US SEEKS FUNDS FOR 2ND DRUG BRIGADE IN COLOMBIA

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration asked Congress for funds to train a
second anti-drug brigade in the Colombian army as part of an Andean
counterdrug initiative expanded by 14 percent to $731 million in 2003.

According to budget documents released Monday, the U.S. contribution to the
initiative would increase to $731 million from an estimated $643 million in
this financial year.

"In 2003 the funds will support counterdrug activities, the creation of a
second Colombian Army Counterdrug Brigade, economic development and
democratic institution building efforts in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia,
Ecuador, Brazil, Venezuela and Panama," the budget said.

The Washington Times reported Monday the administration would submit to
Congress later this month a plan for training Colombian troops and wiping
out the coca crop, from which cocaine is derived.

It said the plan would rely heavily on Army Special Forces or Green Berets
attached to the 7th Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. But
sources told the newspaper there were no plans to have the Green Berets,
used extensively in the war in Afghanistan, take part in combat.

The United States would also train local troops to protect the country's
oil pipelines, frequent targets of leftist rebel armies at war with the
Colombian government for decades.

U.S. officials told the newspaper the proposal also called for increased
intelligence sharing with Colombia.

The United States has spent more than $1.5 billion in the past three years
to stop cocaine production in the Andes but the budget said the effect was
not yet clear on the cultivation and export of cocaine.

Colombia produces about 80 percent of the world's cocaine and is a leading
supplier of heroin to the United States.