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April 8 issue — Is George W. Bush using war as an extension
of his oil policy? It looked that way in February, when Washington announced a $700
million aid package for the Andean region, largely to fight the twin threats of guerrilla
war and drugrunning that threaten the area. As is usual, half the money will go to
Colombia, but with a new twist: $98 million for training and equipping a Colombian brigade
of around 2,000 soldiers to protect the 772-kilometer Cano Limon pipeline. Used
to transport crude oil to the Caribbean coast from a field pumped by Occidental Petroleum
of California in partnership with the Colombian state oil company, the pipeline is a
favorite target of rebel saboteurs.
THIS WOULD HARDLY be the first time a nation defended its interest in smoothly flowing oil
supplies by force of arms. Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the gulf war that
followed are only the latest conflicts over control of fossil fuel. Bush’s critics
have argued since September 11 that his “war on terror” is really about oil, and
their suspicions have been heightened by the Pentagon’s clear intent to keep access
to bases in the oil-rich Caspian Sea region after the war in Afghanistan winds down. But
in Colombia the oil connection is not conjecture: it was spelled out in a budget request
that specifically names the pipeline and Occidental, and appeared to set a dangerous
precedent.
If
the United States would defend Occidental’s supplies, why not those of any number of
American oil companies in potential war zones? At a time when the Bush administration has
built its energy policy around reducing U.S. dependence on Mideast oil, and is working
overtime to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, it can’t ignore disruption of other
sources. In March, Bush aides were planning to push through $15 million to $30 million in
emergency spending to “jump-start” the pipeline defense effort, rather than wait
for the 2003 budget process to grind itself out.
Senior
Bush officials insist the Caño Limón brigade has its origins not in U.S. oil interests
but in parliamentary maneuvering back home. Conventional wisdom in Washington is that
Colombia will lose the war against the rebels without more U.S. help. Bush officials, like
their predecessors, express frustration at laws that limit U.S. military aid to Colombia
to the war on its notorious drug traffickers. Before leaving on his trip to South America
in March, Bush vowed to do everything possible to expand U.S. aid beyond drugs to help in
Colombia’s other war, the decades-old fight against Marxist guerrilla armies.
That’s where the Caño Limón brigade comes in. “The pipeline got in there
because the White House figured it was the only thing they could do within the existing
guidelines,” says a senior Pentagon source.
In the
wake of 9-11, it may work. The congressional distinction between fighting drug runners and
insurgents in Colombia has never made much sense, because the guerrillas make their money
running drugs. By now the rebel armies control about half the country, and the larger one,
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), makes an estimated $300 million a year
in the drug trade. It is also waging a campaign of economic sabotage. Last year rebel
bombings put Caño Limón out of commission for 266 days, costing Colombia $500 million in
lost export revenue. In January and February, guerrillas widened the attacks to
electricity pylons, bridges and waterworks around the country. As Washington describes it,
the new Cano Limon brigade is a way of defending the economic lifeline of a nation on the
verge of becoming what one Pentagon planner calls “a failed state.”
To the extent that this is about
oil, it’s about Colombian oil, Bush officials insist. They concede that
Occidental lobbied for protection, but not strongly, and that it made no difference.
Colombia is the seventh largest supplier of oil to the United States, exporting 332,000
barrels per day in 2000. At that rate Colombia “matters zilch” to U.S. energy
security, says a Washington military source. However, oil matters hugely to Colombia. It
is the chief source of export income, which will be critical to the future health of the
economy and Colombia’s ability to hold off FARC. The State Department has long listed
FARC as “terrorists” rather than guerrillas. In the wake of September 11, money
for the pipeline brigade can be sold to Congress as funding for the war on terror. The
plan will likely pass the House, but faces tougher scrutiny in the Senate.
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