US POURS IN COMBAT EXPERTS TO TRAIN DRUG-BUSTING SQUADS OF COLOMBIA

The green beret in charge of training the Colombian commando unit is
absolute about what his students can do.

"They have the stomach for this war," said the United States Army Special
Forces captain in designer sunglasses as he ordered his men into position,
ready to storm a supposed drug traffickers' hide-out in the valley below.
"My question is: will we in the United States and you folks in Europe give
them the wherewithal to fight it?"

Two hours south of Bogota, less than an hour away from the territory where
left-wing guerrillas now control a sizeable swath of Colombia (and the
lucrative coca fields), this is the cutting edge of the world's war against
drugs. Hundreds of US soldiers have been shipped in. Their mission? To make
the Colombian army a fighting force; to hurt the guerrillas and the drug
lords; to enable the Colombian government to go to the peace table with
some muscle.

"You know in the States we always have been given that 'no-lose'
mentality," said the captain of the new Colombian anti-narcotics battalion
as his men opened fire on that mock target in the jungle. "That's what
these soldiers have to have. We want them to be itching to go to war -- and
to advance with maximum violence, that's the US warrior's code."

What is happening now in Colombia represents the largest US commitment in
Latin America for a generation. It is not just the hundreds of green beret
trainers sent south this year. Nor the uniforms, rifles, or radios. There
is now an aid package that could reach $2bn (pounds 1.2bn) over the next
two years if Congress has its way.

"We need helicopters, maybe 300 of them, we need transporters, we need
long-range howitzers," Colombian Colonel Carlos Suarez said. "By the sounds
of it, we are going to receive much of what we need."

After years of carefully walking the fine line between Colombia's drug war
and its civil conflict, the Americans have opted to cross it. President
Andres Pastrana insists that "the US is fighting the narcos, not the
guerrillas", but reality dictates that the hardware, know-how and expertise
will be used against the rebel groups who have carved this country up.

At times, it is difficult to believe how flimsy the government's hold has
become. Walk out of a fashionable hotel in the heart of Bogota and you may
well see a 20-strong unit of soldiers at the front door. Venture to the
outskirts of the city, to the refugee shanty towns of Uzme or Soacha, and
you will hear people talk of guerrillas coming in at night to recruit or
extort.

But it is in cosmopolitan Cali, home to many Fortune 500 companies, and the
infamous Cali drug cartel, that the country's collapse hits you. In May,
left-wing guerrillas walked into a Catholic church in suburban Cali, held
guns to the heads of the congregation, then kidnapped them all -- 186 men,
women and children plus the priest and his altar boys.

"It was like the Nazis and the Jews," said Maria Teresa Ochoa, who was
released in June. "We were force-marched into the mountains, wives
separated from husbands, mothers from children, and told we would die
unless they got what they wanted." The guerrillas sought concessions from
the government, then ransom for their hostages: dozens are still being
held, Mrs Ochoa's husband among them.

President Pastrana is remarkably bullish. "Plan A is peace, plan B is war,"
he told us as he prepared to leave for Europe, the latest stage on his
fund-raising tour. "I've been to the jungle, I've met with the guerrilla
leaders, there is a peace process, however fragile ... now I've been to
Washington, too, and, obviously, we need to conduct war as well."

However, the Clinton administration is openly siding with an army that has
a disgraceful record on human rights. Mr Pastrana was honest enough to
admit: "We have big problems on that count."

In the sprawling mountain camps outside Bogota, where some of the two
million war refugees live, you hear of the brutality of right-wing
paramilitaries linked to the army and government. "They came into our
village, took six people out, tied them up, then slit their throats," said
one newly arrived mother. "They gave us two hours to choose -- get out or
die." Such atrocities raise the question of whether the US is embarked on a
slow walk into full-blown military engagement.

No one should underestimate the speed with which the Americans want to
move. "We should have one battalion ready by December, two more by next
April," said the green beret captain. "Advance with maximum violence,
that's the key," he added.