Not only Colombians are corrupt

Hello,

Been away for a while. An interesting article about corruption, guess where:


From the TAIPEI TIMES (TAIWAN) - May 09, 2005,Page 7


LOST CAUSE?: Despite US$3 billion committed to battling drugs and
crushing leftist rebels, there's precious little to show for 'Plan
Colombia'

AP , BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
Monday, May 09, 2005,Page 7

Advertising Resilient rebels. Rebounding drug crops. Rogue US
soldiers snared in plots to smuggle cocaine and funnel stolen
ammunition to paramilitary death squads.
The bad news has been piling up fast, almost five years after the US
began doling out US$3 billion under its Plan Colombia aid program to
wipe out cocaine and heroin production and crush a long-running
leftist insurgency.

The setbacks show US efforts to help restore peace and the rule of
law to this Andean nation face huge challenges. But Washington's top
diplomat here is unfazed, saying the mission to grind down the rebels
and deprive them of their finances from drug-trafficking will proceed.

In a conversation at his guarded residence, US Ambassador William
Wood said the efforts must persist if Colombia's rebels, who have
been at war in Colombia for 40 years, are ever to be defeated.

"In Colombia, terrorism without narcotics is a much more vulnerable
target," Wood told reporters. Rebels control a large share of the
drug trade in Colombia, which produces most of the world's cocaine
and much of its heroin.

"If you take away drugs, you reduce incentive, the power to corrupt,
the ability to buy weapons," Wood said.

Not buying it

But criticism of the costly effort is mounting.

John Walsh, a senior associate at the Washington Office on Latin
America think tank, said recently that "the drug war is failing to
achieve its most basic objectives."

In an editorial this week, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said
Colombia "has turned into a sinkhole of money and military resources
over the past five years."

"The Congress should scrap Plan Colombia now, rather than throw more
good money after bad," the newspaper said, pointing out that
availability of Colombian cocaine and heroin on US streets appears
undiminished.

The Monitor, a daily in McAllen, Texas, said in a recent editorial
that the drug war is "a demonstrated failure," and argued in favor of
legalizing drugs.

Bad developments

Among recent events that have cast a shadow on US efforts in Colombia:

-- On Wednesday, Colombian police announced the arrest of two US Army
soldiers for allegedly attempting to sell thousands of rounds of
stolen US ammunition to right-wing paramilitary death squads. They
are in custody of US officials and face court-martial in the US.

-- In April, rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or
FARC, launched an offensive in the Andes Mountains of southwest
Colombia. It followed a string of rebel attacks across Colombia that
killed dozens of Colombian troops.

"The intensity of the attacks are clearly a concern," Wood said.

-- In March, five US soldiers in Colombia were accused of smuggling
cocaine to the US aboard a US military plane. They were whisked off
to the US, where they were arrested. Some Colombian lawmakers called
for their extradition to Colombia.

-- The White House reported in March that, despite a massive aerial
fumigation offensive against cocaine-producing plantations last year,
coca cultivation increased slightly to 113,847 hectares as farmers
quickly replanted. Critics said the report showed the US was losing
the war on drugs.

Additional request

Meanwhile, the Bush administration is seeking more than US$700
million from Congress in counterinsurgency and counternarcotics aid
for Colombia for fiscal year 2006.

"There is no sign that in FY 2006 that we're going to take a cut,"
Wood said, relaxing near a crackling fire in the mansion that serves
as his official residence.

By marce on May 11, 2005, 15:37 in Politics & the war.

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juancegomez says on May 13, 2005, 16:33: Must...overcome...deja vu... I already replied to the Spanish translation of this article (exact words, exact story, exact source) elsewhere, so I'll be brief. The "drug war" aspect of Plan Colombia is mostly a failure, yes. That can be easily argued, because drug prohibition as a whole has ALWAYS been a failure. But not the other aspects, which have provided necessary and useful improvements, security-wise. Even if they are insufficient, clearly, because the Plan is military-slanted and that's definitely a huge problem....but even so, the small improvements made are certainly more than worthwhile in the meanwhile (for Colombians; "drug war"-centered U.S. congressmen, press editorials and individual speakers will have a different view). 0 funny, 0 helpful.

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