OFFICIALS SEEKING SHIFT IN COLOMBIA DRUG WAR

WASHINGTON -- With little to show for a costly U.S. campaign against
Colombian drug trafficking, the Bush administration and some key lawmakers
are seeking to redefine the effort as a war on economic and political
terrorism.

Officially, President Bush seeks no change in congressionally imposed
limits that restrict Colombia's use of U.S. military equipment and training
to fighting the drug war rather than battling two powerful rebel groups.

"At this point in time, and I suspect for the future, we're in a
counter-narcotics situation with the Colombians," said a senior
administration official. "We are training their military and providing
equipment for counter-narcotics."

But officials at the Pentagon are at odds with their State Department
counterparts over the extent and type of U.S. military aid to the South
American country, with the Pentagon arguing for deeper involvement.

The Bush administration is proposing that $98 million in military
assistance to Colombia go toward protecting a 480-mile oil pipeline that
has become a magnet for terrorist strikes aimed at weakening the Colombian
economy.

The money would help train two Colombian army brigades for combat patrols.
The president's request also seeks $439 million for other military and
economic aid.

Even on Capitol Hill, traditionally the center of concern about possible
U.S. entanglement in a military quagmire in Colombia, some lawmakers are
willing to consider giving the Colombians a freer hand in how they use
American military aid.

Five prominent House Republicans urged the State Department to allow
Colombia to use at least some U.S. military equipment in going after
terrorists in Colombia, particularly those who kidnap Americans.

Fighting Terrorism

U.S. aid, the lawmakers said, should be used "to help fight terrorism and
drug trafficking." They urged that at least two military helicopters be
used "for purposes of rescuing kidnapping victims, especially Americans ...
at a minimum."

The letter was signed by Reps. Henry Hyde, (R-Ill.) chairman of the House
International Relations Committee; Dan Burton, (R-Ind.) chairman of the
Government Reform Committee; Bob Barr, (R-Ga.); Cass Ballenger, (R-N.C.),
chairman of the International Relations Western Hemisphere subcommittee;
and Benjamin Gilman (R-N.Y.)

Colombia is embroiled in a 38-year civil war, primarily involving two rebel
groups: the 18,000-member FARC and the 5,000-member ELN, named for their
Spanish initials.

For the past three years, under Colombian President Andres Pastrana, a
swath of territory the size of Switzerland has been ceded to the rebels, in
hopes it would create a climate for peace talks.

Instead, the war grinds on, claiming about 3,500 lives per year and raising
international concerns about human-rights violations by rebel groups,
right-wing paramilitaries and government forces.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government can point to no perceptible reduction in the
availability of cocaine on U.S. streets stemming from the campaign in Colombia.

In the past decade, 50 American citizens have been kidnapped, 10 of them
murdered.

The oil pipeline, run by Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum, was bombed
so many times last year it was out of commission for 266 days. Last month
alone, rebels dynamited 50 electrical towers in an intensifying attack on
the Colombian economy.

All this has helped propel to the top of opinion polls the hard-liner among
the candidates to succeed Pastrana in the May 26 election. A Gallup poll
released last week indicated Alvaro Uribe, who has called for greater U.S.
military aid, with 53 percent support.

Pastrana Issues Plea

The push for more U.S. military aid and greater freedom in how it is used
is not confined to hard-liners. In his visit to Washington last November,
the center-left Pastrana lobbied Bush and key lawmakers to give Colombia a
free hand to use U.S. assistance against the rebels.

Before expanding the scope of U.S. aid, many on Capitol Hill demand results.

Rep. Sonny Callahan (R-Ala.), a key House Appropriations subcommittee
chairman, told Secretary of State Colin Powell he may seek to rescind some
of the $1.3 billion in the original "Plan Colombia" aid package approved
under President Bill Clinton.

Much of the money has gone to buy Black Hawk helicopters built by Sikorsky
Aircraft in Connecticut, leading one critic to suggest the aid package be
called "Plan Connecticut."

Asked whether helping Colombia defend a private oil company's asset against
terror attacks by rebel groups puts the U.S. beyond its original mission of
fighting drug trafficking from Colombia, Powell acknowledged, "It's a close
line."

Oil's Importance

The administration says Colombia needs the oil revenue to help pay its own
way in the fight against rebels and drug traffickers.

Moreover, the administration says the FARC and ELN are financed by the drug
trade, making it difficult to distinguish between counter-insurgency war
and counter-narcotics war.

"The pipeline is the opening to get in deeper," said Michael Shifter, a
Latin American analyst with the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based
think tank.