U.S. SHOULD PLANT SEEDS OF PEACE

The war in Colombia is raging, fueled by U.S. military aid and training.
There is an alarming new development: the Bush administration is pushing
Congress to use the newest war -- the "War on Terrorism" -- to escalate
U.S. involvement in the Colombian civil war. The Bush administration wants
to mount an all-out "anti-terrorist" campaign to protect U.S. oil interests
there. Even as they cut social programs here in the U.S., the Bush
administration wants another $537 million in Colombian military aid -- $98
million of which will go to protect the Occidental Oil Company pipeline.

"Rather than fueling the flames of Colombia's civil war, the U.S. should
support the peace process, programs for the protection of human rights,
alternative development for coca and poppy producers, and drug treatment
and prevention programs to reduce the demand for drugs here at home,"
states Don Reeves of the American Friends Service Committee.

The Mennonite Central Committee states, "It is time to let Congress know
that the United States must plant seeds of peace in Colombia, not seeds of
war and violence. What the U.S. is sending to the Colombian people through
this military 'aid' is a message of death and destruction, amplified by the
silence of so many Christians."

Noreen Ordronneau

Carrboro