Statement by Rep. Dan Burton (R-Indiana), September 21, 2000

Statement by Rep. Dan Burton (R-Indiana), September 21, 2000
Statement of Chairman Dan Burton
Western Hemisphere Subcommittee
9/21/00

The situation in Colombia continues to deteriorate by the day. Our allies in the Colombian National Police (CNP) are dying in droves. Over 5,000 CNP officers have been killed fighting our war on drugs in the last decade. In Colombia the FARC has made a sport out of planning and launching attacks on remote CNP bases from the DMZ, which was granted to them in exchange for “peace.” These attacks are always brutal and barbaric. The FARC frequently beheads and mutilates CNP officers, and even executes their wives and children. Tragically this is almost a daily scenario in Colombia, yet no human rights organization ever condemns the FARC for its brutality against these noncombatant police officers.

Five years ago, when I was chairman of this subcommittee, Chairman Gilman and I began pleading with an uninterested Clinton-Gore Administration to do something about our national security interests in Colombia. Unfortunately the Administration had other priorities -- Bosnia, Kosovo and East Timor -- until now. I want to welcome the Administration to the war on drugs in Colombia.

It has been hard for Chairman Gilman and myself to fight this fight when every attempt we’ve made to get equipment to our drug war allies has been vigorously opposed by this Administration. We have repeatedly reminded them that every year nearly 17,000 Americans die from drug overdoses, and that Colombia was the source of 90% of the cocaine and 70% of the heroin on American streets and schoolyards. Our pleas have always fallen on deaf ears with this Administration.

The Administration chose to provide a lion’s share of the Plan Colombia aid to the Colombian Army. Many of us in Congress had hoped there would have been a more balanced approach, distributing the assistance in a more equitable manner between our proven allies in the CNP and the Colombian Army. The CNP has a long track record of success in combating the narco-traffickers while the Army is new to this mission. The Colombian Army desperately needs military assistance to combat the insurgency. It also needs training to take on its new role of assisting the CNP in enforcing the rule of law and attacking the narco-terrorists. This untested plan needs some fine- tuning before any CNP officers or Colombian Army soldiers are sent on counter-narcotics missions together.

Fortunately, in the past, the CNP has taken the meager assistance we’ve been able to extract from a reluctant Administration and has produced amazing results. This year the CNP has already used the six Congressionally-funded Black Hawk helicopters to eradicate over 10,000 hectares of opium poppy. This is more than they did in 12 months last year, and five times as much as 1998 -- in only 5 ‘/2 months! This equipment, protected by GAU- 19 defensive weapons that Congress funded, has also permitted the CNP to eradicate poppy without taking a single casualty during hundreds of poppy eradication missions. In previous years, many CNP officers were killed performing this duty without the security that Black Hawks and defensive GAU-19’s provide.

It is my hope it is not too little too late in Colombia. It’s too bad it took negative polling numbers in an election year to get the Clinton-Gore Administration engaged on this national security issue.