COLOMBIA'S PATIENCE ENDS

Four decades ago, a leftist guerrilla group set out to make life
better for the poor people of Colombia. Today, they routinely kill
those peasants' children as they blow up buildings with car bombs and
mine rural roads. They destroy power towers, oil pipelines and
bridges. Two weeks ago, they cut off Bogota's water supply. The
cocaine trade they heartily embrace has rotted their ideology beyond
recognition, and even the most adamant reformers wonder what they are
hoping to achieve.

If the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, set out to
turn their nation into a workers' paradise, they have succeeded in
creating what one Colombian attorney terms "a dysfunctional hell."

Almost four years ago, Colombian President Andres Pastrana began a
dialogue with these guerrillas. Later, he ceded a Switzerland-size
zone to them as a haven for peace talks. His critics said he was
naive. But Pastrana persevered. Tuesday, when the guerrillas hijacked
a plane and kidnapped the president of the Colombian Senate's peace
commission, Pastrana's patience finally ran out. The next evening,
pressured by a frustrated public, he broke off the peace talks that
had never really begun. Colombia's 130,000-member army should have no
problem taking back the territory these 17,000 or so guerrillas
occupy. But it must protect civilians as it drives out the enemy. The
guerrillas, in turn, will probably increase their attacks, killing
clerks and farmers and children who get in the way, as well as
civilians they suspect of links to the country's right-wing
paramilitary forces.

Hired by the nation's rich, these paramilitary thugs are as bad as the
guerrillas, and if Pastrana hopes to keep the people on his side he
must crush them as well. The United States should stand on the side of
the Colombian people and make any further aid subject to Pastrana
getting tough with both murderous groups.

Then Congress needs to lift restrictions on Colombia's use of weapons
that came as part of the U.S. anti-drug package: A guerrilla who
traffics in drugs, after all, is a drug dealer. Sharing U.S.
intelligence information with the democratically elected government
could prevent terrorist attacks. President Bush and Congress should
also heed Pastrana's plea and begin teaching the Colombian army how to
defend bridges, electricity towers and pipelines. All this would be
easier if Europe and Latin American nations gave up the notion that
FARC is a legitimate political force.

The United States must avoid sinking into South America's notorious
political quicksand. But it cannot abdicate responsibility. As the
global war on terrorism continues, stability in the hemisphere becomes
an urgent goal.