OFFICIALS CALL DRUG WAR CUTS A MISTAKE

MIAMI -- The proposed withdrawal of Army air support from a U.S.-
Bahamas anti-drug effort could entice cocaine and marijuana smugglers
to return to the vast island chain and may undo more than two decades
of progress, key U.S. lawmakers and Bahamian officials said.

"It would clearly have negative consequences for the region as a
whole," Joshua Sears, the Bahamas' ambassador to the United States,
said Thursday in a telephone interview. "The traffickers obviously
would see that as a signal to increase their activity."

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, citing war needs elsewhere, said
in a letter last month that he intends to withdraw seven Army
Blackhawk helicopters and their crews from Operation Bahamas, Turks
and Caicos - known as OPBAT for short -- by Oct. 1, 2007. The
Associated Press reported the letter's contents Wednesday.

The Blackhawks are a critical air asset for the effort, begun in 1982
and credited by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration with driving
smugglers away from the islands, some of which are only a few hours
by boat from Florida's long coastline. More than 80 percent of
cocaine shipments to the U.S. once came through the Bahamas and
Caribbean, but today the bulk of it crosses the U.S. border with Mexico.

Five U.S. House members, including two Republican committee chairmen,
said it would be a mistake to withdraw the helicopters and urged
Rumsfeld in a May 25 letter to reconsider.

"These assets have proven invaluable in our nation's counterdrug
transit zone strategy in the Caribbean Sea," they wrote. "If you
withdraw the assets in question no other agency is capable of filling
the void and another smuggling route will be significantly undermanned."

A senior House Republican from Miami, Rep. Ileana RosLehtinen, said
Thursday that "many members of Congress are quite unhappy with this
proposed DOD plan. We will work towards making sure all venues are
exhausted before such a successful interdiction program is stopped."

Rumsfeld said in a May 15 letter announcing his decision to Attorney
General Alberto Gonzales that he would work with the Justice
Department in finding a suitable replacement for the Blackhawks. The
DEA currently has one helicopter in the Bahamas and the Coast Guard
has three, although the Coast Guard number varies based on mission needs.