Next stop, Colombia
President Bush's war on terror could soon be fought on a new front–in America's backyard

By Linda Robinson

While U.S. special forces continue to hunt down remnants of the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan, a much less publicized front in the global war on terror may be about to open closer to home. The Bush administration is proposing going beyond the extensive counternarcotics assistance Washington now provides Colombia to help it take more aggressive action against three armed insurgent groups there. All three, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the National Liberation Army (ELN), and the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), are on the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations.

The proposal has been advertised as a limited effort to train troops to defend an Occidental Petroleum oil pipeline repeatedly blown up by rebels. But it's far more ambitious than that. Of the $537 million earmarked for Colombia in President Bush's budget request, nearly a fifth–$98 million–would be used to train a new brigade of Colombian soldiers and supply them with 10 "Super Huey" helicopters.

The language in the Bush budget is fuzzy–reflecting indecision on how best to sell the program to Congress. But Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has directed Pentagon planners to draft a stiffer version of the proposal, now called "The Way Ahead." Government officials say the new version will provide a broader security rationale for America to equip and train the new "critical infrastructure brigade." It would be created from the four battalions of Colombia's 18th Brigade–combat-skilled soldiers who can be fielded quickly. The 18th Brigade is currently based in northern Arauca province, where much of the pipeline runs. Training could be completed in as little as three months.

The new brigade would initially guard the pipeline. But U.S. News has learned that it would expand its protection to other potential terrorist targets, including electrical pylons, bridges, and roads. The brigade would be proactive, with small roving units, rather than employing the static defense that has failed the over­stretched Colombian Army. The pipeline "is just the first step," says a Pentagon official. "We need a far more aggressive approach to help Colombia deal with the FARC, ELN, and AUC."

Kidnappers. U.S. aid to Colombia has so far included millions for intelligence gathering by P-3 aircraft, ground-based radars, and spy planes, but only information useful for counternarcotics missions has been shared. Under the new plan, that restriction would be lifted. The U.S. military also wants permission to "advise and assist," which means accompanying Colombian forces into the field to assess the effectiveness of their training, as it is doing in the Philippines.

Because more than half the world's kidnappings occur in Colombia, the Bush plan also includes antikidnapping assistance. Assistant Secretary of State Rand Beers recently told members of Congress that the 76 helicopters the United States has already supplied Colombia to fight drugs might also be used in antikidnapping operations. Noting that 70 American citizens have been kidnapped in Colombia in the past decade, House International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde and four other Republican congressmen wrote Beers on February 6, saying they would "warmly welcome" it.

But the venture won't be easy. Backed by millions in drug money and ransoms, the FARC, ELN, and AUC together number over 30,000 armed combatants. And the conflict is intensifying–a captured guerrilla document revealed plans to take the war to the cities, and the first U.S.-supplied helicopter was shot down last month. (No Americans were killed, though a U.S. helicopter helped in the search and rescue effort.) Marc Grossman, under secretary of state, has the task of selling the policy to Congress. Doubters, like Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, worry that crossing the counternarcotics line will lead to a counterinsurgency morass. But Bush's global war on terror could win over enough fence-sitters. "The facts are on our side," says Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Roger Pardo-Maurer. "Everybody knows what is going on in Colombia."