DRUG PLAN RAISES DOUBTS
White House: Clinton Will Propose A Major Infusion Of Aid To Colombia
For Anti-Trafficking Efforts.

(Washington)- The Clinton administration"s $1.3 billion plan to help
Colombia fight drug trafficking and leftist insurgents is facing
skepticism from military and law-enforcement officials concerned that
the United States could be drugged into a long and costly struggle
that may have little impact on the drug trade.

The aid plan, which is to be presented in detail to Congress on
Monday, is intended to help stanch the production of cocaine and
heroin in Colombia, strengthen the government and help it take control
of a large part of its coca-growing southern territory now dominated
by the rebels.

Privately, though, some senior defense officials are decidedly
unenthusiastic about the U.S. military's growing role in the anti-drug
effort and worried that it may be drugged deeper into the civil war
that has ravaged Colombia for almost 40 years. Many drug-enforcement
officials are similarly concerned, officials said. While the aid
package may help Colombia,s army fight the guerrillas, they said, it
does not reflect a coherent strategy to fight illegal drugs.

Virtually none of these complaints has been aired publicly. But
officials said the arguments have been heard repeatedly in the debate
over the aid plan, reshaping some of its elements but more often
overridden by administration officials determined to establish a new
U.S. commitment to Colombia's stability.

The White House drug-policy chief, Barry R. McCaffrey, dismissed
skeptics of the plan, noting that some of the criticism came from
agencies that tried unsuccessfully to win funding increases for their
programs as part of the Colombia aid package.

"Everybody tried to get aboard this mule," McCaffrey said in an
interview, referring to the administration's request for $955 million
of top of the $330 million already budgeted for Colombian aid this
year. But, he added, "There wasn't a huge fight among agencies over
this package."

Senior administration officials said they are confident that the aid
will be approved. Republicans in Congress have been an important part
of the impetus for greater American aid, warning that the Clinton
White House risked "losing" Colombia to the insurgents.