LIFT RESTRICTIONS ON COLOMBIA

The ruthless, leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the
FARC, have committed horrific atrocities in their 30-year-long struggle for
power but stopped short of urban terrorism. But since February when
President Andres Pastrana finally gave up trying to get the guerrillas to
sign a peace accord, they have turned to terrorist bombings in major cities
and attempted to assassinate the candidate likely to succeed Mr. Pastrana.

As President Bush said this week, "These aren't 'so-called terrorists,'
these are terrorists." It shouldn't be difficult to convince Congress to
lift restrictions imposed on the use of military equipment that has
handicapped the Colombian security forces. Up to now, U.S.-supplied
helicopters and military training were allowed to be used solely to counter
drug production and trafficking.

Mr. Bush went on to say, "By fighting narco-trafficking ... we're fighting
the funding source for these political terrorists." It is important to
fight narco-terrorism on all fronts. The FARC finances its operations from
protection money paid by the Colombian heroin and cocaine cartels, but so
does a smaller left-wing guerrilla army, the National Liberation Army (ELN)
and the United Self-Defense Units, which are best described as right-wing
death squads.

The Bush administration can, and surely will, point to the proven links
between the FARC and the Irish Republican Army, demonstrating that the
Colombian insurgents have international terror links. It has also been
reported that the FARC operates in Venezuelan territory and has held talks
with high-ranking officers of the Venezuelan army.

The Associated Press reported that while President Bush was meeting with
President Pastrana at the White House, Deputy Secretary of State Richard
Armitage's request to Congress for additional help for Colombia was greeted
with skepticism. But Mr. Armitage was not exaggerating when he said that
Colombia is "in a real tussle for survival." The FARC has used the past
three years, which President Pastrana devoted to making peace, to prepare
for war. The existence of a well-armed, well-financed guerrilla army in a
country as vulnerable to an armed takeover as Colombia undoubtedly poses a
future security threat to the United States. The facts about
narco-terrorism in Colombia will surely convince any skeptics in Congress
that it is in the U.S. interest to help a democratic nation survive and
eventually defeat a mutual enemy.