DANGER IN COLOMBIA

Clinton Visits One Of The World's Most Hopeless Countries

President Clinton is not visiting Vietnam today. He's making a drop-in
appearance in Colombia, a country that has become an eerie reminder of the
early days of U.S. involvement in the jungles of Southeast Asia.

Clinton's one-day visit to Cartagena, following his trip to Africa,
underlines the release of $1.3 billion in military aid to help fight
Colombia's drug traffickers and Marxist guerrillas.

We are committing a lot of American dollars, military hardware, and
military advisers in an almost hopeless battle in the world's most
dangerous place.

Consider the situation on the ground in Colombia. More than 300,000
Colombians fled their homes last year to escape political violence.
Colombia's 23,000 killings last year gave it a murder rate 10 times higher
than that in the U.S. Kidnappings, extortion and executions have become
common tactics of the FARC, the largest guerrilla group. Violence by
right-wing paramilitary groups exploded in the past year; one new method of
killing developed in Colombia is to place a PVC collar filled with
explosives around the neck and set it off with a remote detonator. The
country is home to the world's biggest illegal drug industry and the most
vicious of the world's drug overlords. The country's economy is at its
lowest point in 70 years and, if the list is not long enough, recent peace
talks between the government and guerrillas failed to achieve results.

The only bright spot for this tragic country is that the United States is
releasing the recently approved package of aid totaling $1.3 billion.

We must move carefully in Colombia. The aid package does not in itself mean
that the United States is on some slippery slope to greater involvement in
Colombia's seemingly insurmountable problems. But it should make us feel a
bit uneasy. Much of the money will pay for helicopters - including
Blackhawks - that will be used by three new army battalions to fight FARC
guerrillas in the remote, coca-producing areas of southern Colombia. U.S.
advisers will help train these new army battalions. The aim of the United
States is to help the government of Andres Pastrana reduce the flow of
drugs from the guerrilla-held areas.

One danger is that this war can spread to neighboring countries. Another is
that it has the potential to involve the U.S. military in more than a
supporting role. We should not always look for the specter of Vietnam in
foreign trouble spots, but neither should we ignore it when it's there.

Colombia, a struggling democracy, deserves our help, in large part because
it would not be in the sad state it is in now if it were not for the
insatiable demand for illegal drugs in the United States.

When will we get around to the task of putting as much effort on reducing
the demand for, and the consumption of, illicit drugs in this country as we
do in trying to stop the supply at its source? Who will certify that we are
doing a good job on the home front? Blackhawk helicopters won't help us win
the war at home, and that's ultimately where it will have to be fought and won.