DRUG WAR U.S. SHOULD LOOK ANEW AT CERTIFICATION PROCESS

The United States can't fight the international drug war by itself. It
needs help. But the U.S. law that requires the president to certify whether
countries are cooperating fully with the United States, or taking adequate
measures on their own, is counterproductive. In the understandable opinion
of many foreigners, it appears to set up the United States as sole judge of
other countries' performance. The United States can hardly afford to create
that impression, since it is the largest consumer of illegal drugs.

On March 1, President George W. Bush certified 20 of 24 major
drug-producing countries, including Mexico and Colombia. Unless Congress
changes the law, he'll have to undertake the process again next year.

There needs to be a better mechanism for objectively determining whether
countries are cooperating. Sen. Charles Grassley has a good idea. The Iowa
Republican proposes legislation that would require decertification only.
"By doing this, we focus attention on the bad guys ... (and) reduce
tensions with some of our friends and allies over the process," he
testified recently. He would establish a three-year trial period.

In the meantime, the Organization of American States should refine its drug
evaluation process. Last month, the 34-member body released its first
collective report. Not surprisingly, it found that every country needs to
improve, the United States included. But it shied from politically
sensitive areas. If it improves the reports' quality, Congress might
eventually decide that it could safely abandon unilateral certifications,
or decertifications, altogether.

To her credit, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas is intensively lobbying
for both Mr. Grassley's proposal and the Pan American evaluation process.
As a representative of a border state and friend of Mexico, she understands
the difficulty that unilateral certification poses for U.S. diplomacy.

The ultimate goal is to eliminate drugs. It matters less that the United
States certify or decertify countries than that the job get done. If the
job doesn't get done, nothing prevents the president from saying so and
taking adequate measures to protect U.S. interests.