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Gates Criticizes Chavez Plan To Legitimize FARC

Calls Colombian rebels terrorists

By Sara A. Carter, Washington Times

The Pentagon chief yesterday said there is growing concern regarding Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s stance to have a Latin American terrorist group “recognized as a legitimate organization.”

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who recently visited Colombia, told reporters that Mr. Chavez’s attempts to legitimize the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by the Spanish acronym FARC, are hurting the work Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has done in fighting the terrorist group.

“The FARC is a declared terrorist organization and remains so,” Mr. Gates said. “As the president of Colombia reminded me, it’s been his entire life that he has not seen a peaceful day, and that FARC has been a threat of great and continuing concern.”

FARC, established in 1964 by the Colombian Communist Party, continues to tout itself as a guerilla organization.

More than “750 soldiers a year” are injured fighting FARC and “half of them are losing limbs … In addition, they’re also losing a soldier a day in this fight,” Mr. Gates said.

Nearly two weeks ago, the militant group responded to continued negotiations on hostage release with Mr. Chavez by releasing only two among the nearly 700 people thought held. Mr. Uribe asked the Venezuelan president to stop his negotiations after Mr. Chavez last week called FARC and the more-militant National Liberation Army (ELN) legitimate political forces.

“FARC and ELN are not terrorist groups. They are armies, true armies that occupy a space in Colombia,” the Venezuelan leader told his state-run news agency. “We should recognize them … They are insurgent forces that have political and Bolivarian goals, and here [in Venezuela] that is respected.”

In other matters, Mr. Gates said there are no plans to set up permanent U.S. bases in Iraq despite concerns among critics that a planned U.S. military accord with Iraq would pose problems for future U.S. presidents.

“I think it is pretty clear that such an agreement would not talk about force levels — we have no interest in permanent bases,” he said.

The secretary also spoke at length regarding al Qaeda’s presence in Pakistan, offering the Pakistani government an olive branch of sorts, when he said the U.S. will “remain ready, willing and able to assist the Pakistanis” in conducting joint operations against al Qaeda. He told reporters that Islamabad has not asked for U.S. assistance in rooting out al Qaeda from its stronghold in Pakistan.

“Pakistan is a sovereign country,” Mr. Gates said. “They clearly have the right to decide whether or not forces from another country are going to operate on their soil. We will continue the dialogue, but we would not do anything without their approval.”

Earlier in the day, Air Force Brig. Gen. Jay Lindell said Afghanistan’s air force is facing major challenges and will not be able to fly combat missions until 2013.

Gen. Lindell, who is charged with assisting to rebuild the Afghan force, said that although its pilots have many years of experience, most are older than 40 and new pilots haven’t trained in 16 years.

“So over the next three years, our focus has been to develop their mobility capability,” Gen. Lindell said. “That is the urgent and most critical need that the Afghan national security forces need.”