The Nation - News from Feb. 9, 1989

President Bush and a Pentagon official denied any plans to send U.S. troops to destroy South American drug laboratories, but Bush said he wouldn’t rule it out in the future. Asked about an NBC News report that such an effort was being prepared, Bush said: “Nobody’s discussed that with me,” and added that he is “very wary of committing U.S. troops overseas.” He said he would never take such action “until I’ve given it a lot of thought.” Bush added: “There could be times, working cooperatively with leaders in the hemisphere, that American assistance would be sought and American assistance would be granted in wiping out insidious factories that send poison in to poison our kids . . . so you don’t rule something out.”