-Caveat Lector- Rueters - January 23, 2001 Colombian Woes to Overshadow Bush Focus on Americas By Anthony Boadle A looming war between ''narco-guerrillas'' and U.S.-trained troops in Colombia will complicate President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s desire for better ties with Latin America, military experts said on Tuesday. They said Bush inherited a questionable strategy of U.S. military aid for a Colombian offensive against drug plantations protected by Marxist rebels that is expected to flare up into protracted fighting. The military emphasis of the U.S.-backed Plan Colombia has distanced European allies and annoyed Latin American countries who fear the conflict will spill over Colombia's borders. Bush signaled a new focus on Latin America by announcing that his first trip abroad will be to Mexico to meet President Vicente Fox at his ranch in February. He intends to push ahead with the negotiation of a hemispheric free trade pact at a summit of leaders of the Americas in Quebec in April. But the Colombian crisis will likely submerge all other issues, said military strategy professor Max Manwaring of the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. ``The Bush administration is going to find Colombia is its most immediate and greatest challenge,'' Manwaring said. ``As the problem deteriorates in Colombia and then overflows into the neighboring countries, regional stability and the prospect of free trade will be affected,'' he said. Last year Congress approved a Clinton Administration request for $1.3 billion to back Plan Colombia, hoping it would crush the main source of cocaine sold on U.S. streets. The spraying of defoliant herbicide on coca plantations in southern Putumayo province has begun and will intensify later this year with delivery by the United States of 14 Blackhawk helicopters to deploy three Colombian army battalions. The troops are being trained to take on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which has been fighting the government since the 1960s and is now flush with cash from the narcotics trade. Intractable Conflict Involvement of U.S. ground troops in Colombia is out of the question, the experts said, but throwing money and military hardware there is no way to solve an intractable conflict that has roots in half a century of rural violence. The Bush Administration is expect to continue the policy. ``They will, not because it solves anything, but because pulling the plug at this point will only make the situation worse than ever,'' said Professor Richard Mallet, of the Marine Corps University, at Quantico, Virginia. Mallet said the bloody conflict, involving leftist rebels, right-wing paramilitaries and government forces, is a political struggle with a military dimension that can only be resolved politically, with emphasis on social and economic development. U.S. helicopters will give the Colombian army more mobility but will not defeat the guerrillas or force them to negotiate peace, he said. U.S. military officials are convinced that the FARC are buying shoulder-fired rockets that will make the Blackhawk helicopters vulnerable. ``The Somalis fired them at our Blackhawks and brought down a couple. If they could do that in an urban environment, it will be even easier in the Colombian jungle,'' said Mallet. Manwaring said the Clinton Administration did a bad job explaining Plan Colombia to the American public and its allies in Europe and Japan, who have been reluctant to donate funds. The Clinton Administration also failed to get other Latin American nations involved in solving the Colombian crisis. ``We are finding growing dissatisfaction and disenchantment with Plan Colombia, because it looks like a military operation, and so far that is what it is,'' Manwaring said. Best Man For Job The Bush Administration have at least started off on the right foot by choosing the best man to advise the White House on Colombia, the experts said. Career diplomat and former ambassador to Venezuela, John Maisto, was chosen to be National Security Council advisor for inter-American affairs. Maisto was charge d'affaires in Panama during the 1989 U.S. invasion to topple dictator Manuel Noriega. He also dealt with the Sandinistas as ambassador to Nicaragua and more recently with Venezuelan populist president Hugo Chavez, an opponent of U.S. military aid to Plan Colombia. Since last year Maisto has been advising the U.S. Southern Command, which is responsible for training the Colombian army battalions for the anti-drug drive. ``For starters, they have the best man for the job,'' said Mallet. ``Maisto knows there are no quick and easy fixes.'' <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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