U.S. OFFICIAL VOICES SUPPORT FOR COLOMBIAN PEACE EFFORTS

BOGOTA, Colombia -- A top State Department official on Friday expressed
strong support for Colombia's floundering peace negotiations with leftist
rebels and said that U.S. aid to the war-torn Andean nation would continue
to focus on anti-drug efforts.

"No country supports the peace process more than the United States," Marc
Grossman, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, told a news
conference at the end of a three-day visit to Colombia.

The comments of Grossman, the State Department's third-highest ranking
official, came amid growing speculation that Washington may get more
involved in Colombia's 37-year-old war against Marxist guerrillas. The
rebels control much of the countryside and earn millions of dollars
annually from the illegal drug trade.

Last week, Peter Rodman, the assistant secretary of defense for
international security affairs, said that the Bush administration was
"rethinking" its policy toward the South American nation.

In recent days, U.S. officials have lambasted the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the nation's largest rebel group, for
kidnapping civilians, meeting with suspected members of the Irish
Republican Army and abusing a guerrilla-controlled sanctuary in southern
Colombia. What's more, the 21/2-year-old peace process between the Bogota
government and the FARC is at a standstill.

But Grossman insisted that his delegation was simply reviewing the U.S. aid
program, a hand-me-down from the Clinton administration. He indicated that
few substantial changes are in the works.

The focus, he said, would remain on Plan Colombia, the Bogota government's
blueprint to wipe out cocaine and heroin production, provide peasant drug
farmers with crop-substitution programs and strengthen state institutions.

Shortly before the news conference, a senior U.S. official ruled out the
possibility of American support for a counterinsurgency war.

"From my perspective, there is no 'rethinking,' " the official said.

The U.S. delegation included Gen. Peter Pace, head of the U.S. Southern
Command and Bush's nominee for vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
and about two dozen other officials. Secretary of State Colin Powell plans
to visit Colombia on Sept. 11-12.

The Americans met with President Andres Pastrana, military leaders and
human rights groups. They also toured bases in southern Colombia where U.S.
Green Berets have been training thousands of Colombian soldiers for
anti-drug raids.

Last year, the U.S. Congress approved $1.3 billion in anti-narcotics aid
for Colombia. The Bush administration has requested another $880 million
for Andean nations next year, about half of which would be earmarked for
Colombia, Grossman said.

Much of the aid has been funneled to the military and police, and there is
a growing perception here that Washington is more interested in supporting
the war effort than the peace process. In fact, in the wake of several army
victories on the battlefield, many Colombians are calling for an all-out
military campaign against the FARC.

U.N. special envoy Jan Egeland, who has been monitoring the peace
negotiations, warned this week, however, that hard-line policies could
backfire.

"Those who criticize the search for peace should carefully consider the
alternative," Egeland told a news conference in Bogota on Wednesday. "You
cannot shoot your way to reconciliation."

Grossman said the Bush administration supports the peace process but added
that Washington will continue to denounce abuses by the FARC, which extorts
businesses, blows up oil pipelines and kidnaps hundreds of civilians every
year.

He also defended the U.S.-backed policy of fumigating coca and opium
poppies, the raw materials for cocaine and heroin, a cornerstone of the
anti-drug effort.

Opponents of the campaign claim that it simply forces peasants deeper into
the wilderness, where they plant more drug crops. Thousands of rural
families have complained that glyphosate, the herbicide used by police
crop-dusters, causes diarrhea, nausea and skin irritations.

Grossman said that glyphosate is being applied in a diluted form that is safe.

"Our aerial eradication campaign is sensible, and it is well documented to
be safe," Grossman said. "We are not ashamed of it. We are actually quite
proud of it."