POLL: COLOMBIANS WANT U.S. INTERVENTION IN REBEL WAR

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Most Colombians wish U.S. troops would take a frontline
combat role in the nation's long-running war against drugs and communist
rebels, according to a poll published on Monday ahead of a planned visit by
President Clinton.

The Gallup survey said 56 percent of respondents favored U.S. military
intervention to resolve the 35-year-old armed conflict that has cost more
than 35,000 lives in the last decade -- even though 76 percent said such a
move would be tantamount to the United States meddling in another country's
internal affairs.

The poll of 400 adults in Colombia's four largest cities, with a margin of
error of 5 percent, appeared in this week's edition of the Semana political
magazine that hit newsstands on Monday.

Clinton approved a record $1.3 billion package of mostly military aid in
July to help Colombia fight the booming drug trade and increasingly
powerful guerrillas.

He also opened the way for the number of U.S. advisers to be doubled to
around 500 but U.S. officials insisted they will not be involved in combat
duties.

Critics have said the buildup of U.S. military personnel marked the start
of Washington's slide into a Vietnam-style quagmire.

The country's largest guerrilla force and the biggest labor organizations
condemned Clinton's daylong visit set for Wednesday but 62 percent of those
polled by Gallup said they approved of the trip.