BANKROLLING COLOMBIA'S WAR ON DRUGS: HOUSE AND SENATE WILL NOW RECONCILE BILLS

WASHINGTON, June 22 -- Nearly a year after President Andres Pastrana of
Colombia asked the United States for emergency aid to battle narcotics
traffickers and their rebel allies, the Senate cleared the way today for a
package of $1.3 billion. The American assistance, which is to include money
for training special Colombian army battalions and for sophisticated attack
and transport helicopters, advanced as senators approved a $13.4 billion
foreign aid bill that included the money for the besieged South American
nation.

The legislation also included about $1.5 billion to keep American troops in
Kosovo and an undisclosed amount -- officials estimated about $500 million
- -- to pay for reconstruction in Los Alamos, N.M., after a devastating fire.

Congressional officials said today that they expect to reconcile the Senate
aid package for Colombia with a more generous version approved by the House
in March and then attach it to a popular bill to pay for military
construction as early as next week.

While the legislation approved today would provide slightly under $1
billion to Colombia, senators said the figure would rise to $1.3 billion in
the final compromise bill with the House.

The aid package will result in a vastly increased American commitment in
Colombia, a country in the midst of a civil war that is the source of 90
percent of the cocaine reaching the United States. Working closely with
American officials, Mr. Pastrana unveiled an ambitious plan last year to
pay for a Colombian military drive into rebel-controlled territory in the
south.

Included in the plan is a request for 30 highly sophisticated long-range
Blackhawk helicopters and at least 35 Huey II helicopters for ferrying
troops, Colombian officials said. The specific mix of the American aircraft
remains in dispute as House lawmakers approved the more expensive
Blackhawks, while senators favored sending Hueys.

President Clinton, whose aides have warned that Colombia's viability as a
nation is at stake, said he was "grateful" for the Senate action.

"The quicker we can reach agreement and show that the United States is
committed to a democracy and to fighting the drug wars in Colombia, and to
strengthening the oldest democracy in America, the better off we're going
to be," Mr. Clinton said.

With strong American backing, Colombian officials will now be able to seek
additional support from European nations and international financial
institutions, Mr. Clinton said.

But some lawmakers said that the United States risks increasingly being
drawn into an unwinnable war -- reminiscent of Vietnam -- with Colombian
military allies that have a poor human rights record.

"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," said Senator Slade Gorton, a Washington Republican. "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."

President Pastrana's strategy, called the Plan Colombia, seeks at least
$3.5 billion in international aid in the next three years. In addition to
expanding law enforcement, the plan calls for public investments to
stimulate the lagging economy.

Senator Paul Coverdell, a Georgia Republican, said that the move today
signaled "a turning point in this whole struggle" against Colombian drug
cartels by demonstrating a strong bipartisan resolve to step up American
support and provide training to special anti-narcotics battalions.

Colombian officials applauded the Senate action, which came in a 95-4 vote
for the overall foreign aid bill.

"We are definitely pleased," said Luis Alberto Moreno, Colombia's
ambassador to Washington. "This means there is strong bipartisan support
behind Plan Colombia at a critical moment in Colombian history."

Mr. Moreno said Colombia will insist on the House-approved Blackhawks
because of their superior versatility.

But even some Colombians voiced misgivings about the widening of the
military campaign to suppress drugs.

Gen. Rosso Jose Serrano, the national police chief whose anti-narcotics
leadership has won praise from American lawmakers, said the battle would
best be waged by curbing demand in the United States and other countries.

"We'd rather see drug consumption drop than get any of this aid," said Mr.
Serrano, who is stepping down this week after more than five years in his
post. If consumption were dramatically reduced, Colombia "could go back to
what it once was, a place that grew coffee, where people worked hard and
sweated for a paycheck," he said in an interview with the Associated Press.

The Senate foreign aid bill was $1.7 billion less than the Clinton
administration had requested, but it has not drawn a veto threat.

Under pressure from the Pentagon, senators approved money to keep nearly
6,000 American troops in Kosovo. The Clinton administration has fought to
maintain the American presence in the Balkans, despite growing uneasiness
in Congress over the open-ended United States commitment in both Kosovo and
Bosnia.

The Senate also increased spending by $30 million to $255 million for
international efforts to fight AIDS, and added $10 million for a total of
$66 million to battle the global spread of tuberculosis. But it provided
only $75 million in assistance to the world's poorest countries, a
reduction from the administration's $262 million request.