COLOMBIA CRASH ENABLES PEEK AT HUSH-HUSH ROLES

BOGOTA -- The crash of a U.S. spy plane that killed five Americans and two
Colombians has thrown an unwelcome light on the growing and increasingly
controversial role of American forces in Colombia's anti-drug efforts.

Officials said Wednesday the bodies of five U.S. Army soldiers and two
Colombian Air Force majors have been recovered from an isolated hilltop in
the Putumayo region, where their De Havilland RC-7 reconnaissance aircraft
crashed Friday. The five are the first American casualties in the campaign
against narcotics traffickers in Colombia.

For nearly four decades Colombia has been fighting an insurgency by
guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by its
Spanish-language acronym FARC. Recently, U.S. advisers have provided
intelligence by using surveillance aircraft such as the downed RC-7.

The guerrillas finance their actions by trafficking in opium and coca. The
U.S. has given millions of dollars in foreign aid for anti-narcotics
efforts --some $300 million this year-- with the stipulation that the money
be used for anti-drug efforts and not to fight a political bush war. Such
distinctions mean little in the green-canopied highlands of Putumayo, where
FARC fighters deal drugs and weaponry with equal ease.

Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the U.S. drug czar, acknowledged during a visit to
Colombia this week that it is difficult to differentiate between
counternarcotics and counterinsurgency operations.

"People keep (saying), it's either the FARC or the drugs," McCaffrey said.
"I don't think that's the reality. I think we've got these FARC fronts out
there that are getting hundreds of millions of dollars out of a series of
illegal activities, the most productive of which is the drug trade.

"That's what makes it so dicey here," he said, "and why it's spilling
over." Earlier this week, in response to the plane crash, the rebels issued
a communique headed, "U.S. Intervention Claims Its First Victims" and
reiterating a warning that "U.S. troops would return home with tragic
results, dead or injured," if they "intervened" further.

"The FARC has let it be known to national and international public opinion
that all U.S. military personnel are considered military targets," the
statement said.

McCaffrey, however, said the crash was accidental: The plane, he said,
plowed into a mountain that wasn't on the charts the crew was using.

U.S. officials are tight-lipped about the exact nature of American military
involvement in Colombia. So secretive are the air missions that, according
to an American official, McCaffrey ruffled feathers at the U.S. Embassy
when he revealed at a news conference this week that last year the U.S.
flew more than 2,000 anti-drug missions in the region, including Colombia.

Despite the anti-drug campaign, officials concede, the narcotics business
is booming. McCaffrey pointed to "an enormous explosion" of cocaine and
heroin production in Colombia last year and noted that in the past three
years, coca production has doubled and is now of a higher quality.

According to the Pentagon, some 200 American military personnel rotate in
and out of Colombia. They conduct surveillance over guerrilla regions,
especially those along the border with Ecuador, using advanced equipment.

The RC-7, for example, is a modified De Havilland aircraft fitted with a
variety of electronic snooping devices. The plane carries a radar dome and
a variety of other sensors and antennas, including receivers capable of
picking up portable radio and wireless telephone conversations.

The intercepted communications can be used to pinpoint guerrilla movements
in the rugged mountains. Sometimes the intercepts are relayed back to the
U.S. for more sophisticated analysis, such as breaking of codes.

There have been persistent reports, still unconfirmed, that these
intercepts have been used to target FARC forces.

"We're not going to specify what these missions do specifically," said Lt.
Col. Bill Darley, a Pentagon spokesman in Washington.

A U.S. Government General Accounting Office report released last month
revealed that in March, the Clinton administration had begun sharing
intelligence on guerrilla activities with the Colombian government.

A U.S. official conceded there had been a "slight change" recently in U.S.
policy: If surveillance reveals that FARC poses a threat to Colombian
troops, then the information can be shared with the Colombian government,
the official said.

That information can, of course, be used to target the guerrillas for attack.

"There's no way to avoid it if the guerrillas interject themselves in
there," the U.S. official said. "We're fighting against anybody involved in
the drug war, whether they're insurgents or a beauty queen."

The presence of Americans has infuriated the guerrillas and their
sympathizers.

"I do not think the Americans do any favors to the peace process with the
way they are behaving," said Arturo Alape, the biographer of the longtime
Colombian rebel chief, Manuel Marulanda. "This is a Colombian problem, not
an American problem."

McCaffrey emphasized the U.S. would not play a role "now or in the future
in the internal struggle, except with providing training, equipment,
intelligence, support, goodwill and alternative economic development."

In an interview with foreign reporters Wednesday, Colombian President
Andres Pastrana downplayed the U.S. role. "There will be no foreign
intervention in my country while I'm president," he said. "There are a lot
of mechanisms in place" to ensure that U.S. aid is used appropriately, he
added.

A former U.S. official familiar with the international drug trade expressed
skepticism. "This is not a story about drugs," he said. "This is a story
about military operations against a guerrilla force."

The growing U.S. presence in Colombia, the official added, is partly the
result of Pentagon jockeying for a new mission to justify its budget and
staffing requests.

The U.S. Southern Command in Miami, which is responsible for military
operations in Latin America, is, he said, "All dressed up (with) nowhere to
go."

FARC, which launched its insurrection in 1964, says it seeks land for
peasants.

Its critics say that despite Marxist-Leninist rhetoric, the group is as
dedicated to making money from narcotics trafficking as it is to any ideology.

U.S. and Colombian officials say the rebels pocket up to $600 million a
year by selling protection to the nation's drug barons.

McCaffrey was in Colombia to highlight what he characterized as a growing
rebel threat, not only to Colombia and the U.S., but to the entire region.

"This is a very dangerous situation for Colombian democracy," he said. "The
spillover effect is having an impact on Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela, Brazil,
Peru."

As a result, McCaffrey is urging the White House to push for $1 billion in
emergency anti-drug aid to Bogota, triple what Colombia now receives.
Colombia already is the third-largest recipient of American security
assistance, behind Israel and Egypt.