US ENVOY SEES NO RISK OF US QUAGMIRE IN COLOMBIA

About three-fourths of the aid package would pay for the 63 helicopters and training for two new army counter-drug battalions. The units will be assigned to retake rebel-held southern jungles where cocaine production is rapidly expanding.

WASHINGTON -- A CIA estimate released today showed a sharp increase in
Colombian cocaine production but the Clinton administration's efforts
to deal with the problem drew fire from both Republicans and
Democrats at a congressional hearing.

Cocaine production reached 520 metric tons last year, up from 435
tons in 1998 and 230 tons in 1995, according to CIA figures released
by White House drug control chief Barry McCaffrey. He testified at a
hearing of the House Government Reform subcommittee on drug policy.

In his prepared testimony, McCaffrey said overall production trends
in the Andes are positive, citing significant drops in Peru and Bolivia.

He said the new data nonetheless illustrate "the urgency for
congressional action in support of the administration's $1.6 billion
aid package to Colombia. Without additional U.S. assistance, Colombia
is unlikely to experience the dramatic progress in the drug fight
experienced by its Andean neighbors."

Subcommittee Chairman John L. Mica, R-Fla., said the administration is
responsible for the deteriorating situation in Colombia.

"Despite years of congressional pleas for counterdrug assistance to
Colombia, countless hearings and intense congressional efforts,
resources approved by Congress have failed to be provided to
Colombia," he asserted.

"Someone must be held accountable for this disaster at our doorstep,"
Mica said.

But Rep. Janice Schakowsky, D-Ill., expressed concern about the 63
helicopters the administration wants to send to Colombia as a key
component of the drug war. She suggested the administration abandon
the "militaristic approach" to the issue and concentrate instead on
drug treatment programs. She said these programs are "times more
effective than drug interdiction schemes."

Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering, in Bogota to discuss the
anti-narcotics package, said Monday in Bogota that the aid program
won't draw the United States into a "terrible quagmire," as some
critics believe.

Washington's role will be limited to providing equipment and training
for Colombia's army, he said.

"The United States has no intention of sending troops to Colombia to
fight," the envoy heading a high-level delegation said after meeting
with President Andres Pastrana.

Pickering is a former ambassador to El Salvador, where a limited U.S.
presence ballooned into a major involvement in the country's brutal
civil war during the 1980s.

Seeing parallels to that era and even to Vietnam, U.S. human rights
organizations and some Democratic lawmakers oppose the Colombia aid
plan. They say it will inflame a nearly 36-year conflict and could
draw the United States into the fighting.

About three-fourths of the aid package would pay for the 63
helicopters and training for two new army counter-drug battalions.
The units will be assigned to retake rebel-held southern jungles
where cocaine production is rapidly expanding.

While dismissing the "terrible quagmire issue," Pickering recognized
that leftist rebel units involved in the drug trade would be
legitimate "objectives" of Colombian troops receiving U.S. assistance.

"If the guerrillas would get out of the drug trade, they would have
nothing to fear from the United States," the envoy added.

U.S.-trained army battalions will provide ground and air protection
while crop-dusting planes spray deadly herbicides on the crops.

Armed resistance is expected from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia -- the 15,000-strong rebel group that dominates the region.

Colombia's defense minister says he also expects violent protests from
tens of thousands of peasants who depend on coca production for their
livelihood.

Pastrana has said his government expects thousands of those peasants
to be displaced once the cocaine fields are eradicated.

The proposed U.S. aid package includes $176 million for resettling
uprooted peasants and helping them find a legal way to make a living.