BUSH PRAISES COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT FOR FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM, DRUGS

WASHINGTON -- President Bush praised Colombian President Andres Pastrana on
Thursday for "standing tall" against narcotics traffickers and terrorists.
He urged Congress to let the South American nation use U.S. helicopters and
other equipment in its fight against insurgents.

"He fights terrorism -- he fights well-organized, well-funded groups that
are out to destroy democracy in Colombia," Mr. Bush said after his Oval
Office meeting with Mr. Pastrana.

The president has asked Congress to remove restrictions that prevent
Colombia from using helicopters and other U.S. antidrug aid to fight
leftist guerrillas. Congress imposed the limits to avoid having the U.S.
become entangled in a larger war.

Mr. Bush also is seeking $133 million to help Colombia stop guerrilla
attacks on an oil pipeline, reduce kidnappings and rebuild bombed police
stations. In addition, he is seeking $439 million in longer-term aid, and
$35 million in emergency antiterrorism support.

Congressional leaders, who met with Mr. Pastrana Wednesday, generally
backed the Bush proposal, a departure from previous U.S. policy.

"My predisposition is to be very supportive," Senate Majority Leader Tom
Daschle (D., S.D.) said. "President Pastrana especially has done an
outstanding job in leading his country through some very difficult times."

House Speaker Dennis Hastert said he would push to let U.S. military
equipment be used against Colombian rebels as well as drug traffickers. He
and Mr. Pastrana described Colombia as another battlefield in the global
war on terrorism. "Terrorism is terrorism, whether it's narco-terrorism or
terrorism against a government," Mr. Hastert (R., Ill.) said.

"We have a common enemy that is narco-terrorism," Mr. Pastrana said
Wednesday. "In the last weeks, the last months, that is what we have had in
our country and that is why we are asking the support of the United States
to fight narco-terrorism, the support of the world to fight this common
enemy, with its violence financed by drugs ."

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden said he was
"inclined to support" Mr. Bush's proposal on the military equipment. And it
might not even require new legislation, he said, since the State Department
has designated the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, a
terrorist organization.

Peace talks with FARC collapsed in February. Recently, bombings blamed on
FARC have hit major cities and targeted Mr. Pastrana's likely successor in
the May 26 elections, Alvaro Uribe, who has pledged to crack down on terror.

On Capitol Hill, skeptical Rep. Sonny Callahan (R., Ala.) asked Deputy
Secretary of State Richard Armitage Thursday why the administration wants
$35 million for emergency antiterror aid for Colombia, and what Colombia
has to do with the war on terrorism.

"We do believe this is part of the war on global terrorism," Mr. Armitage
told the House Appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations. "We know
... FARC is targeting Americans, and not just targeting officials and
infrastructure in Colombia."

Rep. Steven Rothman (D., N.J.) questioned whether $104 million proposed to
protect a Colombian oil pipeline was really for that purpose or to build up
its anti-insurgency forces.

Possibly both, Mr. Armitage said. "They are in a real tussle ... for
survival," he said. "We want to train another battalion that will effect
that type of security. Could those forces be used in counterinsurgency?
Absolutely. Could they also be used to protect the pipeline from
insurgents? Absolutely."

In his talks with Mr. Bush, Mr. Pastrana said he would ask Venezuela
Thursday whether the FARC is using the country as a staging ground against
Colombia. "We need that information," Mr. Pastrana said. Mr. Bush expressed
concern that FARC is acting against Venezuelan farmers who aren't protected
by that nation's government, which was nearly deposed in a coup last week.
The U.S. president said FARC is clearly a terrorist group.

Mr. Daschle expressed concern about the future impact of changing current
policy, given that Mr. Pastrana is leaving office this year. "What will be
the commitment of the new government?" he said. "What will be the intention
of the Colombian government with regard to using their own forces? Why have
we not been able to apprehend some of the FARC leaders yet?"

The U.S. has given Colombia $1.7 billion in the past two years to further
Mr. Pastrana's $7.5 billion, six-year, antidrug Plan Colombia.