PIPELINE BRIGADE

President Bush Is Arming Troops To Protect Occidental Petroleum In
Colombia. What Next?

April 8 issue -- Is George W. Bush using war as an extension of his
oil policy? It looked that way in February, when Washington announced
a $700 million aid package for the Andean region, largely to fight
the twin threats of guerrilla war and drugrunning that threaten the
area. As is usual, half the money will go to Colombia, but with a new
twist: $98 million for training and equipping a Colombian brigade of
around 2,000 soldiers to protect the 772-kilometer Cano Limon
pipeline. Used to transport crude oil to the Caribbean coast from a
field pumped by Occidental Petroleum of California in partnership
with the Colombian state oil company, the pipeline is a favorite
target of rebel saboteurs.

This would hardly be the first time a nation defended its interest in
smoothly flowing oil supplies by force of arms. Iraq's 1990 invasion
of Kuwait and the gulf war that followed are only the latest
conflicts over control of fossil fuel. Bush's critics have argued
since September 11 that his "war on terror" is really about oil, and
their suspicions have been heightened by the Pentagon's clear intent
to keep access to bases in the oil-rich Caspian Sea region after the
war in Afghanistan winds down. But in Colombia the oil connection is
not conjecture: it was spelled out in a budget request that
specifically names the pipeline and Occidental, and appeared to set a
dangerous precedent.

If the United States would defend Occidental's supplies, why not
those of any number of American oil companies in potential war zones?
At a time when the Bush administration has built its energy policy
around reducing U.S. dependence on Mideast oil, and is working
overtime to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, it can't ignore
disruption of other sources. In March, Bush aides were planning to
push through $15 million to $30 million in emergency spending to
"jump-start" the pipeline defense effort, rather than wait for the
2003 budget process to grind itself out.

Senior Bush officials insist the Cano Limon brigade has its origins
not in U.S. oil interests but in parliamentary maneuvering back home.
Conventional wisdom in Washington is that Colombia will lose the war
against the rebels without more U.S. help. Bush officials, like their
predecessors, express frustration at laws that limit U.S. military
aid to Colombia to the war on its notorious drug traffickers. Before
leaving on his trip to South America in March, Bush vowed to do
everything possible to expand U.S. aid beyond drugs to help in
Colombia's other war, the decades-old fight against Marxist guerrilla
armies. That's where the Cano Limon brigade comes in. "The pipeline
got in there because the White House figured it was the only thing
they could do within the existing guidelines," says a senior Pentagon
source.

In the wake of 9-11, it may work. The congressional distinction
between fighting drug runners and insurgents in Colombia has never
made much sense, because the guerrillas make their money running
drugs. By now the rebel armies control about half the country, and
the larger one, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC),
makes an estimated $300 million a year in the drug trade. It is also
waging a campaign of economic sabotage. Last year rebel bombings put
Cano Limon out of commission for 266 days, costing Colombia $500
million in lost export revenue. In January and February, guerrillas
widened the attacks to electricity pylons, bridges and waterworks
around the country. As Washington describes it, the new Cano Limon
brigade is a way of defending the economic lifeline of a nation on
the verge of becoming what one Pentagon planner calls "a failed
state."

To the extent that this is about oil, it's about Colombian oil, Bush
officials insist. They concede that Occidental lobbied for
protection, but not strongly, and that it made no difference.
Colombia is the seventh largest supplier of oil to the United States,
exporting 332,000 barrels per day in 2000. At that rate Colombia
"matters zilch" to U.S. energy security, says a Washington military
source. However, oil matters hugely to Colombia. It is the chief
source of export income, which will be critical to the future health
of the economy and Colombia's ability to hold off FARC. The State
Department has long listed FARC as "terrorists" rather than
guerrillas. In the wake of September 11, money for the pipeline
brigade can be sold to Congress as funding for the war on terror. The
plan will likely pass the House, but faces tougher scrutiny in the
Senate.