Unfortunately Congress doesn't seem to find this disturbing enough, and approved another $742 million to renew current U.S. policy.

Recently Congress reauthorized funding for “Plan Colombia.” When Congress first passed it in 2000, it established a five-year lifespan. Congressional policymakers have now concluded that this military strategy is effective and worthy of renewal with taxpayer dollars. They are wrong. They were duped by the administration's creative, but ultimately deceptive, number games and carried away by the increasingly desperate drumbeat of war.

Despite pumping more than $3 billion into the Colombian military in the past five years, neither of Plan Colombia's twin aims of reducing the amount of drugs on U.S. streets and of increasing Colombian security has been met. Colombia remains the number one producer of cocaine. The drug problem is set against a backdrop of a protracted conflict pitting guerrilla groups against paramilitary forces with documented ties to the military. In 2000, a few wise members of Congress warned against entering into yet another military quagmire.

How have these concerns played out? Human costs and long-term possibilities for peace aside for a moment, let's look at the numbers. Even by the U.S. Government's own estimate, the aerial spray approach of eradicating coca is ineffective. According to a report released by the White House, despite record levels of fumigation in 2004, the amount of coca produced in Colombia has remained the same or even increased slightly.

My organization, Witness for Peace (WFP) has been on the ground monitoring the effects of these U.S. policies since the beginning of Plan Colombia in 2001. And now a top Embassy official told us that the U.S. Government is making “first downs” in Colombia and that enough first downs will eventually lead to the “goal line.” But the data conclusively show that this approach is ineffective in getting us there. Five years of in-country documentation make clear that this policy destroys food crops and hope in the countryside. This erodes trust in the Colombian and U.S. governments more effectively than it destroys coca, the raw material of cocaine.

And while the Colombian government boasts increased security and an improvised demobilization process with the paramilitary, the silence of the State Department indicates another story. It has been unable to approve Colombian human rights record this year. This “certification” is necessary to release a portion of the funding passed by Congress. The State Department with its presence in Colombia, through an ambassador who toes the party line and defends Colombian President Uribe, has been unable to rubberstamp the process as in the past. Shouldn't this give pause to our policy-makers who just renewed military support to Colombia's army and police?

The House of Representatives made a mistake in granting the administration's request to renew funding. The Senate should not follow suit by renewing a failed policy expiring this year. Time is up. The State Department could do what is best for the people of Colombia and the United States by remaining consistent with its rhetoric and practice on human rights, and denying certification until true progress is made.

Janna Bowman, national grassroots organizer: Military Aid/Colombia with Witness for Peace, lived in Bogotá Colombia from 2001 to 2004 also monitoring U.S. policy towards Colombia. Witness for Peace was founded in1983, and has offices in Washington, D.C., Mexico, Nicaragua and Colombia and a project in Cuba. Witness for Peace's seeks to inform the U.S. public about the human, social, economic and environmental costs of U.S. foreign policies. www.witnessforpeace.org

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