COLOMBIA: U.S SECRETARY OF DEFENCE DONALD RUMSFELDS COMMENTS ON THE BOMBING OF THE UNITED NATIONS BUILDING IN BAGHDAD

Record ID: 184747

  • Title: COLOMBIA: U.S SECRETARY OF DEFENCE DONALD RUMSFELDS COMMENTS ON THE BOMBING OF THE UNITED NATIONS BUILDING IN BAGHDAD
  • Date: 19th August 2003
  • Summary: (W1) BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (AUGUST 19, 2003) (GOVERNMENT TV - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS OF U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENCE DONALD RUMSFELD MEETING WITH PRESIDENT ALVARO URIBE (3 SHOTS) 0.14 2. VARIOUS OF RUMSFELD HAVING LUNCH WITH URIBE 5 SHOTS) 0.37 (W1) BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (AUGUST 19, 2003) (REUTERS) 3. SMV OF MEDIA 0.41 4. GENERAL VIEW OF RUMSFELD ARRIVING TO NEWS CONFERENCE WITH COLOMBIAN DEFENCE MINISTER MARTHA RAMIREZ 0.48 5. SMV RUMSFELD AND RAMIREZ WALKING TO PODIUM 0.53 6. WIDE OF PRESS CONFERENCE 0.55 7. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) RUMSFELD SAYING: "I would also like to join in expressing deep regret about the bombing that took place in Baghdad and the death of the UN special representative, Mr. de Mello. The United Nations, of course, is attempting to help the Iraqi people and the act that took place is against the Iraqi people." 1.27 8. SMV MILITARY LISTENING AT PRESS CONFERENCE 1.32 9. WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE WITH RUMSFELD AND RAMIREZ 1.39 10. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) RUMSFELD SAYING: "The Iraqi people are on a path towards self government and an opportunity to express themselves. There are now something like 100 newspapers in that country. An Iraqi army is being built, an Iraqi police force is being built" 2.02 11. WIDE OF MEDIA 2.07 12. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) RUMSFELD SAYING: "I would make just one comment on the air bridge. Needless to say that air interdiction is not a single country's issue, it's a regional issue. It involves drugs as well as weapons and it's not a problem for Colombia at all alone. Indeed it's a problem that requires and benefits greatly from the cooperation of neighbouring countries and I know that a number of your neighbours have been cooperative with you." 2.44 13. SMV MEDIA 2.47 14. VARIOUS, RUMSFELD TALKING WITH RAMIREZ AND LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE 3.03 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 3rd September 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
  • Country: Colombia
  • Reuters ID: LVA1JI9LR2H73W4DT2NYFNZQFOO
  • Story Text: U.S. Secretary of Defence reacts to latest attack in Iraq
    during news conference in Colombia.



    The United States on Tuesday (August 19) resumed its
    support for drug interception flights over Colombia, which
    were suspended following the 2001 deaths of a U.S.

    missionary and her baby in an incident over Peru.

    The announcement from Crawford, Texas, where U.S.

    President George W. Bush was on vacation, came as U.S
    Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld held talks in Bogota with
    Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe and Defence Minister
    Martha Ramirez on support from Washington against cocaine
    and Marxist rebels.

    The United States and Colombia have been negotiating
    for months over an agreement to establish procedures that
    would prevent another incident like the April 2001 tragedy
    when a Peruvian Air Force plane shot down a small aircraft
    carrying a missionary family after mistaking their plane
    for a drug-smuggling flight.

    Rumsfeld told reporters en route from Washington for a
    one-day visit that Bush had decided to resume the flights.

    During a joint news conference with Ramirez, Rumsfeld
    said that the drug war was not just the responsibility of
    one country.

    "Needless to say that air interdiction is not a single
    country's issue, it's a regional issue," Rumsfeld said.

    "Indeed it's a problem that requires and benefits greatly
    from the cooperation of neighbouring countries and I know
    that a number of your neighbours have been cooperative with
    you."
    Under the program, U.S. intelligence and equipment
    helps Colombian planes track and sometimes force down
    aircraft suspected of flying cocaine or heroin.

    Colombian and Peruvian officials, who view the flights
    as an important way to fight the drug trade, wanted them to
    resume last year and the delay has frustrated many in the
    region.

    The U.S. decision will be warmly received by Colombian
    President Alvaro Uribe, whose military offensive against
    Marxist rebels and drug smugglers has made him one of
    Washington's favorite Latin American leaders.

    The United States has poured more than $2 billion in
    mainly military aid into Colombia in recent years. A
    U.S.-backed spraying program reduced the area of coca crops
    -- the raw material for cocaine -- by a record 30 percent
    in 2002.

    Uribe, long a rebel assassination target, had a narrow
    escape on Sunday when suspected FARC guerrillas fired
    assault rifles as his helicopter flew into a village in
    northern Colombia.

    Each time U.S. officials have put forward a target date
    for resuming drug interdiction flights it has slipped, in
    part because of the difficult process of designing airtight
    procedures to prevent another accidental shootdown.

    About 400 U.S. military personnel are in Colombia at
    any one time, dedicated to training and intelligence.



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