PAST BLUNDERS HAUNT ADMINISTRATION'S PUSH FOR COLOMBIA ANTI-DRUG AID

WASHINGTON -- The delivery of 50,000 rounds of ammunition to the State
Department in mid-January alarmed security guards on alert for terrorist
attacks against government buildings.

They finally relaxed upon determining the shipment had arrived at the wrong
destination off by thousands of miles. The boxes filled with rifle bullets
should have gone to the Colombia National Police as U.S. anti-narcotics
aid.

To the detriment of administration credibility on Colombia, the ammo fiasco
has not been the only foul-up in the effort to help Bogota combat drug
trafficking. Past blunders, including delivery of non-working helicopters
and faulty weapon systems, now haunt administration efforts to push a major
and controversial Colombian anti-drug package through Congress.

As a result, some of the plan's staunchest supporters on Capitol Hill
wonder whether the administration can make good on its ambitious proposal.

"Hopefully, the administration is now getting serious," said House
International Affairs Committee Chairman Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y. "But these
mistakes don't give us much comfort."

While administration officials acknowledge the snafus, they insist they are
insignificant when measured against their new anti-drug plan.

"In no way would I suggest the decision-making apparatus that now exists is
adequate," said Ret. Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, director of the Office of
National Drug Control Policy. He predicted the administration will "put
together a high-level team" to implement the proposed aid.

The proposed $1.3 billion in new assistance among other things would pay
for 63 helicopters, including 34 sophisticated Blackhawks. Despite past
errors, the debate mostly has focused on whether the plan would involve the
U.S. military directly in the Colombian government's long-running battle
against guerrillas, who control 40 percent of the country.

The insurgents increasingly have financed themselves through the country's
illicit drug trade, which supplies 80 percent of the world's cocaine and 75
percent of the heroin consumed in the United States. What's more,
Colombia's future harvests of coca plants used to produce cocaine are
expected to soar.

"This reminds me very much of Vietnam," said Rep. David Obey, D-Wis.,
ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. "The root of the
problem lies not in Colombia, but in this country, as long as we have a
single person who can't get into a treatment program."

Critics of the aid package also note coca cultivation in Colombia has risen
despite great sums of U.S. dollars already spent on eradication. New aid,
they argue, would further waste money.

Nonetheless, the aid is expected to pass the House where the appropriations
panel recently upped it to $1.7 billion at the insistence of House Speaker
Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. Hastert, Gilman, and House Government Operations
Committee Chairman Dan Burton, Ind., have long pressed the administration
to do more for Colombia.

But tougher sledding could come in the Senate where the opposition includes
Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.

"Who's going to go in if this blows up?" Stevens asked. "I want to help,
but I want to see a plan that's survivable and tells us what's going to
happen, if it goes wrong. I don't see this here."

The administration says its proposal would facilitate action by the
Colombian military to pave the way for the Colombian National Police to
assume control of what now is drug-producing territory.

"U.S. military forces have not and will not become involved in the
counter-insurgency conflict," declared Anna Marie Salazar, assistant
secretary of defense for drug policy.

Some key Republicans, who support the aid package, worry whether the
administration can make it work.

"We have a gang that can't shoot straight," complained Rep. John Mica.,
R-Fla., chairman of the House drug policy subcommittee.

Take the fiasco in delivering the ammunition.

It took three tries before usable bullets got to Bogota.

In the first attempt, the ammunition made it to Colombia, but it turned out
the bullets manufactured in 1952 were too old for anything except for
training. The shipment erroneously sent to the State Department which
administers the aid program was the second attempt at delivery.

A State Department official, who declined to be identified, said criticism
about the ammunition is "overblown.

"A shipping company under contract with the State Department made a
mistake," said the official. "We should get a break on that."

U.S. helicopters dispatched to the Colombian National Police also have had
serious problems.

Of six Bell-212 choppers all previously used by the State Department one
crashed on its initial anti-drug flight. Three others have undergone
frequent repairs. The remaining two have sat on the ground, cannibalized
for parts to repair the other three.

Three Blackhawks, shipped in October, still have not been used in anti-drug
operations. They lacked floor armor to protect their crews from ground fire
and also arrived minus guns.

Although chopper armaments finally were sent, the Blackhawks still have not
been used. The weapon systems are different models and incompatible with
each other.

An administration official said some helicopters were shipped prematurely
at the request of Colombian officials, who wanted them in time for the
national police force's 75th anniversary.

One U.S. Vietnam-era helicopter was shot down by guerrillas last year when
its 1960s vintage guns jammed. Although the pilot survived, he suffered
head injuries, attributed to the failure of U.S. aid to include protective
helmets.

"He was waiting for a helmet since 1997," said Burton.

A load of helmets recently shipped included many too small for the pilots
to wear. Others, according to the State Department official, were misplaced
by Colombian officials.

Gilman, Burton and others worry that much of the proposed aid is targeted
for the Colombian military linked to human rights abuses instead of the
national police.

McCaffrey said the administration "doesn't want to militarize the Colombian
police."

Other officials said the military is improving its human rights record.

Members of Congress also question the Colombian government's commitment to
defend itself when, by law, high school graduates are exempt from combat,
leaving poorly educated peasants to do the fighting.

Success in slowing drug smuggling from Peru and Ecuador has been attributed
to U.S. radar planes spotting drug-carrying aircraft and directing the
Latin nations' warplanes to force them down.

But Marine Gen. Charles E. Wilhelm, head of U.S. Southern Command, said
much of his radar-plane fleet now has been redeployed to the Middle East
and other areas.

"We can only cover 15 percent of the area, 15 percent of the time," Wilhelm
said of U.S. surveillance over Colombia.

Also, members of Congress from both parties wonder how effective the
Blackhawks will prove against surface-to-air missiles the guerrillas are
believed to have obtained with drug profits.

"The way this is going to come a cropper real quickly is when you lose four
Blackhawks," warned Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del.