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Unabridged military relationship { February 7 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38315-2003Feb6.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38315-2003Feb6.html
Getting in Deeper
By Marcela Sanchez
Friday, February 7, 2003; Page A27
If the budget President Bush proposed this week is any indication, his administration appears to be moving boldly toward establishing an outright and unabridged military relationship with Colombia -- exactly the kind Washington sought so long to avoid.
The White House sent Congress a budget proposal for the next fiscal year that includes $110 million in good old-fashioned military assistance for the Andean nation. Unlike last year's proposal, the money would not be tied to a specific effort or locale. Rather, the Colombian military could use the funds for whatever counterterrorism effort it wanted, in whatever part of the country. That's not exactly a blank check, but it's pretty close.
In terms of dollars, the increase from last year's yet-to-be-ruled-on request is barely 15 percent. But Washington seems to be signaling that the time has come to lift restrictions on such expenditures and give the Colombian military a hefty vote of confidence.
This would amount to a radical change in U.S. policy toward Colombia, which already receives the most U.S. security aid among countries in the region since the Cold War.
It was barely a year ago that U.S. officials began to shift the terms of the Colombia debate from drugs to terrorism. Then, five months ago, what had been unimaginable for years was written into law: U.S. aid intended to fight drugs could be used to fight insurgents.
The distinction between dollars to fight drugs and dollars to counter "terrorists" is important. The difference evolved over considerable time, and losing sight of that lengthy and complicated process could make the path Washington and Bogota are now following even more perilous.
Colombia's conflict is a complex, violent morass of anti-government leftist rebels and right-wing militias -- both financed by lucrative illegal activities and confronted by weak legitimate security forces. There are those in Washington who have for years yearned to jump in and help. But recognition of the complexities has limited the U.S. role.
For a long time, any talk of increasing U.S. security aid to Colombia was therefore countered by persistent voices warning of mission creep or a military quagmire. In the post-9/11 environment, these voices would seem harder to hear over the shouts for a global war on terror.
Democratic congressional sources warned this week that, unlike last year, the coming debate over the issue could find more people in Congress determined to question the Bush administration's proposal to combine the anti-drug and anti-terrorism campaigns in Colombia. But it will not be easy to oppose a war against Colombian anti-government guerrillas, some of whose tactics are easily likened to those of al Qaeda.
Indeed, the conflict in Colombia seems to have worsened in recent weeks. Many fear it is a question of when, not if, key elements of U.S. aid -- men or materiel or both -- will themselves become targets. Any such casualties would not be easily accepted in the United States, especially when many have yet to overcome the popular notion that Colombia has been unwilling to bear the burden of its war.
The strongest remaining resistance to moving beyond anti-drug aid to more overt military assistance comes from human rights advocates concerned with the Colombian military's association with brutal right-wing paramilitary groups. To them, such links warrant punishment, not reward.
Imagine their alarm when just last week the Colombian army commander, Gen. Carlos Ospina, leaving a meeting at the Pentagon, suggested that the critics of his forces are mouthpieces for guerrilla propaganda.
Perhaps the new army leader is not wise to Washington's ways. But perhaps he is and feels that Washington is now more interested in warriors than reformers.
In President Bush's new black-and-white world of counterterrorism, Washington risks ignoring the gray areas that have long made it reluctant to do more in Colombia. The challenge for those still willing to raise the tough questions about this policy is to find a way to do so without being dismissed as stuck in the past, or worse, aligned with the enemy.
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
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