COLOMBIAN QUAGMIRE

President Clinton has released $1.3 billion in aid for Colombia even though
Colombia has not met human rights standards that were part of the law
authorizing the aid. The law gave the president the right to waive the
standards, and Clinton did so in the hope that respect for human rights in
Colombia will improve.

Sen. Patrick Leahy has been a leader in demanding that U.S. aid for
Colombia's anti-guerrilla campaign require Colombia to clean up its act
with regard to the massacres and other abuses by the military and
paramilitary groups.

He wrote letters to Clinton and to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright,
urging Clinton not to waive the human rights conditions, which all parties
agree have not been met.

Colombia, which is the source of most of the cocaine Americans use, is in
dire straits. For years it has been fighting a war against guerrilla
groups, which now control large territories in the countryside. In recent
years, the guerrillas have teamed up with drug traffickers in a lethal
combination. President Pastrana of Colombia has pursued negotiations with
the guerrillas, but he has also sought aid from the United States in the
form of 60 helicopters and money to equip and train the police and military.

The human rights conditions attached to the law sought to ensure that the
Colombian military and government would prosecute members of the military
or paramilitary groups who committed atrocities. Leahy and other members of
Congress are seeking to promote civilian control of the military by
subjecting those guilty of human rights violations to prosecution in
civilian courts.

In waiving these human rights conditions, Clinton said the Colombian
government intended to do these things and that the U.S. government
intended to continue to monitor human rights violations. Leahy said the
waiver was a "mockery" of efforts in Congress to make sure U.S. aid is not
misused by the Colombian government.

The battle against drug gangs and guerrillas has been costly for Colombia,
and Pastrana has made serious efforts to engage the guerrillas in
peace-making negotiations. But flagrant abuses by the military and groups
connected to the military are also costly. As Leahy wrote to Clinton, the
Colombian military has been "consistently and credibly linked to illegal
paramilitary groups" who were responsible for 153 massacres in 1999,
costing 889 lives.

A war in Colombia may be one of the most unwelcome legacies that Clinton
leaves to the next president. Without vigilant oversight of human rights
conditions, the war could become a killing field. Leahy and other members
of Congress are right to demand progress on human rights in Colombia and
strict monitoring of abuses committed in a war caused by the appetites of
American drug users.

The bitter irony of the war on drugs is that it is made necessary because
of the demand by Americans for drugs. If $1.3 billion were committed to
treatment and prevention programs for American drug users, the American
government would be going to the source of the problem, the one over which
we ought to be willing to assume responsibility.

Instead, the battle will be fought in far-off mountains where Colombians
will die because of American addictions.