LARANDIA ARMY BASE, Colombia (AP) -- U.S. Green Beret trainers watched
                  proudly as Colombian troops reacted to an "ambush" with a withering blast of
                  gunfire and by hurling hand grenades.

                  The aggressive response during training exercises -- opened for the first time to
                  journalists on Friday -- was one the U.S. Special Forces have been instilling into
                  their charges, who will soon combat drug trafficking in an area swarming with
                  rebels and paramilitaries.

                  The battalion will finish its months-long training in this sprawling jungle base on
                  May 24, and will join two other counternarcotics battalions -- a total of 3,000
                  soldiers -- that have been trained by the Green Berets since April 1999.

                  Amid criticism from human rights groups and even the U.S. State Department
                  that Colombian security forces have a poor human rights record, the U.S.
                  Embassy investigated each of the 3,000 soldiers to make sure they have not been
                  accused of abuses or drug trafficking.

                  But they will likely be conducting joint anti-drug operations with Colombian
                  counterguerrilla battalions which have not undergone such scrutiny -- and which
                  have a reputation of maintaining covert links with the paramilitary United
                  Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, which has been massacring suspected rebel
                  collaborators.

                  Under a brooding gray sky, the Green Berets -- from the 7th Special Forces
                  Group based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina -- watched their students stealthily
                  approach a mock drug lab manned by soldiers pretending to be rebels and
                  peasant farmers who were processing coca leaves into cocaine.

                  The bit of Hollywood theatrics was eerie, considering that not far from the
                  perimeter of this huge base in southern Caqueta state there are real coca labs
                  guarded by rebels.

                  "We are troops of the counternarcotics battalion! You are completely
                  surrounded," shouted one of the Colombian soldiers after his squad had closed
                  in.

                  A "rebel" clad in a dark green uniform and black rubber boots opened fire, and
                  was immediately cut down by the soldiers, who rushed into the muddy clearing.
                  A furious exchange of gunfire, using blanks, ensued.

                  The U.S. trainers, clad in camouflage fatigues and wearing floppy "boonie" hats,
                  said they try to instill "target discrimination" in their students, in the hope they
                  will not blow away noncombatants in real action.

                  "That's the only thing we can do, really. When people are in the area we're
                  expecting them to identify them before they shoot," explained a trainer. "It's not
                  just spray -- it's identify and then engage."

                  Army Gen. Mario Montoya, the commander of Colombia's southern region
                  where the U.S.-trained battalions will be based, rejected allegations by human
                  rights groups that some army units are fighting a dirty war against rebels.

                  "If we were as bloodthirsty as people say, the war would have been over by now
                  -- we would have killed all the bad guys," Montoya declared.

                  The newly trained troops will join the other two counternarcotics battalions in
                  operations against coca plantations and drug labs, mostly in Putumayo and
                  Caqueta states, which together produce more than 60 percent of Colombia's
                  cocaine.

                  The U.S backing of Colombia's military, which has been fighting a 37-year war
                  against rebels, has some critics suspecting the assistance is more geared at
                  helping wipe out the rebellion instead of stemming drug trafficking.

                  Since the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- the biggest rebel group --
                  earns millions of dollars by protecting and taxing drug crops, as do the rival
                  paramilitaries, the U.S.-trained troops will have wide clearance to launch attacks.

                  A U.S. military official based in Colombia, speaking on condition of customary
                  anonymity, said the U.S.-trained troops can target any of the thousands of rebels
                  and paramilitary gunmen in Putumayo and Caqueta, because he asserted they are
                  there only to make money off the drug trade.

                  The anti-drug troops provide protection for low-flying fumigation planes and
                  seek out and destroy drug labs. The two battalions have destroyed 86,000 acres
                  of coca and killed 52 "narcotraffickers" since December, Montoya said. He did
                  not give a breakdown on how many of the dead were rebels and paramilitaries.

                  In the clashes, one officer, three non-commissioned officers and six privates
                  have been slain, Montoya said.

                  Under the $1.3 billion U.S. aid package, 16 Blackhawk and 25 Super Huey
                  helicopters will begin arriving in July for the counternarcotics battalions.

                  They will give the battalions far greater mobility and fire support, the U.S.
                  military official said.

                  "We'll be able to double the rate of success we're having now, and that's a
                  modest estimate," he predicted.

                  Copyright 2001 The Associated Press