WIFE SAYS COLONEL SIMPLY WALKED AWAY WHEN SHE SNORTED COCAINE

WASHINGTON - The wife of the former commander of the U.S. Army's
antidrug operation in Colombia says that before they moved to Bogota,
she once used cocaine in front of her husband to convince him of her
addiction.

``I said, `This is what's wrong with me,' and I proceeded to snort
this line of cocaine. And he looked at me, turned around and walked
out,'' Laurie Hiett said in a CBS ``60 Minutes'' interview to be aired
Sunday.

Four months later, the Army offered her husband a promotion that
involved fighting drugs in Colombia. Hiett says U.S. officials knew of
her past addiction, and that her husband lied, telling officials she
had stopped using the drug, so she could accompany him to Colombia.

Laurie Hiett, 36, pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy charges in
January, saying she shipped packages containing $700,000 worth of
drugs to New York. She also admitted traveling to New York to collect
the illicit proceeds to take back to Colombia - an act falling under
the legal definition of money laundering.

Hiett, who is free on bond, faces the possibility of up to nine years
in prison at sentencing today in New York.

Hiett said that soon after arriving in Colombia she and her driver
acquired cocaine and conspired to smuggle it into the United States.
She said she had large amounts of cocaine and saw an opportunity to
get rich and pay off her credit card bills.

``I had this 1 pound, 500 grams, of pure Colombian cocaine underneath
my Jacuzzi, and it was like never-ending,'' Hiett said. ``I was just
doing it and doing it and doing it, and it was making me crazy.''

Her husband, Col. James Hiett, 48, the former head of U.S. antidrug
operations in Bogota, pleaded guilty to a federal charge last month,
admitting that he knew his wife was laundering drug money but failed
to turn her in. He faces up to three years in prison and $250,000 in
fines when sentenced June 23.

A 24-year Army veteran, he remains on active duty at Fort Monroe, in
Hampton, Va., where he was transferred after his wife was accused of a
crime.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee G. Dunst said the colonel has filed for
retirement from the Army.

Earlier, the Army Criminal Investigation Division in Panama had
cleared him, saying he had no prior knowledge of his wife's crimes.