Department has branded a terrorist group.

"These aren't 'so-called terrorists'; these are terrorists. ... They've
captured people. They're after Andres," Mr. Bush said.

"By fighting narco-trafficking, by the way, we're fighting the funding
source for these political terrorists. And sometimes they're
interchangeable," he added.

After the meeting, Mr. Pastrana and U.S. Trade Representative Robert
Zoellick both said it was vital for the Senate to renew the Andean Trade
Preference Act, which expires May 16. The act is designed to help Bolivia,
Ecuador, Colombia and Peru expand trade as an alternative to drug
cultivation and trafficking. Mr. Bush extended it after it expired Dec. 4.

On Capitol Hill, however, Colombia's role in the U.S. effort to fight
narco-trafficking was greeted with skepticism at a hearing of the House
Appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations, which is considering Mr.
Bush's request for $600 million in anti-terrorism aid to Colombia.

Rep. Sonny Callahan, R-Ala., asked Deputy Secretary of State Richard
Armitage what Colombia has to do with the terrorism war.

"We do believe this is part of the war on global terrorism," Mr. Armitage
replied. "We know ... FARC is targeting Americans, and not just targeting
officials and infrastructure in Colombia."

The United States has given Colombia $1.7 billion in the last two years for
Mr. Pastrana's six-year anti-drug initiative.