COLOMBIA'S FIGHT IS OURS TOO

For Sake of Stability and Democracy, the U.S. Should Step In.

Colombian terrorists sent a clear message to Alvaro Uribe on Wednesday
just as he was being inaugurated as president of Colombia. Guerrillas
with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, lobbed
rockets at the presidential palace and in downtown areas that killed
19 civilians. The unmistakable message: "Here we are. Come and get
us."

Immediately after his landslide electoral victory, Uribe sought United
Nations support in negotiating a peaceful resolution to Colombia's
seemingly interminable violence, despite evidence that former
President Andres Pastrana's three-year "peace offensive" had
accomplished nothing.

But Uribe clearly stated that he would meet violence with violence if
serious negotiations were rejected by the guerrillas. With the bombs
of Bogota, the battle is openly joined.

U.S. policy toward Latin America during the Bush administration is
likely to be thought of as before and after Uribe's inauguration.
Despite the American president's pledge to take Latin America more
seriously than his predecessor, he has not done so. But just as Sept.
11 quickly focused his mind, so Aug. 7 will do the same for this hemisphere.

Why should the United States become involved in Colombia's civil war.
Because Colombia is a large country strategically located between
Central America and the rest of South America. Chaos there affects the
region as a whole. Some 90% of the cocaine that reaches the U.S. comes
from or through Colombia. Above all, we are already involved up to our
armpits. As they say, follow the money.

For decades, Americans have had a serious drug habit. Washington has
made that habit illegal, and thus for those who service our demand the
profits are enormous. Some Colombians, from cartel chiefs to peasants
in the fields growing coca, have benefited in differing degrees from
this trade. But almost all Colombians have suffered the consequences:
widespread murder, kidnapping, displaced people, unemployment, massive
corruption and the destruction of already shaky democratic
institutions.

The only real, long-overdue response to this situation is some form of
drug legalization to remove the massive profits. But since Washington
politicians don't seem to have the wisdom or courage to do that, and
doing so would require substantial readjustments worldwide, we must
now settle for confronting the symptoms.

Polls indicate that a majority of Colombians would like U.S. troops to
come in and take care of the guerrillas. These frustrated and
desperate Colombians seriously underestimate the problem. But the vast
majority of U.S. leaders are equally simplistic or dishonest in their
appraisals. They have heretofore refused to see that the drug war and
the civil war in Colombia are hopelessly intertwined and that we
cannot dump more than $1 billion of military aid in two years
exclusively into fighting drugs, as we have tried to do. That is
futile and counterproductive.

Washington must support Uribe in his plan to double the size of the
Colombian army to deal decisively with guerrillas. And a greater
emphasis must be placed on infiltrating their forces and killing their
leaders.

But that is the relatively easy part. We must also support Uribe in
carrying out a far more comprehensive, integrated plan that will deal
with a wide range of political and social issues, from strengthening
the justice system to weeding out pervasive corruption. This aspect
must be taken very seriously and funded--unlike the broad, unfunded
proposals in former President Pastrana's Plan Colombia.

Washington has taken a few steps in the right direction. Some military
aid can now be used against guerrillas or right-wing paramilitaries.
The instability in Colombia is increasingly seen as part of a regional
problem. There is some support for economic policies that will benefit
Andean countries, from the Andean Trade Preference Act to
restructuring foreign debt. There is some hope that recent FARC
terrorism will get the even more naive or dishonest European Union to
face realities in Colombia.

The terrorist bombs were a message to Americans as much as Colombians.
Washington politicians and democratic leaders worldwide must finally
face the realities of the terrorist challenge to Colombia's democratic
government and institutions.

The problem will assuredly get worse, in Colombia and the entire
region, if we do not respond seriously and maintain our support.