COLOMBIA SEEKS MORE U.S. AID FOR A BROADER WAR

SAN VICENTE DEL CAGUAN, Colombia, Feb. 23 -- President Andres
Pastrana flew into this former rebel haven under heavy security
today, as his senior commanders sought to follow up their largely
unopposed seizure of rebel-held towns with broad strategic attacks
that would mark a turning point in Colombia's 38-year-old war.

Pastrana told about 1,000 people gathered in the town square that the
rebels had ruined peace talks and would now be treated as terrorists.
"And in that, the world supports us," he declared. Army sharpshooters
kept watch from balconies and a church steeple during his speech.

The visit was a bitter counterpoint to Pastrana's trip here in
December 1998, when he gave the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, or FARC as the guerrillas are known, control of a 16,000-
square-mile region as an incentive to begin talks to end Colombia's
civil war.

Those talks ended Wednesday, when Pastrana ordered his military to
retake the zone.

The United States and other governments have praised his decision.

Now Pastrana is hoping that praise will translate into additional
military and intelligence assistance as his imperfect peace process
likely will give way to a broader insurgency against which his armed
forces have never excelled.

As part of a renewed lobbying campaign for additional U.S. assistance
to press his fight beyond the former haven, Pastrana has talked with
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Defense Secretary Donald H.
Rumsfeld about allowing the military component of a $1.3 billion U.S.
aid package to be used directly against the guerrillas. Under current
rules, the aid can be used only in anti-drug operations.

On Friday, in a gesture of support, U.S. officials announced that
they would begin a broader intelligence-sharing plan with the
government and expedite the shipment of replacement parts for the
roughly 50 UH-60 Black Hawk and UH-1H Huey transport helicopters
arriving as part of the aid package.

The United States has already begun providing satellite photography
of the zone, according to a senior Colombian army officer.

Two senior U.S. military officers accompanied Pastrana on his visit here today.

"This is no mission, we're just here visiting," said Col. William
Graves, commander of the U.S. Military Group in Bogota, adding that
he was invited by the Colombian army. "We're just here seeing what's
going on."

Pastrana's request comes as Congress is deciding whether Colombia's
military has made sufficient strides in improving its human rights
record to warrant continuing U.S. assistance.

International human rights groups have urged Congress to "decertify"
Colombia because of the military's continuing ties to a brutal
paramilitary force that has repeatedly killed civilians in reprisal
operations.

Decertification would suspend U.S. military aid and leave Pastrana
largely alone to face a guerrilla force that has grown to 18,000
people since it took to the field in 1964.

As Pastrana arrived here, stepping off a helicopter in a soccer
field, his armed forces continued air and ground operations in this
inhospitable region of jungle-covered mountains and pastures that has
been under de facto guerrilla control for decades.

The initial days of the campaign have gone largely as planned,
officials said, with warplanes striking FARC air strips, roads and
camps, followed by infantry deployments into the enclave.

The strength of the ground force today surpassed 2,500 soldiers and
is likely to grow to 13,000 in the weeks ahead.

Only three army casualties have been reported so far. Seasoned in
ambush, sabotage and other guerrilla tactics, the FARC has withdrawn
from the zone's five major towns, redeploying roughly 5,000 rebels
into surrounding hills where they enjoy strategic and popular
advantage over a government that has been absent for decades.

About an hour from this town of 25,000 residents, the largest in the
zone, FARC guerrillas have dug in near Los Pozos and other villages,
awaiting the army's arrival.

Throughout the region, where the FARC has built roads, bridges and
other infrastructure in recent years, the guerrillas have evacuated
large camps and broken into small patrols.

The rebels have also launched attacks outside the enclave, taxing an
over-stretched army and making it difficult for Pastrana to sustain a
prolonged deployment of soldiers to this campaign.

While the performance of Colombia's armed forces has improved in
recent years with U.S. help, military analysts and diplomats here say
it is still not capable of defeating the FARC.

Some analysts here believe that as many as 400 transport helicopters
would be needed to effectively pursue a guerrilla force that has a
presence in every Colombian province and most major cities.

U.S. officials acknowledge that the government would likely have to
double the size of its 140,000-member military to control the entire
country, an increase that would be prohibitively expensive.

"Given the number of men, the number of officers and its budget, the
Colombian army is one of the most mediocre in the history of Latin
America," said a diplomat involved in peace efforts here. "This is an
army that has lost half of the country to guerrillas. The U.S. has
made it better -- improving night operations, mobility -- but it
still has a ways to go."

During a crisis last month that brought Pastrana close to declaring
an end to the safe haven, senior military commanders discussed plans
to surround the zone and pursue the guerrillas inside.

The strategy suggested they now believe that this could be a decisive
moment in the nearly 40 years of war.

Today, several hundred more infantry troops arrived in the center of
this city, 185 miles south of the capital, Bogota. So far, very few
operations have taken place outside the towns, military officials
acknowledge, although some may be in the planning.

For now, the FARC remains in command of essentially the same rural
territory it held before the safe haven was created.

But it is now in a stronger military and financial position, after
using the zone's protection for three years to stage military
strikes, train recruits and receive new training from foreign groups.

The cultivation of coca, the key ingredient in cocaine that the FARC
"taxes" in exchange for protection, has also increased, bringing in
new money to support FARC operations.

Colombian military officers say they won't be deterred. "First, we're
focusing on bringing back state security in these cities -- the
judges, the police," an army officer said. "And what we need most is
the intelligence help. These are small groups [of guerrillas] now,
and it has become much more difficult. But we intend to go after
them."