BUSH, PERUVIAN LEADER TARGET TERROR AND DRUGS

LIMA, Peru - President Bush and President Alejandro Toledo of Peru pledged
Saturday to join in what Toledo called "a war without quarter" against
terrorism and drug trafficking in the Andean region.

"We are partners not just through conviction," Toledo said at a news
conference with Bush. "But we ourselves have experienced the effects of
terrorism here for 20 years," including the explosion Wednesday of a
100-pound car bomb across from the U.S. Embassy that killed nine people and
wounded 30.

"We share a common perspective on terror," Bush said. "We must stop it."

Bush offered condolences over the attack and announced $195 million in
assistance for Peru this year, a threefold increase; $75 million of it
would go toward counternarcotics programs and security.

"Peruvians have been reminded again this week of the terrible human toil of
terror," Bush said. He thanked Peru for taking the lead "in rallying our
hemisphere to take strong action against this common threat."

The two leaders met in Toledo's presidential palace on Lima's central
square amid a massive security operation throughout the Peruvian capital.
More than 7,000 police officers were deployed on city streets, many in full
riot gear.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing, though Peruvian
officials have said they suspect a resurgent Shining Path guerrilla
movement, thought to have largely disbanded after its leader was arrested
in 1992.

U.S. and Peruvian security officials were put on even higher alert Saturday
morning after six small homemade explosives were tossed from a car and
detonated on the roadside in a poor district of Lima, far from anywhere
Bush was scheduled to visit.

Police also cracked down on a small anti-American demonstration in a
central city square, firing tear gas and arresting 18 people.

Bush's one-day visit, the first to Peru by a sitting U.S. president, was
designed to demonstrate the administration's strong interest in Latin
America, particularly the Andean countries where the United States is
funding major military and development aid programs to try to stop the
production and export of cocaine and heroin to U.S. markets.

The presidents of Colombia and Bolivia, and the vice president of Ecuador,
also flew here to meet with Bush on Saturday night following his talks with
Toledo.

Officials had hoped that Bush would arrive with a major trade deal and
would announce the renewal of a joint anti-narcotics aerial surveillance
program suspended last year.

But he had little to offer beyond a pat on the back for their democratic
governments and a promise to keep working on those issues.

Bush blamed the Senate for failing to vote on the Andean Trade Preferences
Act, a 10-year agreement that expired in December. Though the House
extended and expanded the trade pact several months ago, a handful of
senators have objected to eliminating import duties on textile goods and
other regional products.

Regional governments have complained privately that the administration,
distracted by the war against global terrorism, failed to push the agreement.

The drug surveillance program, jointly operated with the United States in
Peru and Colombia, was shut down in April when the Peruvian air force shot
down an aircraft carrying U.S. missionaries, killing a woman and her infant
daughter. A CIA-piloted plane patrolling over northern Peru mistakenly
targeted the plane as a drug flight.

Investigations by the State Department and the Senate criticized the
program as sloppily organized and supervised. Though an administration
review was completed last summer, and the White House has repeatedly
indicated it intended to reactivate the flights, it has not done so.

Sources in Washington have said the administration was still trying to
figure out how to respond to Senate demands that the CIA end its
involvement in the program and that the program be taken over by the U.S.
military or Customs Service.

Administration officials have said there were no signs that clandestine
drug flights have increased. They said reinstatement of the program was
important to Toledo and Colombian President Andres Pastrana as an
indication of U.S. support and trust.

Bush told reporters he had talked with Toledo about how the United States
can help fight drug trafficking and terrorists. He said the United States
would support Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which is looking
into past human rights abuses and would reach out with teacher training,
nutrition programs and cultural exchanges.

He also announced a trade mission to Peru, led by Commerce Secretary Don
Evans, this year.

"The United States is actively supporting the president's efforts to
strengthen Peru's democratic foundations," Bush said. "You can't alleviate
poverty if there's terror in your neighborhood."

Besides money, Bush said the United States has an obligation to reduce U.S.
demand for illegal drugs. "We've got to do a better job at home of
convincing Americans to stop using drugs," he said. "That will, in turn,
help the region."

The increased U.S. aid will support Peru's efforts to stem a possible
resurgence in coca production and the recent appearance of heroin poppy
crops in remote highland areas.

Bush and Toledo also announced resumption of a U.S. Peace Corps program in
Peru and a U.S. fellowship for Peruvian business leaders.

The initiatives were little compared with the languishing trade pact that
Toledo hopes will help diminish his country's double-digit unemployment rate.

Terrorism, and the drug trafficking that the Bush administration has
described as its close relative, were clearly the central topics of discussion.

The importance of the issue was underlined both by the Wednesday bombing
and an administration request to Congress last week to expand U.S. military
aid and training in Colombia, which are now limited to anti-drug efforts,
to that government's decades-long war against leftist guerrillas.

Both the U.S. and Colombian governments have labeled the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia as terrorists. U.S. anti-drug assistance to
Colombia over the last two years has totaled nearly $2 billion. A much
smaller program in Peru, about $150 million in the current budget, is also
limited to fighting drugs.

U.S. officials here said there was "no question" that Washington would
offer immediate anti-terrorism assistance if it was determined that the
Shining Path was responsible for the car bombing.

Though no Americans were killed in the attack, agents from the FBI and the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are here helping with the investigation.