COLOMBIA AID FOR DRUG WAR

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. military aid to Colombia is intended to strengthen
President Andres Pastrana's anti-drug campaign, not fight the Andean
nation's guerrilla insurgency, a senior White House official said Thursday.

"We're talking about a few hundred American people going to train some
Colombian army battalions, ... who will have a greater capability to
provide security for the Colombian national police when they go in to try
to destroy (drug) crops," said Sandy Berger, President Clinton's national
security adviser.

Berger rejected any parallel to the early years of U.S. military
involvement in Vietnam, in which the provision of modest numbers of
military advisers led eventually to a massive and costly infusion of combat
troops.

"The fact is, this is nothing similar whatsoever," Berger said.

Clinton will visit Colombia on Wednesday to demonstrate American support
for Pastrana's $7.5 billion anti-drug plan. Clinton will tour the port of
Cartagena, get a briefing on drug interdiction efforts, and meet members of
the Colombian national police, Berger said. In a meeting with Pastrana,
Clinton will be joined by a bipartisan congressional delegation to include
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., Berger said.

Asked why Clinton was going to Cartagena instead of Bogota, the capital,
Berger said the decision was influenced in part by security concerns.
Colombia is one of the world's most violent countries.

Berger defended Clinton's decision Tuesday to sign a national security
waiver exempting the Colombian military from human rights standards that
were set by the U.S. Congress as a condition of approval for a $1.3 billion
aid package.

"There just has not been time, even though President Pastrana has been
deeply committed to human rights, to meet the performance requirements of a
law that just passed two months ago," Berger said. He credited Pastrana
with firing generals and suspending others accused of human rights violations.

"So I don't think that we have to hold our nose" in exempting the Colombian
military and providing the $1.3 billion, Berger said. Portions of the aid
are directed at economic and human rights programs.

Human rights groups have complained that by waiving some of the conditions
for U.S. aid, Clinton sent a message that fighting drugs was more important
than stopping the murders, torture and disappearances of noncombatants by
the Colombian military and their right-wing paramilitary allies.

The U.S. aid includes the provision of U.S. military trainers for Colombian
army anti-drug units. No more than 500 U.S. soldiers and 300 contract
employees can be in Colombia at one time, and they are barred from going
into combat. There already are about 100 U.S. soldiers in Colombia,
including members of the Army's 7th Special Forces Group from Fort Bragg,
N.C., and an Air Force unit from Hurlbert Field, Fla.

Hastert, a strong supporter of Colombian aid, issued a statement Thursday
applauding Clinton's decision.

"This aid will help in the Colombian government's fight against illegal
narcotics and keep these drugs from reaching our shores," Hastert said.
"That was the easy part. Now we must focus our energies on properly
implementing these policies."

Berger said Clinton views Colombia's anti-drug campaign as a key to the
survival of democracy in that country.

"It's very hard to imagine democracy surviving over the long term in
Colombia, unless there can be both some reversal in the grip of the drug
traffickers and be a peace with the insurgents," he said, adding that the
government must negotiate a settlement with the guerrillas and not expect
to win a military victory.

"We don't think there is a military solution to the guerrilla war in
Colombia, nor does President Pastrana," he said.