`THEY ARE OUTSTANDING SOLDIERS'

U.S.-Trained Colombian Anti-Drug Battalions Coming On Line

LARANDIA MILITARY BASE, Colombia - As rows of Colombian soldiers saluted
their superior officers at a graduation ceremony, a handful of U.S. Green
Berets applauded and recorded the parade with video cameras.

"They are outstanding soldiers," said a member of the U.S. Army Special
Forces temporarily stationed at this sprawling military base in southern
Colombia.

On loan from Fort Bragg, N.C., dozens of veteran Green Berets have spent
months molding Colombian soldiers into anti-narcotics battalions that will
wage war on drug traffickers and Marxist rebels.

The formation of the elite battalions is a key component of a U.S.-backed
plan to roll back this nation's soaring drug production. Colombia supplies
90 percent of the cocaine and about two-thirds of the heroin sold on U.S.
streets.

In July, the U.S. Congress approved an $862 million aid package for
Colombia. About half of the assistance will support a Colombian military
push into the rebel-infested drug-producing states of Caqueta and Putumayo.

One counterdrug battalion was activated last December. By next May, three
more battalions - each made up of between 600 and 900 troops - will be in
the field with the support of 46 U.S.-made Blackhawk and Huey II helicopters.

"You are the new model of the Colombian army," Defense Minister Luis
Fernando Ramirez said Friday at the inauguration of the second anti-drug
battalion, which will be activated later this month.

The Green Berets try to maintain a low profile. They rarely leave the
Larandia military base, 235 miles southwest of the capital of Bogota.

But on Friday, the senior U.S. military trainer talked for the first time
with a group of American reporters.

Critics fear that the growing U.S. military presence in Colombia could drag
the United States into an unwinnable guerrilla war. But during a 30-minute
interview, the American officer played down the counterin-surgency aspects
of the Green Berets' five-month training program.

"We are not training them to confront guerrillas," he said. "It's a fact of
life that there are guerrillas operating where these guys operate, and so
they have to be prepared to deal with that threat. But that is not their
primary objective."

Even so, U.S. military officials admit that Colombia's 36-year guerrilla
war is likely to heat up.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which is the nation's
largest rebel group, earns millions of dollars annually by taxing and
providing protection for drug dealers.

FARC leaders have warned that the formation of the U.S.-trained battalions
could doom peace talks that began last year with the Colombian government.
They have also vowed to step up their attacks on the army and to target
U.S. military personnel in Colombia.

"Clearly the situation, militarily, will become much more active," said
Gen. Peter Pace, head of the U.S. Southern Command, who attended Friday's
ceremony. "You can't go into (drug-producing regions) without someone
pushing back."

Unlike normal Colombian army units, the anti-drug battalions will, at
times, perform police and investigative duties. Rather than carrying out
surprise attacks, for example, anti-drug troops must first notify
traffickers of their presence, then attempt to arrest them and seize evidence.

"It makes their mission much more difficult than a standard military
operation where the objectives are just to go out and destroy the enemy,"
the senior U.S. trainer said.

"If they receive fire, they can return fire, but they need to
discriminate," he said. "Within these drug labs, you can have family
members, wives, children and livestock. You don't want to commit any
human-rights abuses."

The issue of human rights is especially touchy because, in the past, the
Colombian army has been accused of widespread violations.

Furthermore, there is growing recognition that, to turn the tide in the
drug war, the army must win the hearts and minds of thousands of poor
farmers. They scratch out a living by growing coca and opium poppies - the
raw materials for cocaine and heroin.

As a result, soldiers selected for the anti-narcotics battalions have been
vetted for past human-rights abuses. Rather than raw draftees, nearly all
of the troops have at least five years of experience.

One exercise during the Green Beret training course involves dealing with
hostile communities. The troops are taught to gather information and arrest
traffickers without abusing the population.

"We built a town and actually had 30 role-playing civilians, everyone from
the mayor to the priest to the town drunk," the U.S. trainer said.

It's unclear whether the strategy will work.

The first and only counterdrug battalion now operating has destroyed
several laboratories and has met guerrilla resistance. So far, one soldier
has been killed and several injured, according to Gen. Jorge Enrique Mora,
the Colombian army chief.

But Mora predicted that the army's performance will improve once all four
counterdrug battalions are up and running and all of the U.S. helicopters
are delivered. The helicopters are vital for transporting troops in the
mountains and dense jungles.

"We will have high expectations once we are at full capacity," he said.