"This bill includes almost $1 billion for an entirely new, and almost totally
military, involvement in a civil war in Latin America, without the slightest
promise that our intervention will be a success, and it does it in a totally
backward fashion.
"The very committee report that recommends spending this almost $1 billion
says that the committee 'has grave reservations regarding the administration's
ability to effectively manage the use of these resources to achieve the
expected results' ...
"This bill says let's get in a war now and justify it later ...
"It just seems impossible to me to believe that in the absence of the debate of
the whole country, with all of the lessons we must have learned not just in this
administration, but in previous administrations, about how easy it is to get in
and how hard it is to get out, we will blithely make this downpayment — and
this is a downpayment only ...
"Next year, maybe we will need a lot more money if they are not doing very
well down there. And how much of the equipment is going to end up in the
hands of rebels by sale or capture or otherwise? We have no way of
controlling that without a presence on the ground.
"I urge this body to say ... we are not going to do this until you first come to
us with a formal overall plan with a beginning, middle, and an end, and a
plan for how we are going to achieve our goals. Get the authority first and
then fund it. It is 10 times better for this society to put that $700 million on
our debt and not get in a civil war in South America. That is what this debate
is all about — not that we don't like the Colombians or that we don't want
them to be successful, but we don't want a part of their war."
