Colombia military in bomb scandal

[Judi Lynn]

Last Updated: Monday, 11 September 2006, 09:42 GMT 10:42 UK

Colombia military in bomb scandal
By Jeremy McDermott
BBC News, Medellin

Evidence suggests the military are contributing to the violence
Army officers in Colombia have been accused of placing car bombs around the capital in the latest military scandal to hit the country.
(snip)

Such is the crisis in confidence in the military that President Uribe decided that he had to show his face to the nation and reassure Colombians that his military, backed by Washington, was not spinning out of control.

'Isolated incidents'

In the latest scandal, army officers are accused of placing car bombs around Bogota, including one that went off wounding more than a dozen soldiers and killing a civilian.

The motivation was to claim reward money from the government, which offers payments of up to $400,000 (£220,000) for information on the activities of Marxist rebels and drugs traffickers.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5333980.stm

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Colombian president defends military
Staff and agencies
11 September, 2006

By TOBY MUSE, Associated Press Writer 3 minutes ago

BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombia‘s president took over the country‘s airwaves Sunday to defend the military against reports soldiers were behind a string of bombings.

"It has still not been proved that there was any participation by the soldiers in the attacks," Uribe said.

Citing recordings, the paper said the soldiers then broke up the attacks and claimed reward money. One attack was alleged to be a car bomb that killed a civilian and injured 18 soldiers on July 31.

A good part of Uribe‘s address was dedicated to the harm he said was done by the "illegal leak" of the investigation, and called on all of those involved not to reveal such sensitive information to the media.

Uribe added that he would not be making any changes to the armed forces‘ generals, as there was so far no evidence of wrongdoing.

The military has been the largest recipient of the more than $4 billion in aid the U.S. government has given Colombia since 2000 to help crush a leftist insurgency and dent the country‘s massive cocaine production.
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http://localnewsleader.com/jackson/stories/index.php?action=fullnews&id=5627

[Barrett808]

1. k&r

[Say_What]

2. Tax payer $$$ at work... funded by US, trained at School of the Americas

The Bush administration has made a sizable 2006 aid request for Colombia and its neighbors. 80 percent of requested aid for Colombia will go to the Colombian military and police.

<clips>

...Aid amounts

The Senate committee's bill fully funds the Andean Counterdrug Initiative (ACI) request for $734.5 million in military and economic aid for Colombia and six of its neighbors.

However, the bill language seeks a better balance between military and economic aid for Colombia. It puts a "ceiling" on the amount of ACI aid that can go to Colombia's military: "not more than $278,450,000 shall be made available for assistance for the Colombian Armed Forces and National Police." As indicated below, the Bush Administration's request for 2006 had anticipated providing $331,850,000 to the Colombian military and police through the ACI (when funds for "Airbridge Denial" are included), and it had provided $324.6 million in such aid through this account in 2004. If the Senate language passes, 2006 military and police aid to Colombia through the ACI account could total $53.4 million less than what the Bush Administration had requested.

It also raises the "floor" for economic aid, specifying that "not less than $149,757,000 shall be made available for alternative development/institution building in Colombia, which shall be apportioned directly to the United States Agency for International Development." A similar "floor" for USAID assistance to Colombia appeared in the 2005 foreign aid bill, which calls for a minimum of $125,700,000 through USAID for this year. (A smaller, additional amount of non-military assistance for "rule of law" programs does not go through USAID. The Bush Administration's 2006 aid request indicated a plan to spend $27,379,000 on rule of law programs in 2005, and $27,393,000 in 2006. If the Senate language passes, non-military aid to Colombia in 2006 could total $25 million more than the Bush Administration's request, rising to $177.15 million.)

The House version of the bill does not include any "ceiling" and "floor" language (despite an effort to add some, led by Rep. Sam Farr (D-California), that was thwarted in committee).

http://ciponline.org/colombia/aid06.htm#program

http://www.soaw.org/new/