EUROPEANS BALK AT FUNDING THE DRUG WAR IN COLOMBIA

What do Europeans know about the big international anti-drug campaign in
war-torn Colombia that the United States government doesn't?

European nations, nervous about the civil war there, are backing off from
$2 billion in commitments to the Colombian drug war.

The Bogota government, too, is having a hard time coming up with $4 billion
it promised to support the ``Plan Colombia'' campaign.

If neither the international community nor Colombia itself will finance the
anti-drug effort, the United States, which has donated $1.3 billion in
mostly military aid, will be left holding the bag, neck deep in a civil war.

The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that European nations are getting
cold feet after many humanitarian organization declined money aimed at
refugee relief, helping farmers switch from illicit crops and giving
peasants a means of support without joining the rebels.

No fewer than 38 groups, including the International Committee of the Red
Cross and World Vision, have refused funding because they are skeptical of
Plan Colombia and are fearful for their workers' safety, according to the
Times.

Amnesty International says the Colombian government is unwilling or unable
to protect the humanitarian workers.

Colombia's ugly civil war has been raging for 36 years, pitting two leftist
rebel groups financed by drug money against government security forces and
their right-wing paramilitary allies. No end is in sight.

With the prospect of an infusion of American money, helicopters and
military ``advisers,'' joining the fray, peace talks have stalled, the
fighting has intensified and civilian noncombatants are being murdered,
kidnapped and terrorized by all sides.

Just last weekend, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels
invaded the tiny village of Ortega and massacred 13 people and torched 20
homes, a school and a church. The butchery was in response to the
villagers' refusal to join the rebels.

Failing to heed the red flags and warning bells, the Clinton administration
is stumbling into a civil war in a country controlled by rebels and drug
lords on one side, and by a corrupt government, paramilitary killers and an
army out of control, on the other.

Of all the missteps in the drug war, the commitment of American troops to
Colombia could be the biggest mistake of all.