RETHINK COLOMBIAN DRUG WAR

Colombian President Andres Pastrana met President George W. Bush this week
to press him about letting Colombia redirect American anti-drug aid to
fight leftist guerrilla groups in his country. Such a request would have
been regarded as preposterous a year ago. Yet Pastrana received a
sympathetic hearing not just from Bush -- but from most of Washington as well.

Bush and Congress, however, ought to reject Pastrana's request. They should
rethink the billions of dollars in anti-drug aid they annually pump into
Colombia.

This aid has already failed to contain the flow of drugs into the United
States. And now it is threatening to embroil America in a messy internal
conflict that will distract from its real priority: the war against terrorism.

Washington has never been shy about giving Colombia money to combat drugs:
It contributed about a billion dollars toward anti-drug efforts in the
1990s, even when it was clear that such efforts were not succeeding in
stemming the influx of Colombian drugs into America. All through that
decade, Colombian cocaine managed to maintain its dominance on U.S. streets.

Instead of admitting defeat and rethinking its strategy, Congress in 2000
redoubled its crackdown efforts on Colombian drugs: It approved a $1.2
billion annual anti-drug aid package called Plan Colombia -- one of whose
purposes is to train and arm the Colombian army to fight narco-insurgents.
The only restriction on the money is that it could not be used against
domestic, Marxist guerrilla groups that control about 40 percent of the
country and with whom the Colombian government had been engaged in peace talks.

But these peace talks broke down a few months ago. Now Pastrana is telling
Washington that without the authority to redirect American aid to fight
these guerrilla groups, the war on drugs will never be won. Still, even
with the additional money, the war would not be won -- as long as there is
a demand for the drugs in North America.

The South American guerrilla groups perpetrate daily kidnappings and
killings of ordinary civilians. And they are in cahoots with drug
traffickers whose profits fund their operations.

Even though the Pentagon is a big backer of Pastrana's request, allowing
the Colombian government to use American aid to fight domestic rebels --
even if they can rightly be called terrorists -- is bad policy. It would
risk getting the United States directly involved in a dispute in which it
has no vital interest. More important, such mission creep would divert
resources from America's fight against real terrorist threats against
itself and its allies.

To win the war on terrorism, Bush needs focus. Drug aid is not just failing
to stop drugs from entering the United States, it is also becoming a
terrible distraction. Now more than ever before, Washington should be
rethinking such aid.