U.S., Colombia near base access deal

Potential jumping-off point
A potential jumping-off point for operations by expeditionary forces, in other words.

"Nearly half the continent can be covered by a C-17 (military transport) without refueling" from Palanquero, the document says.

Rafael Pardo, a former defense minister and candidate for president in May 2010 elections, has complained of secrecy surrounding the negotiations, and worries about alienating other South American nations. The radar and communications intercept ability of U.S. aircraft can extend well beyond Colombia's borders.

"If it's to launch surveillance flights over other nations then it seems to me that would be needless hostility by Colombia against its neighbors," Pardo said, although one of the Colombian officials said the agreement will specify that U.S. flights won't cross Colombia's borders without permission from affected countries.

At Wednesday's hearing, Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez said the agreement would specify that U.S. flights would not cross Colombia's borders without permission from affected countries. "This is a bilateral accord whose scope is exclusively in Colombian territory," he said.

It is not clear what other restrictions might be placed on U.S. military aircraft, warships or troops. Putting more Americans on the ground would raise the risk of casualties, although Colombia's leftist rebels — chiefly financed by cocaine trafficking — have no record of attacking Americans in the country.

Hundreds already work in Colombia
About 600 U.S. military personnel and civilian contractors already work in Colombia, according to the most recent figures. Advisers are attached to Colombian army divisions, have their own offices at armed forces headquarters and have trained thousands of Colombian troops since 2000.

Under U.S. law, the number of Defense Department employees in Colombia cannot exceed 800 while the number of military contractors cannot top 600.

That number would not change under the draft accord, the senior Colombian officials said. Nor, they said, would U.S. troops lose their immunity from local criminal prosecution.

While drug interdiction is the chief U.S. goal, some worry that bringing in more Americans will lead to the U.S. taking sides in a conflict in which leftist rebels and far-right death squads, often backed by the military, have killed tens of thousands of people.

The U.S. could be pushing Colombia to negotiate a settlement with the rebels, said John Lindsay-Poland of the U.S.-based Fellowship of Reconciliation. Instead, "this is an indicator that the United States is going to be supporting a military approach."

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