Excerpt from White House press briefing, March 19, 2002

Excerpt from White House press briefing, March 19, 2002

Press Briefing by Ari Fleischer
The James S. Brady Briefing Room

Q On Colombia, does the President see helping Colombia fight the FARC as part of his global anti-terrorism campaign?

MR. FLEISCHER: It's a little bit different. The situation with the FARC involved a group that is listed by the State Department as a terrorist group. I don't think it's fair to say that FARC has global reach. But it is clearly a significant problem for the government of Colombia and for the region.

But, nonetheless, terrorist attacks are a serious threat to Colombia's democratic institutions, and that is why the administration has gone up to the Hill and has asked for additional authorities to be able to help the government of Colombia to counter the FARC. It's not quite the same as --

As of March 19, 2002, this document was also available online at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/03/20020319-7.html