CLINTON ON WAIVER TO PERMIT AID TO COLOMBIA TO BEGIN FLOWING Asked to comment on his August 22 signing of a waiver so that U.S. aid can begin flowing to Colombia, even though Colombia has not met all the human rights conditions specified by the U.S. Congress, Clinton said: "I did it because I believe (Colombia's) President Pastrana is committed to dealing with the human rights issues, about which we're still very concerned. He has submitted legislation to the Colombian parliament, for example, for civil trials, for allegations of military abuses of human rights. And we also have a system in place for specific, case-by-case investigation of serious allegations. "So I think that we've protected our fundamental interests in human rights and enabled Plan Colombia to have a chance to succeed, which I think is very, very important for the long-term stability of democracy and human rights in Colombia and for protecting the American people and the Colombian people from the drug traffic." Asked if he were not sabotaging human rights in favor of the money, Clinton said "No. No. The money is designed to help combat the drug trafficking and to help alleviate a lot of the social problems, to help to develop alternative economic development, and also to build the civil institutions in Colombia which will help to protect human rights. "So what I did," Clinton said, "was to permit Plan Colombia to go forward and to be implemented because I'm convinced that the President (Pastrana) is committed to the proper course on human rights -- he's submitted legislation which is evidence of that -- and because we haven't given up our ability to look into case-by-case allegations of human rights violations dealing with specific military units who can be kept from getting any of this assistance if they have in fact committed human rights violations."