Bush and Uribe plot the future of Plan Colombia

We're late on the update to this story. Bush did indeed meet with President Uribe in Brazil on Monday, under the protection of some 15,000 Brazilian soldiers.

"Heavily armed guards lined his motorcade route from the airport. Helicopters hovered close, and armed patrol boats scoured the coastline for any sign of trouble."

It always astounds me that Bush thinks he is so important that he merits that kind of protection. I mean really, he's in a country that's receiving billions of dollars of US aid that they use to bolster a corrupt system under the auspices of a so-called war on "narco-terrorism" that will never end. Why would they kill the golden goose?

That aside, Bush offered the usual empty platitudes about how important and successful Plan Colombia has been, failing to account for the fact that cocaine is cheaper and purer than ever on the streets of US cities. I'll spare you the tiresome quotes. What catches this activist's attention however, is this little factoid.

The United States has invested more than $3 billion in Colombia's antidrug campaign since 2002, but the funding package, known as Plan Colombia, expires next year. Bush didn't say how much more he would seek from Congress next year.

Now is the time to start pressuring your own Congress creatures to defund this program. Email, call them, write or whatever, but contact them once a week from now until the funding expires and tell them to stop spending your tax dollars on this atrocity.