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DATE=2/15/2000 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=CONGRESS-COLOMBIA (L ONLY) NUMBER=2-259180 BYLINE=PAULA WOLFSON DATELINE=CAPITOL HILL CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: The Clinton Administration is waging an all- out campaign for congressional approval of one-point- six billion dollars in aid for Colombia. The money will be used to combat narco-trafficking. V-O-A's Paula Wolfson reports, overall, Congress appears to be supportive. TEXT: The President's Drug Policy Director arrived on Capitol Hill armed with charts and fresh statistics. Barry McCaffrey told the House Subcommittee on Drug Policy that the numbers tell the story. /// FIRST MCCAFFREY ACT /// Cocaine production in Colombia has gone up 140 percent in a little less than four years. /// END ACT /// Point by point, he made the administration's case for an enhanced anti-drug effort. He said there have been dramatic reductions in coca production in Bolivia and Peru, but the alliance of drug producers and leftist guerrilla forces in Colombia poses an ever-growing threat. /// SECOND MCCAFFREY ACT /// They have more machine guns than the Colombian infantry battalions have. They have planes and helicopters and wire-tap equipment. And they are assassinating mayors and intimidating journalists and corrupting public officials /// END ACT /// Most of the administration's aid request will buy information technology and military equipment for the Colombian armed forces. A few members of the House panel wondered aloud about the danger of such U-S involvement. Hawaii Democrat Patsy Mink said the United States must move cautiously. /// MINK ACT /// We must consider the grave consequences to the United States of the introduction of increased numbers of U-S service personnel who may become the next casualties in the Colombian civil unrest. Americans have a long-standing skepticism about intervention in other countries' civil wars. /// END ACT /// Indiana Republican Dan Burton took a different view. /// BURTON ACT /// The war in Colombia is our war as well as the Colombians'. Every year, 14-thousand Americans die from drugs and drug-related violence. And those drugs are coming mainly from Colombia. /// END ACT /// Republican leaders in Congress have come out in support of the one-point-six billion-dollar aid package. But they say the administration waited too long, and was forced to act by the legislature. /// REST OPT /// The White House Drug Policy Director responded to the criticism by urging lawmakers to put politics aside. /// THIRD MCCAFFREY ACT /// I am worried that we not get involved in anemic political theatre over who lost Colombia. Nobody lost Colombia, and we are not going to save it. Thirty-six-million Colombians are. /// END ACT /// Mr. McCaffrey plans to go to Colombia next week for a first hand look at the situation. He will hold many more meetings with members of Congress when he returns. (Signed) NEB/PW/gm 15-Feb-2000 13:08 PM EDT (15-Feb-2000 1808 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .