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2/23/01
Civilian pilots employed by the US State Department shot it out with FARC
guerrillas in Caqueta province last Sunday. The confrontation occurred
during a rescue mission for crewmen of a Colombian police helicopter shot
down as it supported aerial coca fumigation efforts. The US pilots
flying helicopter gunships "were used to put suppressing fire down on guerrillas
whilst grounded crewmen were rescued," the BBC reported on Thursday.
The incident has only strengthened the FARC's conviction that the US is intervening
in Colombia's civil war. They have long argued that the US is directly
involved in the conflict, citing the US spy plane crash that killed five
US military personnel in 1999. The guerrillas have vowed to make the
country into another Vietnam for the US and have long said all American military
personnel in the country are considered targets.
Now, in the wake of the incident on Sunday, FARC sources tell the BBC that
they see no difference between US service personnel and civilian US citizens
working for the US government.
Some 500 US military advisors are on the ground in Colombia, but they are
restricted by law to training and monitoring only and are not to engage in
directly in combat. Those rules do not seem to apply to civilian subcontractors
hired by the US government.
They appear to have just made themselves targets.
-- END --
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Issue #174, 2/23/01
New Report Rakes Clinton on Imprisonment | The Coca-Go-Round: Peruvian Production Starts to Increase as Spraying Destroys Colombian Fields | Washington State Hardliners Pitch Kindler, Gentler Drug War in Bid to Preempt Deeper Reforms | New Mexico: Update on Gov. Johnson's Drug Reform Package | Feds vs. Bongs: Heads Up for Head Shops | Newsbrief: American Pilots in Firefight With Colombian Rebels | Marijuana Has Less Adverse Effect on Driving Than Alcohol, Tiredness, UK Study Says | Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative Legal Briefs Online | An Invitation to Help Repeal the Rockefeller Drug Laws | | Erratum: Three Strikes Clarification | The Reformer's Calendar | Editorial: The Peace Process
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