sense is your administration is going to be highly focused on domestic issues, and your secretary of state is going to have to look at foreign policy through that prism. In other words, I don’t think he’s going to have a very strong voice within the administration. I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be telling you what you’re going to be doing, that’s just how it looks to me. Personally, I think that’s a great mistake, particularly at this time in history. In fact, at any time in history. It also won’t make it much fun to be running State. But I’m biased. I’m a State guy. I’m going to say that, aren’t I?”
Benton was silent for a moment. “Tell me something,” he said.
“What?”
“Anything. Colombia. What do I do with Colombia? How do I get out? How quick do I push?”
“Colombia’s not important,” replied Olsen.
“Except that we have four House resolutions in the past three years calling for a pullout.”
“That’s exactly what I mean,” said Olsen. “The House passing resolutions is a domestic issue, and the only reason you’d respond to that is if you want the House’s support for domestic reasons. If you want to pull out of Colombia because of domestic pressures, that’s fine. But that’s a different question. That’s not a question of foreign policy. That’s not what you want State taking into account.”
“What do I want State taking into account?”
“State should be considering the geostrategic context and the implications of action, or lack of action, on the ability of the United States to achieve its objectives both in Colombia, the region, and in other parts of the world. Senator, if you want my personal opinion, here it is. Colombia is of no genuine geostrategic interest to anybody except us. We were invited in by their government as a means of dealing with a decades-old insurgency. That may have been a pretext Bill Shawcross chose to exploit, or even helped create, but there it is. Last time I heard, President Lobinas was still asking us to stay. Now, the truth is, Colombia is a failing state, and probably will fail if and when we pull out. In the meantime, our personnel suffer very low attrition—unfortunate, but we can absorb it—and we reduce the flow of cocaine into the United States by three-fourths. This is not an urgent issue for resolution. I wouldn’t expend an ounce of our credibility on it.”
“Except that every time we talk to anyone about their human rights situation—the Chinese, the Russians—they tell us to get out of Colombia before we come preaching to them.”
“But they’re not analogous situations. We’re not abusing human rights in Colombia the way China and Russia abuse the rights of their own citizens. We’re not even an occupying power. We’re not there in defiance of the local government. On the contrary, the local government invited us to come in.”
“But other countries still use it against us.”
“Correct, but the very fact that they use this—which is a nonanalogous situation—just shows that they use it because they need something to use against us. Anything. Pull out of Colombia and it’ll be something else.
“So you’re saying I do nothing about Colombia?”
“Senator, you asked me for a State Department opinion. You may have domestic reasons to do something about it. That’s why you’re the president, so you can balance all those things together. If you have domestic reasons, and if those reasons are good enough, you’d have to act.”
“But if I don’t, I do nothing?”
“On the contrary. Ideally, I don’t want American soldiers dying in Colombia any more than you do. Here’s what you do. In the first instance, you do stay in Colombia, because the interdiction of supply to cocaine is worth the price we’re paying militarily. But you also lean hard on Bolivia and Peru to get them to meet their obligations on ending cocaine production
Benton was silent for a moment. “Tell me something,” he said.
“What?”
“Anything. Colombia. What do I do with Colombia? How do I get out? How quick do I push?”
“Colombia’s not important,” replied Olsen.
“Except that we have four House resolutions in the past three years calling for a pullout.”
“That’s exactly what I mean,” said Olsen. “The House passing resolutions is a domestic issue, and the only reason you’d respond to that is if you want the House’s support for domestic reasons. If you want to pull out of Colombia because of domestic pressures, that’s fine. But that’s a different question. That’s not a question of foreign policy. That’s not what you want State taking into account.”
“What do I want State taking into account?”
“State should be considering the geostrategic context and the implications of action, or lack of action, on the ability of the United States to achieve its objectives both in Colombia, the region, and in other parts of the world. Senator, if you want my personal opinion, here it is. Colombia is of no genuine geostrategic interest to anybody except us. We were invited in by their government as a means of dealing with a decades-old insurgency. That may have been a pretext Bill Shawcross chose to exploit, or even helped create, but there it is. Last time I heard, President Lobinas was still asking us to stay. Now, the truth is, Colombia is a failing state, and probably will fail if and when we pull out. In the meantime, our personnel suffer very low attrition—unfortunate, but we can absorb it—and we reduce the flow of cocaine into the United States by three-fourths. This is not an urgent issue for resolution. I wouldn’t expend an ounce of our credibility on it.”
“Except that every time we talk to anyone about their human rights situation—the Chinese, the Russians—they tell us to get out of Colombia before we come preaching to them.”
“But they’re not analogous situations. We’re not abusing human rights in Colombia the way China and Russia abuse the rights of their own citizens. We’re not even an occupying power. We’re not there in defiance of the local government. On the contrary, the local government invited us to come in.”
“But other countries still use it against us.”
“Correct, but the very fact that they use this—which is a nonanalogous situation—just shows that they use it because they need something to use against us. Anything. Pull out of Colombia and it’ll be something else.
“So you’re saying I do nothing about Colombia?”
“Senator, you asked me for a State Department opinion. You may have domestic reasons to do something about it. That’s why you’re the president, so you can balance all those things together. If you have domestic reasons, and if those reasons are good enough, you’d have to act.”
“But if I don’t, I do nothing?”
“On the contrary. Ideally, I don’t want American soldiers dying in Colombia any more than you do. Here’s what you do. In the first instance, you do stay in Colombia, because the interdiction of supply to cocaine is worth the price we’re paying militarily. But you also lean hard on Bolivia and Peru to get them to meet their obligations on ending cocaine production
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