THE BLAME GAME

U.S. should suspend anti-drug certification process of Mexico

Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas has a good idea: suspend for
one year the annual process whereby the United States certifies whether
Mexico is fully cooperating in the war on drugs.

Ms. Hutchison and the other sponsors of a bill that would do that rightly
reason that it would give Mexican President-elect Vicente Fox and the next
U.S. president (whoever that will be) time to put their own stamps on their
countries' anti-drug efforts.

The next U.S. president must certify by March 1 whether Mexico (and every
other foreign country) is a reliable anti-drug ally. By then, Mr. Fox will
have been in office only three months, his U.S. counterpart less than six
weeks. It makes no sense to try to hold either leader accountable for his
predecessor's policies.

Besides, the United States is unlikely to decertify Mexico, regardless of
how many illegal drugs cross the border into the United States. The negative
impact on the overall bilateral relationship would be too great, and
Mexico's great exertions on behalf of the drug war might sag. It would be
better to end the charade than to certify that Mexico is "fully cooperating"
when every Washington drug policy-maker knows that the truth is hugely more
complicated than that.

Actually, Congress would do better to permanently suspend the certification
process for all countries. As the world's largest consumer of illicit drugs,
the United States is in no position to be sole judge and jury of other
countries' anti-drug efforts.

There is a fairer way. In October, the United States and 33 other American
republics agreed to establish a mutual drug certification process. A panel
of anti-drug experts from each country will evaluate each country's
performance, including that of the United States. No country will be allowed
to evaluate its own performance. The first results will be presented in May
at the next Pan American Summit in Quebec.

If Congress can't address Ms. Hutchison's bill this year (and Arizona
Republican Jim Kolbe's companion measure in the House), it should do so as
soon as possible next year. And it should strongly consider doing away
altogether with unilateral drug certification, at least in the Americas.
Doing so would not prevent the United States from criticizing or punishing
other countries that fail to cooperate. Rather, it would end the
institutionalized blame game that hinders greater cooperation.