Political Quotes

“after 7 years of work on anti-narcotic efforts in Colombia, we are now seeing the fruits of our labors in the drug wars. Americans, and especially our young people, are greatly benefiting here at home from our policies in Colombia and the strong support of the government of President Alvaro Uribe. We are concerned, however, with the recent waning support by some in the administration for our vital counterdrug initiatives. A focused part of our war on drugs is comprised of the interdiction and spray airplanes used by the Colombian police and military. We have funded a number of these aircraft, but several have been lost because of serious maintenance problems or have been shot down or destroyed. Since the year 2000, more than 23 aircraft, including spray planes and vital helicopters, have crashed or been lost in action. This includes one of the original Black Hawk helicopters which we in the Congress obtained for the Colombian National Police, CNP, to use against the opium crops as early as 1999. The administration's FY07 budget fails to address these shortfalls. Moreover, after some correspondence, the State Department dismissed my recent call for the replacement of these aircraft. What we need is a small, but targeted, assistance package to replace lost anti-drug aircraft and to provide a few new Marine Patrol Aircraft, MPA, of modest cost for the Colombian Navy.…”