FUNDING DRUG DEALERS AND HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSERS

That same confusion of the role of the police with that of the military,
and of counterinsurgency with counter narcotic strategies, has pervaded US
policy in Colombia,where some 20,000 civilians have been killed since 1986.
According to Amnesty International (AI) and the military's own paper trail,
US aid allocated for counternarcotics has been diverted to fund
counterinsurgency and used by units implicated in human rights abuses.

On August 18, 1991, for example, members of the XIII Brigade, tasked with
counterinsurgency, burst into the home of political activist Antonio
Palacios Urrea, murdered him and three of his children, and tortured other
family members. US military documents, leaked to AI via journalist Frank
Smyth, confirm that counternarcotics funding was going to this unit. US
Defense Department (DoD) documents confirmed that all but one of the
brigades that AI implicated in gross human rights violations turned out to
have received US aid. The paper trail also shows that the Clinton
administration knew of the violations and repeatedly told Congress and the
public that it was not funding and arming units implicated in atrocities.

The administration insists that US aid funds antidrug not
counterinsurgency efforts, but US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) documents
reveal that attempts to separate the two operations are farcical. Col
Warren D. Hall staff judge advocate to Gen. Barry McCaffrey (then SOUTHCOM
commander and now Clinton's drug czar) admitted as much in an internal
memo: "It is unrealistic to expect the military to limit use of the
equipment to operations against narcotraffickers. ... The light infantry
skills US special operations forces teach during counterdrug deployments
... can be used by the Colombian armed forces in their counterinsurgency as
well." Hall also admitted that USsupplied equipment "may be used in
counter insurgency operations during which human rights violations might
occur."

SOUTHCOM worried about being "vulnerable to criticism because of the
similarities inherent in counter drug [CD] and counter insurgency [CI]
efforts in Colombia." But since "disengaging from the CD effort in Colombia
is not a viable option," a DoD memo noted, "...USSOUTHCOM must adhere to
policies that minimize the possibility of US culpability for human rights
violations" as opposed to minimizing the violations themselves.

In 1996, Congress banned aid to any military unit about which there is
credible evidence of human rights violations. Since DoD admits that those
violations will likely continue, and since confusion between CI and CD
roles is unavoidable, we can look forward to an immediate cessation of aid
to Colombia. Or not.