COLOMBIA'S DRUG EFFORT QUESTIONED

GAO report criticizes country's failure to make use of U.S. military aid

Even as the Bush administration is lobbying to increase U.S. military aid
to Colombia, the South American nation is failing to do its part in a joint
military effort to combat narcotics trafficking, according to an unreleased
congressional report.

The report, from the General Accounting Office, says Colombia has failed to
provide military pilots for 14 U.S.-supplied Black Hawk helicopters,
leaving the high-tech aircraft idle.

It says the country's armed forces have not supplied all the personnel
promised for programs training pilots and mechanics, and recently cut back
on drug crop-eradication programs because of "political concerns."

Plans for using U.S. military aid "have fallen substantially behind
schedule, and prospects for near-term fixes are bleak," according to the
brief report, which has not been released publicly but was provided to
relevant congressional committees this week.

It is believed to mark the first time that a government report has faulted
the Colombian armed forces' cooperation in Plan Colombia, the anti-drug
effort to which the United States has committed $2 billion since 2000.

It reflects the view, held by many who advocate a stepped-up U.S. role,
that the Andean nation must do its share if the United States is to provide
the additional money and assistance the Colombians seek.

But those who doubt the wisdom of greater U.S. activity also are likely to
seize on it as evidence that the three-sided fight involving left-wing
insurgent groups, right-wing paramilitary forces and the Colombian military
will become a quagmire for the United States.

In the short term, the report's results will add to the pressure on
Colombia's president-elect, Alvaro Uribe, to commit greater resources to
the battle. Uribe, who was elected last month and takes office in August,
is to meet in Washington next week with Bush administration officials and
congressional leaders.

Officials at the Colombian Embassy in Washington said they had not seen the
report and were unable to comment.

The GAO report says that many U.S. officials interviewed "expressed
frustration with the overall pace of Plan Colombia, and the lack of
Colombian commitment to the program, and expressed interest in having GAO
examine the status and effectiveness of U.S. counter-narcotics assistance
to the Colombian military."

Plan Colombia called for the United States to provide 14 Black Hawk and 30
Super Huey UH-II helicopters to transport U.S.-trained counter- narcotics
troops to conduct anti-drug operations.

All the Black Hawks have arrived, and the Super Hueys are due before the
end of the year.

UPDATE

25 arrested in Colombian heroin ring, authorities say: United States
authorities said Wednesday that they had broken up a major Colombian
drug-exporting ring that was smuggling millions of dollars worth of heroin
each month into New York and elsewhere.

Prosecutors said that among the 25 people arrested, both in New York and
Colombia, were the group's leader and two top aides. The extradition of the
three to the United States is now being sought.

The arrests highlight what the authorities say has been the use of
increasingly sophisticated smuggling techniques and the emergence of
Colombia as a successor to Asia as the major heroin supplier to the United
States.

In describing the new techniques, James Comey, the U.S. attorney in
Manhattan, told of chemists working in Colombian laboratories who dissolved
heroin into clothing that was folded and packed in suitcases and carried by
couriers into the United States.

Then, chemists in this country extract the heroin and have it prepared for
sale on the street, he said.

"Heroin is back in New York, and it is back with a vengeance," Comey said.

He added that, while 20 years ago, the heroin sold on the streets of New
York came from Southwest and Southeast Asia, "The Colombian drug lords have
branched out from cocaine and have come to dominate that traffic."

- --New York Times