U.S. army probes why troops go wild in Colombia

[MORTARDUDE]

http://today.reuters.com/News/Crises...ryId=N11560155

U.S. army probes why troops go wild in Colombia
Wed 11 May 2005 4:53 PM ET
By Luis Jaime Acosta

SUMAPAZ, Colombia, May 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. military is investigating what has gone wrong with its operations in Colombia, where troops have been arrested on suspicion of smuggling drugs and selling arms to far-right militias, a senior U.S. officer said on Wednesday.

Gen. Bantz Craddock, commander of the U.S. military's Southern Command, said he was concerned by the recent incidents.

"I have talked to the commander of the units involved. We are initiating a complete review of our procedures, our processes and our security standards," Craddock told Reuters while visiting Colombian troops on a high mountain plain above Bogota -- recently a strategic transit route for Marxist rebels -- as a Black Hawk helicopter whirred overhead.

Colombian police arrested two American soldiers last week on suspicion of planning to sell stolen ammunition to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, an outlawed far-right militia group classified as "terrorist" by the United States.

Just over a month earlier, another five troops were detained in the United States for allegedly trying to smuggle hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cocaine on a U.S. military aircraft leaving Colombia.

The arrests damaged the image of the large U.S. anti-drug operation here and led to calls by some Colombian officials and lawmakers for revision of a treaty granting immunity from prosecution to American personnel.

A Colombian Senate committee on Tuesday invited U.S. Ambassador William Wood to appear before it and explain how U.S. authorities were conducting the investigations.

Referring to the latest incident, Craddock said those involved would be punished if found guilty.

"We take very seriously allegations or indications of support for terrorist organizations, so I assure you that the United States military investigations will be thorough and complete," he said.

Congress has authorized the presence of up to 800 U.S. troops in Colombia as instructors and advisors to help the local armed forces against cocaine smugglers and rebels, but not to take part in fighting. This is part of a mainly military aid program to the Andean nation on which the United States has spent more than $3 billion since 2000.

Craddock inaugurated a primary school built with $50,000 in U.S. aid money on a site where rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- known by their Spanish initials FARC -- used to imprison people they had kidnapped for ransom.

The children will study at 12,500 feet (3,800 metres) above sea level in an Andean region where temperatures never rise above freezing.

Thousands of people are killed in Colombia's four-decade-old war every year, and the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia and FARC both obtain much of their money from cocaine.



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