Military

DATE=2/13/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-286430

TITLE=POWELL / COLOMBIA AID (L-ONLY)

BYLINE=DAVID GOLLUST

DATELINE=STATE DEPARTMENT

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Secretary of State Colin Powell is defending a controversial Bush administration request for nearly 100-million dollars in new aid to help Colombia's armed forces defend a critical oil pipeline, which has been a frequent target of anti-government insurgents. V-O-A's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

TEXT: Mr. Powell says the administration has no intention of actually sending U-S forces into Colombia to help guard the pipeline.

But he acknowledges that giving Colombian forces training and equipment to do so would mark a departure from current policy limiting U-S aid to Colombia to supporting the fight against narco-trafficking.

The Secretary was appearing before a House Appropriations subcommittee Wednesday to defend the administration's 25-billion-dollar foreign affairs budget proposal for the coming year, which includes 98-million-dollars to help Colombia protect the strategic Cano-Limon-Covenas pipeline.

The 700-kilometer long pipeline connects an oilfield in northeastern Colombia operated by the U-S-based Occidental Petroleum Corporation to a tanker port on the Caribbean coast.

In his House testimony, Mr. Powell said guerrilla attacks had shut down the pipeline for 240 days last year, costing Colombia considerable revenue, causing serious environmental damage, and depriving the United States of an energy source.

He said helping keep the pipeline open would, among other things, give the Colombian government more money for counter-narcotics efforts.

But under questioning from the Republican subcommittee chairman Jim Kolbe, Secretary Powell conceded it would at least be a "passive" change in U-S policy:

///POWELL-KOLBE ACTUALITY///

Kolbe: Do you think this is a departure from our policy in the past. Are we getting into counter-insurgency?

Powell: I think it's a close line. I don't think it's quite into counter-insurgency, to the extent that they're not using this investment this new capability to go running into the jungles looking for the insurgents, but essentially to protect a unique facility.

Kolbe: So a passive, rather than an active (change)?

Powell: Yes sir.

///END ACT///

The pipeline-defense plan has drawn criticism from Senate Democrat Patrick Leahy, who says the proposal draws the United States further into what he termed a "military quagmire" in Colombia, and says Congress should be very reluctant to lend support.

The U-S money would go to train two brigades of Colombian troops to protect the pipeline and eventually other parts of the country's infrastructure including power lines frequently targeted by guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

In his testimony, Mr. Powell also said Congress should be able to see tangible results this year from the one-point-three billion dollar U-S aid package to Colombia initiated by the Clinton administration and largely devoted to anti-drug military aid and human rights improvements.

He admitted under questioning that some European countries -- which had also made aid commitments in support of President Andres Pastrana "Plan Colombia" initiative -- had reneged on pledges, but also said it would not help matters to withhold U-S aid installments. (Signed)

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