White House Will Ask Congress for Help on Colombia

The Bush administration will seek legislative changes to give it more flexibility in helping the Colombian government fight rebels, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said Tuesday.

Congress has put limits on U.S. security assistance to Colombia in the campaign against the drug trade, but the Colombian military’s new priority is an offensive against the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

The Bush administration has been hinting for weeks that it might ask Congress to expand the scope of U.S. security assistance to Colombia to include the campaign against the FARC, which Washington lists as a terrorist organization.

Powell said last week that a policy review was underway on whether the United States could help beyond the drug war.

On Tuesday, speaking to a subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, he said, “We do believe we should help this democracy that is being threatened by narco-traffickers and terrorists.

“Therefore, we will be sending up [to Congress], in the not too distant future, language which would give us greater flexibility with respect to the kind of support we can provide,” he added.

A State Department official said he had not seen specific legislative proposals. The administration might decide to include a proposal in a request for extra appropriations money later this year, he added.

After peace talks between the Colombian government and the FARC broke down last month, government forces started moving into the demilitarized zone they had ceded to the rebels in 1998.

The United States has promised to share more intelligence information and speed up deliveries of military equipment.

Powell said, “They’re not asking for U.S. troops, nor do I see U.S. troops going to Colombia.”

In the past two years, the United States has given Colombia more than $1 billion for the war against cocaine and heroin, but without making any tangible impact on production.

The White House said last week that the area of Colombia planted with coca--the source of cocaine--grew by 24.7% in 2001.