LIFT RESTRICTIONS ON COLOMBIA AID

President Andres Pastrana staked his political career on bringing
Colombia's long and bloody civil war to an end by granting the largest
rebel army, the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), a safe haven the size of
Switzerland. He hoped that his daring concession, virtually providing the
left-wing guerrillas with their own country, would bring them to the
negotiating table and eventually bring peace to the troubled land. He has
failed after giving his all for peace. Now he must wage war with a will.

It has long been clear that the guerrillas will not seek peace until they
come to realize that they cannot win power by force of arms. Only a show of
government strength and resolve will bring the FARC back to the peace process.

The concession granted the FARC was a brave but essentially naive
initiative that had precisely the opposite effect that the president
sought. The FARC used the peace zone to prepare for war.

Over the past two years, the guerrillas have had carte blanche to carry out
terrorist operations, bombing power lines, kidnapping Colombian citizens
for ransom and assassinating public figures.

It was the kidnapping of a senator, seized after guerrillas hijacked a
commercial airliner, that prompted Mr. Pastrana to lower the curtain on his
campaign for peace. The FARC then followed up with the kidnapping of a
presidential candidate.

More dangerous still than their guerrilla operations, the FARC is in
business with the narcotics cartels. In return for protection of the coca
plantations and processing plants, the drug barons have been pumping money
into the narco-terrorists' FARC's war machine.

Congress should lift restrictions on the use of U.S. military arms and
equipment. The $1.3 billion plan, which includes the provision of military
training and support for the Colombian army, has been strictly limited to
narcotics elimination. But the FARC and the cartels have become so
intertwined that it is impossible to separate the guerrillas from the drug
traffickers. Helicopters and other military equipment provided by the
United States serve no useful purpose if they cannot be used to fight the
guerrillas who protect the drug barons and their nefarious business.

It is in the American interest to support Colombia, a besieged democracy
situated in the heart of South America. The lawless lands controlled by the
guerrillas are the source of most of the cocaine and heroin that poison our
society. Moreover, the FARC has links with other terrorist groups and poses
a threat to neighboring countries.

The FARC and a second guerrilla group called the National Liberation Army
are left-wing extremists. The Colombian Self-Defense Forces, which operate
as death squads, are on the far right. All three organizations are on the
State Department's terrorist blacklist. The struggle in Colombia should be
seen as part of the global war against terrorism that the United States is
leading.