U.S. WALKS THIN LINE IN COLOMBIAN CONFLICTS

TRES ESQUINAS, Colombia -- The flood-swollen Orteguaza River slices through
the Colombian lowlands, its dirty brown water straining at banks that give
way to swampy clumps of thick forest and patches of cleared land.

Bright green coca plants and poppy fields dot many of the clearings,
verdant cash crops in a land of hunger and war.

This remote territory in Colombia's far south has become ground zero in the
government's escalating conflict against drug traffickers and against
Marxist rebels who have tapped the drug trade to finance their 36-year-old
insurgency.

Much of the cocaine and heroin grown here is destined for the United
States, which recently approved $1.3 billion in aid to help Colombia fight
its drug war. Colombian pilots will fly 60 U.S.-supplied helicopters,
providing security and transporting forces to wipe out remote drug
laboratories and kill illicit crops with chemicals sprayed from crop dusters.

But critics fear that this rugged jungle -- and Colombia's tortured
landscape of leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitary groups, drug
barons, a questionable military and rancorous domestic politics -- may
swallow up the American aid, drawing the U.S. deeper into a quagmire.

"We have made a profound and dramatic shift in focus from supporting a
police force in a friendly country to supporting an army engaged in a civil
war," Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., said shortly after Congress approved the
aid package. "I wonder how long it will be until we read the first news
story of some of this equipment showing up in the hands of rebels."

As if to underscore the dangers, Colombia's largest guerrilla group, the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, has launched a series of
attacks against rural towns and villages since the U.S. aid package was
approved. Guerrilla leaders warn that the U.S. aid might threaten the
precarious peace process and intensify the war.

U.S. officials insist the aid is strictly for fighting drugs, not to help
Colombia fight its civil war. But Gen. Mario Montoya, chief of a new
Colombian anti-narcotics task force, admits that the two are often intertwined.

"The FARC, with all its guns and all its evil, is involved in the drug
trade," he said. "If the guerrillas are involved in drug trafficking, as we
know they are, we're going to attack them."

Who Gets The Money?

Colombia, a nation of 39 million people, supplies an estimated 80 percent
of the world's cocaine. It is also a growing source of heroin. Both are
worth billions on the streets of America and Europe.

There are no accurate figures on how much the guerrillas gain by taking a
cut from the poor farmers who grow the crops and the traffickers who
smuggle it, but some Colombian newspapers have cited figures in the
hundreds of millions of dollars.

Estimates of FARC strength range from 17,000 to 22,000 guerrillas in the
field, but it is only one of the warring forces in Colombia. Another rebel
group, the Army of National Liberation or ELN, has about 5,000 fighters,
and right-wing paramilitary groups, which also take tribute from drug
traffickers, have an estimated 7,000 troops.

Colombia's military -- the army, air force and navy -- has about 120,000
people. It also has a reputation for corruption and rights abuses, with
many observers citing close ties between army officers and the right-wing
paramilitaries.

Colombian President Andres Pastrana has named his strategy for saving the
country "Plan Colombia."

The U.S. aid -- which will mostly finance military equipment but also
provide money for crop substitution and other social programs -- will be
supplemented by more than $600 million for social programs that Pastrana
recently obtained from European nations.

Midway through his four-year term in office, however, Pastrana has been
hamstrung by a corruption scandal and bitter relations with Colombian
lawmakers. He recently appealed to Colombians to be more positive, saying,
"I'm tired of the bad news that does not let us see and construct a better
country for all."

A Complicated Problem

It will take more than a positive attitude to vanquish Colombia's problems.

"We feel that Plan Colombia will escalate the war on both sides," said
Marco Alberto Romero, a political scientist at Colombia's National
University. "If the guerrillas resist this first campaign, the logic will
be that the U.S. will increase its aid and become more committed to the
Colombian conflict. It's a very complicated problem."

Romero believes the focus should be on providing more opportunity for the
peasants who grow the coca and poppy. The peasants now have no
alternatives, and wiping out their only cash crop could foul the
environment, sicken the farmers and create a new wave of displacement
within Colombia.

"This could have regional consequences," he said. "The drug trafficking
affects the whole Andean region. This could lead to the breakdown of the
peace talks in Colombia but also could trigger an arms race. Already both
(the FARC and the government) are building up their forces even as they are
participating in the peace talks."

Montoya downplays the criticism and confidently predicts victory. He said
the new U.S. aid -- especially a fleet of about 30 sophisticated Blackhawk
helicopters -- will tip the balance in favor of his 3,000-troop force in
the southern region.

"Once we get the helicopters, we can really go to work," he said. "They
will give us the element of surprise and mobility. We will move in and
immediately neutralize the crops."

The only roles for U.S. troops -- no more than a few hundred at the time --
will be to train the Colombian pilots and soldiers and to help operate
sophisticated surveillance equipment that the United States will send, he said.

There are reports that the guerrillas might have -- or will soon obtain --
surface-to-air missiles or other weaponry to shoot down the helicopters.

But Montoya remains upbeat.

"These groups will try to defend their operations because there is lots and
lots of money involved in narcotrafficking," he said. "But we're prepared
militarily for this fight. We're in this for the long haul."