The Pentagon said that every quarter MPRI reports directly to a senior steering committee in Washington, including Sheridan, representatives of Southcom and Randy Beers, the assistant secretary of state for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. Congress, meanwhile, gets no updates about the MPRI mission. And that makes critics, even within the military, queasy. Not only did he conclude that what they do is illegal, because they circumvent congressional oversight, but he also wondered how military men and women could sell their expertise to the highest foreign bidder. The unintended consequences of profit-motivated military assistance could detract from U.S. foreign policy objectives, result in tragedy when misused by recipients and leave a dispirited military.
Military aid is clearly the most sensitive form of aid flowing to Colombia.
Curtis Kamman, the U.S. ambassador to Colombia until a few weeks ago, maintained a policy prohibiting reporters from observing Special Forces training because he feared the images beamed to television sets back home would remind people of Vietnam. Whatever happens, there are going to be a lot of mothers' sons who are going to die who may or may not be Americans.