The War Without End
Barr, Bob
IMAGINE AMERICANS PUTTING UP WITH A WAR 40 YEARS IN DURATION. To a people whose patience started to fray within weeks, if not days, of our military victory in Iraq, and who forced our government to...
...E ARE A NATION BLESSED with a military unquestionably the best in the world by a wide margin...
...Fortunately, Colombia's President Uribe, whose chances for success against the narco-terroristsdepend to some extent on U.S...
...What happens in this corner of the world, right now, matters to the United States...
...Our country has fought two wars in the Middle East in the past dozen years with spectacular success each time...
...The very survival of Colombia as a free and sovereign nation depends on defeating the bands of home-grown, but foreign-supported terrorists now ravaging its countryside and bombing its cities...
...But to the citizens of Colombia, the second oldest democracy in the Western Hemisphere, that task is clear, unambiguous, and not open for debate...
...You don't have to search far or deep to discover the foreign influences in Colombia's war...
...To a people whose patience started to fray within weeks, if not days, of our military victory in Iraq, and who forced our government to cut and run from a fight against the evils of communism in Vietnam a generation earlier, maintaining the focus and the will to fight a war for survival against armed insurgent groups for 40 years would be a non-starter...
...it matters a lot...
...American rescuers, "minutes" away according to one of those always-glowing briefings of the sort I as a congressman received whenever I visited the field, actually took over three hours to reach the crash site...
...The folly of placing diplomats in command of a complex military operation is evident even in such otherwise mundane jobs as parts and training for helicopters and the pilots who fly them...
...HEN DIPLOMATS rather than generals direct the logistics, tactics, and strategy for a large-scale military operation, bad things happen...
...Hardly a week goes by without one or more bombs being detonated in Colombia's capital city of Bogota, perched high on a plateau in the Andes...
...Partly the result of short-sighted cost-cutting measures, and partly an effort to lessen the fingerprint of official U.S...
...Embassy in Bogota appears paralyzed...
...The conflict centered in this South American nation of more than 43 million souls pits two heavily armed Marxist armies—the 19,000-strong Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (known by its Spanish-language acronym, FARO), and the nearly 5,000-member IMAGINE AMERICANS PUTTING UP WITH A WAR 40 YEARS IN DURATION...
...But when we ask, nobody can tell us who made the decision...
...In the early 1990s opium poppy growers for the Taliban (yes, that Taliban) were instrumental in helping the Colombian cocaine cartel diversify into the heroin trade...
...The cost of illicit drugs to America's economy is in the billions each year...
...Lack of direction, poor management, and indifference by Washington have severely limited the effectiveness of an otherwise wise and important program...
...Missions to eradicate opium poppy fields are called off because a contractor doesn't want to fly that day...
...A diplomat, after receiving the policy and legal green light from superiors in Washington, telling an outside contractor to assign a private pilot and a private aircraft under contract to the State Department, to conduct a specific drug eradication or related mission, can expect no such obedience...
...Colombians, by contrast, have seen more than 200,000 men, women, and children slain in its war against terrorism...
...If the Colombian president had the same type of support and understanding from Washington as we give unquestioningly to civilian leaders in Afghanistan and Iraq who simply mouth pro-American sound-bites and are then invited to the State of the Union address, perhaps we'd finally start seeing the success of our efforts in Colombia that our children and our brave anti-drug warriors deserve...
...to recall ambassadors—but not to wage war...
...Are hard-earned dollars of Americans being spent effectively in Colombia...
...schools, businesses, communities, and previously drug-free neighborhoods...
...Who is accountable...
...effort in Colombia, a multi-agency, multi-billion dollar, and multi-faceted operation clearly more akin to a military operation than a diplomatic soiree, suffers in large measure because diplomats, not warriors, are in charge...
...These actions by President Uribe should be exploited and supported...
...Yet few in Washington are even aware that these and other Americas are in captivity or have been captured, or killed (some 15 killed since 1995), by leftist terrorists in our own backyard...
...They have been fighting a war against merciless terrorists—first leftists, then narco-terrorists, and now a combination of both—for 40 years...
...As a member of the Speaker's Drug Task Force, he traveled frequently to Colombia and other South American countries...
...and European markets...
...He was assisted in the preparation of this piece by Maj...
...A military commander, ordering a military pilot, to conduct a specific drug eradication effort, or to provide protection therefore, could expect that mission to be carried out forthwith...
...The Spanish terrorist group ETA was drawn to Colombia in the late 1980s in order to capitalize on the weapons-bombs-and-drugs market...
...Lawyers veto vital missions because some diplomat is scared the "primary" purpose of a mission might be construed by someone, somewhere, at some time, to be "anti-terrorist" rather than "antidrug," or perhaps vice versa...
...When you remove the money from the equation the guerrilla riflemen will desert the terrorist ranks and go home...
...At the beginning of 2004, the United States had lost about 500 soldiers in the current conflict in Iraq...
...This situation has been compounded by another grave error—outsourcing many aspects of the anti-terrorism effort in Colombia...
...The heroin refined from those Colombian opium poppies has been showing up in ever increasing amounts in U.S...
...every new casualty is a headline...
...every new casualty is a headline...
...And then there's the question of good ammunition...
...For Alvaro Uribe, Colombia's latest president, to have his administration defined by how it deals with its internal war, failure to prosecute, and ultimately win, this war is not an option...
...And they don't get it...
...But so long as the war in Colombia remains but a footnote in the global effort to protect America and her children, and so long as 99.9 percent of official Washington attention remains focused on more glamorous hot spots elsewhere, the bureaucracy will likely prevail...
...Why this comedy of errors...
...We have put the diplomats at the State Department in charge of implementing the front line of our anti-drug war, and not the Defense Department, or the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA...
...He realizes that if you aggressively eradicate the illicit drug crops, including the heroin crop, you hit the terrorists where it hurts them—in their wallets...
...to convey messages...
...ammunition that won't constantly foul the sophisticated machine guns mounted on the helicopters because it's so old...
...While the cost to the United States of this forgotten war may not appear as dire, the stakes are high for us as well...
...Marine Corps (Retired), who has traveled and worked extensively in Colombia, and who served as a senior investigator for the House Government Reform Committee...
...At the beginning of 2004, the United States had lost about 500 soldiers in the current conflict in Iraq...
...To a people whose patience started to fray within weeks, if not days, of our military victory in Iraq, and who forced our government to cut and run from a fight against the evils of communism in Vietnam a generation earlier, maintaining the focus and the will to fight a war for survival against armed insurgent groups for 40 years would be a non-starter...
...Our technology can spy inside the most hardened bunkers and blast our enemies therein with pinpoint accuracy...
...the human cost even higher...
...The conflict centered in this South American nation of more than 43 million souls pits two heavily armed Marxist armies—the 19,000-strong Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (known by its Spanish-language acronym, FARO), and the nearly 5,000-member IMAGINE AMERICANS PUTTING UP WITH A WAR 40 YEARS IN DURATION...
...Who doubts that we'd still be fighting the first Gulf War if the folks at Foggy Bottom had been charged by Bush I with prosecuting that effort...
...A top FARC commander who goes by the nom-deguerre "Simon Trinidad" was captured in early January 2004 in Ecuador, Colombia's southwestern neighbor, the locale of numerous camps that provide these terrorists with rest and relaxation...
...Yet with all these danger signs, obvious to all but the deaf, dumb, and blind, Washington dithers, and a confused U.S...
...NEW ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement was ecently sworn in—Bobby Charles, a veteran of congressional committee investigations and the military...
...Some 60 percent of the heroin now poisoning and killing thousands of our citizens comes from Colombia...
...The State Department exists to be diplomatic...
...and European markets...
...The nickname long ago affixed to the State Department—"Foggy Bottom"—should give us a clue...
...and that's exactly what's happened in Colombia in recent years...
...men who have been paraded in front of television cameras and used for propaganda by their terrorist capAPRIL 2004 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR 27 tors...
...Though in office less than two years, he has already dealt the terrorists a number of body blows...
...While the cost to the United States of this forgotten war may not appear as dire, the stakes are high for us as well...
...They have been fighting a war against merciless terrorists—first leftists, then narco-terrorists, and now a combination of both—for 40 years...
...Department of State has an Air Wing...
...lOR YEARS, THE UNITED STATES has had men On the F ground—civilian and military—helping Colombia by providing intelligence, equipment, advice, protection, and other support...
...Of course, this comes as no surprise when one notes that the resume of Venezuela's current president, Hugo Chavez, includes serving as a sponsor for leftist guerrillas...
...His portfolio includes major aspects of the antidrug and anti-terrorism war in Colombia...
...He has shaken up the Colombian military establishment, long a haven for playboy generals and barracks-bound under-trained and under-paid soldiers, and cleaned up much of the corruption that had crept into its ranks...
...Therein lies the rub...
...government that actually knows the hows, whys, and wherefores of managing military equipment...
...How many congressmen and senators know that the U.S...
...For Alvaro Uribe, Colombia's latest president, to have his administration defined by how it deals with its internal war, failure to prosecute, and ultimately win, this war is not an option...
...In the wake of documented, serious problems with the management of the air wing, Chairman Hyde has called for the placement of this mini-air force under the control of an agency of the U.S...
...At the end of February, the FARC launched an offensive that claimed the lives of 18 soldiers and as many innocent civilians...
...and we appear to be either unable or unwilling to find and rescue them...
...The multi-million dollar Blackhawk helicopters, and the older but equally vital Huey choppers sold or leased to the Colombians, are often parked on concrete slabs, because parts are unavailable due to poor inventory control or paperwork delays...
...The ramifications of the poorly managed "Plan Colombia" go beyond even the borders of Colombia and the United States...
...Perhaps these are some of the reasons why we've lost more aircraft (nearly 40 planes and helicopters) in Colombia in the past few years than in Iraq and Afghanistan combined...
...Because of bureaucratic timidity and confusion, at least one vital and attainable aspect of fighting the drug war in Colombia—eradicating the opium poppy crop—has stalled...
...One American and the Colombian were murdered by guerrillas on the ground in the area...
...Yet, in Colombia, to help our long-time ally fight a war against a common enemy, our State Department sent .50 caliber ammunition that was surplus from the Korean War (yes, the one that ended more than 50 years ago...
...More time is spent flying these sophisticated aircraft for training than for actual anti-drug and anti-terrorist missions, training time that could be saved if a decision were made (as frequently suggested) to simply provide the Colombians with a flight simulator...
...Colombians, by contrast, have seen more than 200,000 men, women, and children slain in its war against terrorism...
...The cost of illicit drugs to America's economy is in the billions each year...
...DEA agents tell me when Colombian pilots complain, they are told "this is what you get—use it...
...But the multibillion dollar "Plan Colombia" is coming into question...
...These Americans remain in the hands of the same guerrillas who have captured hundreds of Colombians and other foreign nationals, and who have murdered many in cold blood...
...And American lives and vast amounts of U.S...
...He quickly scuttled an appeasement plan pursued by his predecessor that allowed the terrorists to operate with impunity in a military-free zone...
...aid and assistance, does not appear to be sitting around waiting for the gringos to wise up...
...involvement, the use of outside contractors to do much of the heavy lifting in Colombia has weakened the effort considerably...
...Alas, they are not...
...the human cost even higher...
...Again, no expense was spared...
...A year or so ago, a small, single-engine plane, carrying four Americans and a Colombian intelligence specialist on a narcotics-related mission in an area of Colombia controlled by the guerrillas, made a forced landing...
...We spared no expense—or public relations effort—in securing the release of every single one of our men and women captured in the latest war in Iraq...
...By that time, the bodies of the slain American and Colombian were as cold as the trail taken by their three captured comrades and their murderous captors...
...Our DEA agents and the 5,000 Colombian policemen who have lost their lives in fighting the war on drugs deserve no less...
...House of Representatives...
...Gilbert Macklin, US...
...its cocaine continues to flood US...
...But Uribe's reorganized security forces countered by inflicting a crushing defeat on the FARC leadership...
...its cocaine continues to flood US...
...to send strongly worded telexes...
...Yet that's what this most senior of our cabinet departments has been tasked with doing in Colombia...
...Some 60 percent of the heroin now poisoning and killing thousands of our citizens comes from Colombia...
...Who's in charge...
...To aBOB BARR National Liberation Army (ELN)—against the Colombian military and national police force, and against the right-wing paramilitary force known as the AUC...
...But in Colombia, we have Americans held hostage...
...One key congressional leader does—Henry Hyde, the veteran chairman of the House International Affairs Committee...
...The U.S...
...In fact, the border region between Colombia and Venezuela has become a virtual magnet for terrorist groups of all stripes and allegiances, including al Qaeda, according to well-placed sources...
...But to the citizens of Colombia, the second oldest democracy in the Western Hemisphere, that task is clear, unambiguous, and not open for debate...
...N. Bob Barr served from 1995 to 2003 in the US...
...Whether his extensive knowledge of the situation in our southern neighbor, and his keen sense of what needs to be done, will actually result in significant progress remains to be seen...
...It appears the FARC is now holding the trump card in this most dangerous game...
...Yet, in Colombia, it took years, not weeks or months, for the State Department to deliver a handful of helicopters, even after Congress directed their quick delivery...
...taxpayer dollars will continue to be wasted...
...In Iraq, our troops and those of our allies fighting with us are armed with the latest and most current equipment, including new ammunition...
...Colombia's eastern neighbor, Venezuela, provides safe haven to Colombian guerrillas...
...to occasionally pound the lectern at the United Nations...
...And as long as it remains in charge, we will not win...
...If outside contractors were used in other theaters of operation to the extent they are in Colombia, similarly disappointing results would ensue...
...Wresting responsibility over a multi-billion dollar program away from any federal agency, however, is no easy task...
...The very survival of Colombia as a free and sovereign nation depends on defeating the bands of home-grown, but foreign-supported terrorists now ravaging its countryside and bombing its cities...
...In both Middle East wars-1991 and 2003—we moved massive amounts of equipment and personnel halfway around the world with resolve and dispatch...
...IRA bomb-making experts (yes, the Irish Republican Army) have been advising the FARC in explosives...
Vol. 37 • April 2004 • No. 3
