DRUG CZAR ADVOCATES MORE AID FOR COLOMBIA

U.S. Continues The Search For Missing Spy Plane

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Washington's top anti-drug official pushed for
increased military aid Monday to counter rebels in Colombia, where rescuers
tried to reach what might be the wreckage of a U.S. spy plane lost on an
anti-narcotics mission.

Visiting the world's No. 1 cocaine-producing country, Barry McCaffrey said
peace talks to end the nation's 35-year conflict would only work if
Colombia's security forces were strengthened against the threat of
"narco-guerrillas."

"The United States has paid inadequate attention to a serious and growing
emergency," he told reporters after meeting with President Andres Pastrana.

America should provide more battle helicopters and training for Colombian
military and police units, he said.

The missing de Havilland RC-7 plane, packed with sophisticated radar and
eavesdropping equipment, apparently slammed into an uncharted mountain in
bad weather, likely killing the five American soldiers and two Colombian air
force officers on board, McCaffrey said. It was reported missing Friday.

The names of those missing have not been released.

Low cloud cover and rugged terrain have prevented searchers from reaching
the site. "It's extreme terrain," said Steve Lucas, a spokesman for the
Southern Command in Miami. Lucas said specially trained searchers could jump
from aircraft, be lowered down by ropes, or hike up to the wreckage lodged
high on a mountainside.

The plane dropped off radar screens while over Putumayo, a major
drug-cultivation area dominated by the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, or FARC. It was gathering intelligence on a "routine"
counter-narcotics mission, the Army said.

Peace negotiations begun in January are going slowly, amid doubts about the
FARC's sincerity. Hoping to increase pressure on the rebels to negotiate,
Patrana's defense minister recently visited Washington to lobby for an
additional $500 million in military aid.