Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • 15

I -MAIL US The Journal op ed page ntail luLlress is opinion abq journal.com Op-Ed Page Albuqui RQUh Journal Wednesday, March 20, 2002 A 15 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Colombian War Is Tied to U.S. MARIA Kl.KNA SAUNAS Plan Colombia's Darker Side Reduce Your Oil Use UNLIKE THE TENUOUS and fantastical connection between most drugs and terrorism, there is a much clearer relationship between oil and terrorism. Every time you pull your gas-hogging SUV up to the pumps you are putting money into the purses of terrorist supporters; sometimes into the purses of the terrorists themselves. That said, it clearly makes sense to reduce our nation's need for imported oil. This goes along with Bush's "never-ending war against evil" rhetoric.

If we reduce our use and conserve just a little bit; each person saving a mere IS percent of what they are using now, we would not need to import any oil. We would not need to drill for oil on our wilderness. President Bush would not have to make up more "fantasy math" so this country can dump more poison into the air, because we would be cutting emissions while reducing our need for oil imports. I am going to do everything in my lawful power as a citizen of this great nation to make sure that our president does not succeed in handing over our wilderness legacy to the McWorld Corp. And I am going to do everything in my lawful power as a citizen to stop the insane destruction of our precious air and water.

Now you need to decide what you are going to do. Don't wait for Bush to decide for you. That's what he and the other corporate bosses are counting on that you will just wait. While you are waiting for someone to decide for you, they are taking everything, even the air we breathe and the water we must have to live. JOHN HAYNES Albuquerque Schwartz Got it Wrong HAVING READ BOB Schwartz's recent article attempting to defame Republican Party Chair John Dendahl, it's obvious why he failed as a comedian.

For the record that "ward chairman with a squirrel tail on his hat" is Col. Robert F. Cunningham also known as former recording artist Bobby Far-rell founder of Vandor Motion Pictures, Phonorecords and Music Publishing Group. As for my hat, it has a bigger fan club than Schwartz does. The banners I wear on it at the party conventions are always the No.

1 attraction ahead of any other signs, posters, buttons, stickers. And only the socialists have a problem with the content. And for the record, the tassel is not a squirrel tail. It's a fly swatter given to me way back in 1959 by Chief Bill Yellowtail of the Crow Nation, Montana. I wear it with as much pride as I do necessity.

When downwind from the Bob Schwartzes of the world, I need all the help I can Urgent message to President Bush: If you're really serious about fighting terrorism, then send help to Colombia soon. With the possible exception of Israel in recent weeks, no other, country has been more ravaged by terrorism than Colombia. Violence is a fact of life there. Bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and hijackings are commonplace. As I write this column, more than 2,000 people are being held hostage among them a presidential candidate, five members of the Colombian Congress and dozens of military and police personnel.

Narcotraffickers, guerrillas, right-wing paramilitary groups and other criminal elements are killing innocent civilians on a daily basis. The annual death toll is more than 35,000 in a country with four standing armies, three of them illegal. Americans should not be mere spectators to the bloodshed. After all, the United States shares a big responsibility for the murder and mayhem in Colombia. Here's why: Colombia's civil war might have started as a social conflict between the rich and the poor, but it has degenerated into drug-financed terrorism.

Two leftist rebel groups the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the right-wing paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces (AUC) are financed by $600 million a year from the illegal drug trade. The State Department designates all three of these groups as terrorist organizations. And where does most of the drug money that keeps these murderous groups armed and viable come from? The United States. If cocaine and heroin were not in demand by drug users in American cities, drug traffickers in Colombia which produces 90 percent of the world's cocaine and two-thirds of the heroin consumed in the United States would have no market to sell to. Millions of dollars in drug money would dry up, and the FARC, the ELN and the AUC would be cut off from their cash pipelines.

On Feb. 20, Colombian President Andres Pastrana declared war on the leftist guerrillas. Colombian troops have moved into a once-demilitarized zone handed over to the rebels as part of Pastrana's ambitious peace process. But the peace process collapsed, and now Pastrana wants help from the Sviulmited Columnist United States. Pastrana wants to use American military equipment to fight the leftist rebels.

Polls show that most Colombians want full military intervention by the United States or other countries. Under U.S. law, the $1.7 billion in military aid in Plan Colombia can only be used in the war on drugs. But in reality, fighting the rebels would be fighting the war on drugs. After all, they are financed by drug money, and they protect narcotraffickers and their processing plants.

But Pastrana must also fight the right-wing paramilitary forces. They, too, use drug money for their dirty deeds. Some have argued that allowing the use of American military aid to fight Colombia's war would be the first step in another Vietnam-style conflict for the United States. No one wants the United States to enter another military quagmire. But if U.S.

forces can act decisively in Afghanistan, they can also act with the same resolve in Colombia. After all, Colombia's war is our war. It is financed by money that comes from the United States. So far, President Bush has not publicly supported the use of military aid in Colombia's war. In a speech commemorating the six-month anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, Bush said that in the second stage of the war against terrorism, "America encourages and expects governments everywhere to help remove terrorist parasites that threaten their own countries." Bush only mentioned the Philippines and Yemen by name.

Mr. President, don't forget to look to the south. It's ironic that a president who has vowed to fight terrorism wherever it hides is not focusing on fighting it in a place where it came out of hiding long ago. The United States asked the world to join in its war against terrorism, saying you are either with us or with the terrorists. It's time to reciprocate.

The United States is not the only country threatened by terrorists. that the U.S. is funding, training, and supplying with weaponry. In the United States' war on terrorism, it doesn't look so good to have a recipient of U.S. military aid with links to a group on the U.S.

terrorist list. Paramilitaries are set up to protect the interest of multinational corporations. It is no coincidence that economically rich areas have a strong paramilitary presence. A favorite target of guerrilla groups is oil infrastructure. Over the last 50 years, Colombia has seen more and more of its oil profits leave the country to multinational corporations.

Guerrilla groups sabotage the pipelines in defiance against corporations taking resources and profit that belonged to Colombia. Multinationals in turn require the protection of the Colombian military and paramilitary groups. A common theme that we heard over and over is that Plan Colombia isn't a campaign to stop drugs, or even a campaign against guerrillas, but its real mission is to pave the way for FTAA (Free Trade Agreement of the Americas), an expanded version of NAFTA. U.S. interest in Colombia is well known; U.S.

companies want to tap in to Colombia's vast resources. A reputable Colombian economist, whose life is under constant death threat from paramilitaries, stated that "Plan Colombia is one plan among many to control Central and South America. Our community, union, and indigenous leaders are killed under the pretense of the war on drugs. The supposed war on drugs has made the coca crop more prevalent and profitable." His analysis of the situation, though grim, is filled with courage and hope. He stated "the more I analyze Plan Colombia, the more I see how difficult the situation is.

We are fighting against a giant. They are deceiving people, and have the tools available to deceive. Hope lies in our faith to be able to fight for the good of people. Thousands and thousands die in the struggle, yet we continue to fight." Within days of Sept. 11, I recall hearing Donald Rumsfeld describe terrorism against the U.S.

as when others impose their will on the American people. Yet, when the United States imposes its will on other countries it isn't questioned if it is done to further U.S. corporate interests. So I have to ask: Does the life of a U.S. citizen have more value than a Colombian citizen? How you answer this question will determine a lot of things, but it will certainly determine your perception of who is the real target of Plan Colombia.

ltV Jl'IIV Bll KIIU A Ibuqueriiie resident The "War on Drugs" being fought in Colombia is about to metamorphose into the "War on Terrorism" with neither "war" describing what is really going on. Whatever it is, it is being waged with the help of Plan Colombia, a $1 billion military aid package approved by Congress in 2000. Now the Bush administration is proposing an additional $98 million to this war-torn nation. But what is really going on? Colombia's political situation is no doubt very complicated, as it has been embroiled for more than 35 years in civil war. To understand the situation better, I participated in a delegation that traveled to Colombia with the specific intent of learning firsthand the impact of Plan Colombia.

While there, our 35-member delegation met with the whole spectrum of those involved in the political struggle: unionists, environmentalists, drug policy analysts, economists, human rights activists, officers of the Colombian military, the chamber of commerce and U.S. Embassy staff. Although they don't agree on much, they do agree that the drug trade is alive and well. So far, the war on drugs has made the coca crop more prevalent, purer in quality, and more easily available with profits continuing to be lucrative. Part of plan Colombia has been the aerial fumigation program.

The impact of fumigation has been devastating: Small farmers (campesinos) can't get legal crops to grow because the fumigated land is left infertile. Large amounts of legitimate crops are fumigated, even though this is against Colombian law. Ironically, campesinos find themselves with little choice but to leave their legal crops behind and follow the coca plantations that have moved from the fumigated regions deeper into the Amazon basin. There are the FARC guerrillas (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), who have contributed to the human rights abuses and atrocities. However, it is the paramilitary groups that have carried out four-fifths of the atrocities, according to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

They have even recently been placed on the U.S. State Department list of terrorist groups. Generally, though, when you hear something about terrorist activity, it is information regarding FARC. The paramilitaries documented ties with the Colombian military, the same military 4 The road is your playground. get.

ROBERT F. CUNNINGHAM Albuquerque Policy Isn't Consistent HOMELAND SECURITY Director Tom Ridge tells us, with a straight face, that we can at once open our border to ever more Mexican trucks, and be safe from terrorism. But he is part of the same administration trying to reinstate a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act essentially an amnesty that will allow thousands of illegals to post a $1,000 fine when caught and remain in this country indefinitely. This makes a mockery of what our men and women are fighting and dying for in Afghanistan. KATHLEENE PARKER Los Alamos Named to Car and Driver's lOBest List Turbocharged 1.8 liter, 170 hp engine FrontTrak front-wheel drive or available with legendary quattro all-wheel drive Available 5-speed automatic transmission with Tiptronic Longer wheelbase for a roomier backseat Excludes taxes, title and dealer fees.

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