Half Of US Aid In 'Plan Colombia' Goes To US Contractors Government

[Judi Lynn]

Source: CNN/AP

Half Of US Aid In 'Plan Colombia' Goes To US Contractors Government

June 15, 2007: 01:18 PM EST


BOGOTA (AP)--U.S. officials always planned to have Colombians take over the tasks of fighting cocaine traffic and leftist rebels under the multibillion- dollar Plan Colombia aid package.

But seven years after it began, about half the U.S. aid goes to private U.S. contractors, according to a U.S. State Department report, and critics say that raises questions about whether Colombians will be able to continue the campaign when the U.S. support finally ends.

The State and Defense departments spent about $300 million on private contractors in 2006, just under half of the roughly $630 million in U.S. military aid for Colombia, the largest recipient of U.S. aid outside of the Middle East and Afghanistan.

In 2002, private contractors got about $150 million of the roughly $400 million destined for Colombia's security forces.

"We need to be working ourselves out of a job in Colombia but these contracts are creating dependency on U.S. contractors and are not helping build a sustainable or peaceful Colombia," said Rep. Sam Farr, D-Calif.



Read more: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200706151318DOWJONESDJONLINE000851_FORTUNE5.htm

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[hobbit709]

1. It's got nothing to do with the "drug war"

What it's about is enriching American corporations at US taxpayer expense. The looting of our treasury continues.

[Judi Lynn]

2. U.S. contractors thrive in Colombia

U.S. contractors thrive in Colombia
By TOBY MUSE, Associated Press Writer
25 minutes ago

BOGOTA, Colombia - U.S. defense contractors are receiving nearly half the money allotted by Washington to fight cocaine trafficking and leftist rebels in Colombia, throwing into doubt their mission to train Colombians to replace them.

When U.S. defense contractors were first hired by the U.S. government in 2000 to help the Colombian government under the multibillion-dollar Plan Colombia aid package, American officials assumed the contractors would be gradually replaced as they trained Colombians.

But a recent State Department report obtained by The Associated Press shows more U.S. aid going to private companies, igniting criticism of the spending in Congress.

"We need to be working ourselves out of a job in Colombia but these contracts are creating dependency on U.S. contractors and are not helping build a sustainable or peaceful Colombia," said Congressman Sam Farr, a Democrat from California.
(snip)

"The drug war in general, but Colombia in particular, was the testing ground for the use of military contractors," said Adam Isacson, an analyst with the liberal Center for International Policy think tank.

More:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070615/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/colombia_us_contractors_1;_ylt=A0WTcVhbB3NG258AMR1sbEwB

[BlueIris]

3. Two comments? Come on.

K & R.

[Judi Lynn]

4. It's not "news" until popular US media tell us it's news, with many folks!

If the media won't pay any attention to the fact that Colombia has the highest rate of killing union workers in the WORLD, has killed so many journalists that many of them have fled the country and almost all of the rest of them have been frightened into self-censoring all their work, and a huge part of the poor population is displaced, and homeless, creating a human crisis, according to the U.N., then it just didn't happen!

US firm Drummond Coal, from Birmingham, Alabama closed all its 16 mines, moved to Colombia, telling the citizens of Alabama it would not sell dirt cheap Colombian coal back to them for their power, since that would be a gross insult, (and went back on their promise, and at a handsome profit, as well), and then hired paramilitaries to start murdering the Colombian union workers who were trying to get salaries up to at least minimum standards for working Colombian coal miners, and Drummond got caught. They are being investigated right now by a Colombian prosecutor who is obligated to at least make a show of looking into it, since there are witnesses who have come forward to testify as part of the government amnesty agreement to go easy on them, former paramilitary members engaged in atrocities against Colombian citizens, and the witnesses felt it was necessary to point out Drummond HIRES assassins to MURDER UNION WORKERS.

Not to mention Chiquita, and Coca Cola, etc, as more U.S. firms are involved in the same violent, unbelievably greedy, exploitive behavior....

[Judi Lynn]

5. Kick.

:kick: :kick: :kick:

[RamboLiberal]

6. U.S. contractors get half of aid to Colombia

Source: USA Today/AP

U.S. defense contractors are receiving nearly half the money allotted by Washington to fight cocaine trafficking and leftist rebels in Colombia, throwing into doubt their mission to train Colombians to replace them.

When U.S. defense contractors were first hired by the U.S. government in 2000 to help the Colombian government under the multibillion-dollar Plan Colombia aid package, American officials assumed the contractors would be gradually replaced as they trained Colombians.

But a recent State Department report obtained by The Associated Press shows more U.S. aid going to private companies, igniting criticism of the spending in Congress.

"We need to be working ourselves out of a job in Colombia but these contracts are creating dependency on U.S. contractors and are not helping build a sustainable or peaceful Colombia," said Congressman Sam Farr, a Democrat from California.



Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-06-15-colombia_N.htm

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Under Bush and the Repukes it sure has been "no defense contractor left behind"!

[whistle]

7. Crony capitalism

[stillcool]

8. a releated article...

albeit a little dated...

Colombia & Iraq: Halliburton Makes the Connection
By Daniel Leal Diaz
World War 4 Report
January 17, 2005

The Bogota daily El Tiempo recently reported that the US military contractor Halliburton has recruited 25 retired Colombian police and army officers to provide security for oil infrastructure in Iraq. One of the men, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the officers met in Bogota on Dec. 2 with a Colombian colonel working on behalf of Halliburton Latin America, who offered them monthly salaries of $7,000 to provide security for oil workers and facilities in several Iraqi cities. The claim was confirmed by a Colombian government source, said El Tiempo, but denied by a Halliburton representative in Bogota. US media have reported that former soldiers from Chile, South Africa and Spain are being recruited to beef up Iraqi security forces. Halliburton, the oil services giant once run by US Vice President Dick Cheney, has won billions of dollars in Iraq contracts, but has been accused of overcharging and accounting irregularities. (Al-Jazeera, Dec. 13; AP, Dec. 17)-------------------------------------

As in Iraq, designs on local oil resources are a major factor in the war. In the spring of 2001, Guimer Dominguez, president of Occidental Petroleum's Colombian operations made a private visit to the fortress-like U.S. Embassy in Bogota to plead for help. A bombing campaign by leftist guerillas had nearly shut down Oxy's Cano-Limon oil field in Arauca department. Dominguez threatened to permanently shut Oxy's operations unless security improved. The pull-out would have been a harsh blow to Colombia's government, which is heavily reliant on oil royalties. "Oxy will not resume production at the Cano-Limon field until the addresses the security situation in Arauca significantly," then-US Ambassador Anne Patterson wrote in a confidential memo to the State Department after Dominguez visited the embassy. A subsequent Colombia aid package sent to Congress by the Bush administration included a provision to send US military advisors to train Colombian soldiers to protect oil infrastructure. Patterson worked closely with both with Oxy and the Colombian government to draw up the plan. The US has now trained some 2,000 soldiers to protect the Cano-Limon pipeline. Attacks on the pipeline have dropped from 170 in 2001 to only 17 in 2004. Colombia's government is receiving $500 million more from Oxy's oil operations annually. (LAT, Dec. 29)

Finally, these abuses are taking place as Colombia's fragile democracy appears to be degenerating into a US-backed authoritarian state. Colombia's Congress approved on Nov. 30 an amendment to the constitution that permits President Alvaro Uribe, the Bush administration's closest ally in South America, to run for re-election in 2006. Uribe signed the measure, making it official, Dec. 27. His term is to expire in August 2006, and the Colombian constitution has until now barred re-election. Wrote the New York Times: "The Bush administration has quietly but steadily supported a re-election drive by government supporters who argue that Mr. Uribe needs four more years to help extricate Colombia from its long, drug-fueled conflict with Marxist rebels. Since 2000, the United States has provided Bogota with 3.3 billion in mostly military assistance, and President Bush offered more when he visited Colombia on Nov 22." (NYT, Dec. 28)

The US has transformed Colombia's soldiers into some of the best mercenaries in the world through decades of a mutating war that never seems to end: communism, drugs and--the latest version--terrorism. As Halliburton exploits this expertise for the Iraq campaign, Colombia becomes poorer in every dimension: violation of human rights, indiscriminate violence, loss of sovereignty and a crumbling democracy.http://www.libertyparkusafd.org/lp/Hale/papers%5CColombia%20&%20Iraq%20-%20%20Halliburton%20Makes%20the%20Connection.htm

[burrowowl]

9. This has always been so with U$ aid

and the poor are left to pay the interest on all of it.

[EFerrari]

11. You bet. Our "aid" is very expensive.

:(

[burrowowl]

10. KICK!

To see where your taxes go and it is not REAL aid to the People of the coutry that so-called aid is given to.