AID WILL NOT DRAW U.S. SOLDIERS INTO COLOMBIAN WAR, MCCAFFREY SAYS

The Clinton administration's $1.6 billion plan to help Colombia curb drug
trafficking won't drag the U.S. into a civil war, the top U.S. drug
official said after returning from a visit to the Latin American country.

Gen. Barry McCaffrey, director of the Office of National Drug Control
Policy, said the military's role will be limited to advising and training
the Colombian military. "This is not going to be Vietnam," he said. "There
has not been any discussion of using U.S. military forces in drug
intervention."

The aid package is needed because Colombia supplies 90 percent of the
cocaine and heroin smuggled into the United States, McCaffrey asserted.

Yet skeptics of the proposed aid said Congress should scrutinize the
program to make sure it would benefit the United States. "Will a military
operation to reduce the supply of drugs coming from Colombia in turn reduce
the severity of the drug abuse problem here in the United States?" asked
U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I.

"The American taxpayers need to understand that their tax dollars are being
used to dramatically and quickly escalate a program that will involve U.S.
military personnel training foreign troops that may well become involved in
a shooting war in Latin America," Chafee said.