The Bush administration is considering whether it can provide money to help demobilize Colombia's largest far-right paramilitary army despite its official designation by Washington as a foreign terrorist organization, U.S. officials said on Tuesday. The proposal faces political and legal hurdles as President George W. Bush campaigns for re-election on his hard-line stance against terrorism. Still, the effort has generated support within the State Department, and congressional sources interviewed this week said the U.S. Embassy in Colombia had asked the Justice Department whether U.S. taxpayer funding could legally be used for the demobilization of the outlawed United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC. "We are considering how to support the government of Colombia's efforts to demobilize the AUC. No decision has been reached. ... We are mindful that we have to stay within certain legal and policy parameters," said a U.S. official who asked not to be named. Proponents say the money would help bolster Colombia's talks to disarm the country's 20,000 paramilitary gunmen, members of right-wing militias funded by drug trafficking who kill guerrillas and anyone suspected of sympathizing with them. -- MORE 2300 Local Time 2000 GMT
