COLOMBIA: The Colombian civil war

Tom Grey calls our attention to a film about the civil war in Colombia, "Colombia: The Next Vietnam?". This loaded title seeks to frighten Americans. Here is some of the promotion for the film: "In 2001, the producers, Barstow and Driver, were members of the 100- member delegation that Witness for Peace sent to Colombia. The film demonstrates why U.S. involvement in Colombia is not about drugs but about oil, not about counter-narcotics but about counter-insurgency, not about coca but about U.S. military expansion, ineffective at controlling drug addiction in the U.S.and harmful to Colombian farmers and their families.

Anne L. Barstow, prior to retirement, was Professor of History at the Old Westbury campus of the State University of New York. Tom F. Driver is the Paul J. Tillich Professor of Theology and Culture Emeritus at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Both are authors and have been active volunteers with Witness for Peace for more than ten years. Production costs for COLOMBIA: THE NEXT VIETNAM? were underwritten by friends in the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship. Your contributions fund a scholarship program to help other people go on future delegations to Colombia so that they can return enabled to swell the chorus of protest against U.S. military involvement".

My comment: What the US should do about Colombia is a very difficult question, especially with the US busy militarily in Afghanistan, but it is a complete distortion to say that the US is interested only in oil and US military expansion. Vietnam involved US opposition to the expansionist activities of the USSR and China. The Colombian civil war has no such global implications, and the FARC guerrillas are simply thugs who terrorize the population. The Colombian government deserves our support, but not necessarily our intervention with US troops. The American protestors against involvement in Colombia are the same as those who objected to our involvement in Afghanistan, which has brought relief to that devastated land. As for religion and war, it is interesting to compare the Taliban with the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship. Did the makers of the Colombia film talk with the Colombian clergy? If the Bush administration carries out its threat to attack Iraq, protests by peace fellowships will increase. The parallel with Vietnam is primarily about the protests in the US.

Ronald Hilton - 7/26/02