PENTAGON SAYS WON'T GET SUCKED INTO COLOMBIA WAR

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. defense officials assured congressmen on
Tuesday the United States would not get dragged into Colombia's civil
war in spite of its growing military role in the South American
nation's fight against drug trafficking.

President Clinton is asking Congress to pass a two-year, $1.6 billion
aid package to help Colombia crack down on cocaine and heroine production.

The bulk of the aid will be used to buy helicopters for three
battalions trained by the United States to take on leftist guerrillas
who control the main drug producing areas in southern Colombia.

``We won't allow the U.S. presence to get out of control,'' U.S.
Southern Command chief, Gen. Charles Wilhelm, told a House drug policy
subcommittee hearing on the aid boost to Colombia.

Wilhelm said U.S. credibility was at stake.

Between 150 and 180 U.S. servicemen are now in Colombia on an average
day, but that number will increase with the training of two new
anti-drug army battalions, he said.

Wilhelm said he wanted to put a general in Bogota to raise the
seniority of the officer in charge of the U.S. military group in
Colombia. It is now headed by a colonel.

Republicans Favor Aid

Some Democrats in Congress fear that deepening U.S. military
involvement in Colombia is a mistake, and that additional military aid
will only worsen the rebel conflict in which 35,000 people have died
in the past 10 years alone.

But Republican congressmen lambasted the administration for taking so
long to help Colombia wage war on well-financed and heavily armed
``narco-guerrillas'' who control 40 percent of the
countryside.

``Several years ago Colombia grew only enough poppies to fill a flower
arrangement,'' said Florida Republican John Mica.

Colombia supplies 80 percent of the cocaine consumed in the United
States. In the last five years, it has become a major heroine producer
too.

New estimates by the CIA released on Monday show that U.S. authorities
had drastically underestimated Colombian cocaine output.

According to the new CIA figures, which will strengthen the case for
aid, Colombia's potential to produce cocaine rose to 520 metric tons
last year from 435 tons in 1998. The CIA had previously estimated 1998
output at 165 tons.

Line Said Clearly Drawn

Pentagon officials stressed that U.S. soldiers will not get involved
in fighting.

``The Department of Defense will not step over the line that divides
counter-narcotics from counter-insurgency,'' Ana Maria Salazar, Deputy
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Drug Enforcement Policy, told the
subcommittee.

Wilhelm said the first of the three U.S.-trained army battalions,
based at Tres Esquinas in Caqueta province, had already gone out on
two operations with police forces.

``They have taken down labs and identified transit points; they have
seized (coca) base and precursor chemicals; they have plotted coca
fields that are now targeted for eradication,'' the general said.

Increasing anti-drug aid to Colombia has become all the more crucial
since the United States closed its bases in Panama last year, Wilhelm
said.

Drug patrol and interception missions are being flown from airports in
Curacao, Aruba and Ecuador, but they are at one third of their
previous capacity, he said.

White House aides expect the Republican-run Congress to pass the
Colombian aid package by April. In 1999, Colombia received $289
million in U.S. assistance, making it the largest recipient after
Israel and Egypt.