PRISONERS OF AN UNNOTICED WAR

It's a small war in a faraway country that most Americans are unaware of,
but this week the conflict demanded attention with the news that three
Americans captured when their plane crashed have been declared "prisoners
of war" by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The three kidnapped
U.S. technicians are not prisoners of war. The United States is not at war
with the FARC guerrillas. But they are caught up in the war between the
Colombian government and the left-wing rebels. The U.S. government must not
allow them to become pawns in the political war between the Colombian
government and the rebels.

The FARC's commanders say that they will exchange the Americans for rebel
guerrillas being held in Colombian government prisons. Their objective is
to undermine the newly adopted hard-line policy of President Alvaro Uribe,
who has refused to negotiate with the FARC until the guerrilla organization
shows good faith and abandons the use of terror tactics. Acquiescence to
the FARC's terms by Washington would place other Americans in greater
danger of being kidnapped.

The three Americans were last seen near the wreckage of their U.S.
government plane as they were taken away. A fourth American and a Colombian
soldier also survived the crash. The two men were killed resisting the
guerrillas. The company that employed the four Americans, California
Microwave Systems, a unit of Northrop Grumman, has acknowledged that one of
its workers, a retired U.S. Army warrant officer, was killed and three
others kidnapped by the guerrillas. The men were trained in satellite
surveillance and were presumably under contract to the U.S. government to
monitor drug trafficking.

The FARC claims that they are CIA agents and a spokesman warned that if a
rescue attempt is made, "The prisoners of war of the FARC do run the risk
of dying as a consequence of a crossfire between members of our guerrilla
organization and units of the state security forces."

U.S. military personnel have been sent to Colombia to help government
forces search for the hostages. In support of their efforts, the rebels
leaders must be told firmly that the war that the United States is helping
to fight in Colombia is against drug trafficking. If they fail to release
the Americans they are holding hostage, the rebels should be warned that
they will be confirming what Washington has long suspected -- that the FARC
is in league with the cocaine cartels.

Pressure should also be exerted on the FARC by reminding its leaders that
they will be placed on the State Department's terrorist blacklist and will
face serious consequences if the Americans are not freed.