FRONT LINE IN COLOMBIA LOOKING LIKE QUICKSAND

Congress has approved $1.3 billion, most of it in military aid, to help
Colombia fight drug traffickers who supply America's habit. More than half
of the money has been disbursed, but the State Department's deceptive
training practices and a new law signed by Colombian President Andres
Pastrana should make Congress reconsider whether it should release the $500
million scheduled for approval this fall.

Lawmakers said last year that no more than 300 civilian contract workers
could be involved in Colombia's drug eradication effort, which battles two
left-wing rebel groups and some right-wing paramilitaries, all of which
finance their operations with drug money. Fears of a Vietnam-style quagmire
led Congress to limit the scope of American involvement. The order
specified civilians because there is a relatively new practice of
contracting with private companies to provide training and serve as
"advisers," a loaded term since Vietnam.

As it turns out, however, the State Department hired DynCorp to provide
training and support in Colombia, then encouraged the company to hire
non-U.S. citizens as pilots and to fill other roles. Why? Because the State
Department interpreted Congress' cap as applying only to U.S. citizens. So
DynCorp already has exceeded the 300 limit.

As if games-playing by the State Department weren't bad enough, President
Pastrana has just signed a bill that removes human-rights safeguards that
were an important part of Congress' decision to provide military aid.
Because Colombia's military had had a terrible record of slaughtering
civilians -- or winking while paramilitary troops carried out the slaughter
- -- President Pastrana had promised that newly formed, specially vetted and
trained battalions would conduct the drug war. The new law, however, passed
and signed under pressure from the military, lets officers declare martial
law in some zones, blocks civilian investigations of military actions and
allows the military to detain prisoners, without civilian supervision,
indefinitely.

Mr. Pastrana, who leaves office in a year, is frustrated that rebels in the
two main groups -- the FARC and ELN -- have not negotiated in good faith,
despite government concessions that include creation of a huge safe zone
that the rebels have exploited to carry on their drug trade and war. The
war in Colombia is getting dirtier, and the United States is getting into
it deeper than lawmakers intended. If Congress can't reverse those alarming
trends, lawmakers should pull the money and spend it in this country on
treatment for addicts.