COLOMBIA'S WAR: THE DRUG TRADE AND REBELS

THE GOVERNMENT of Colombia is engaged in one of those horrid wars that will
not be won militarily by either side. Neither the government nor the leftist
rebels are strong enough to knock out the other. So the slow grinding down
of each side goes on, to the point where each army staggers around the
countryside like a couple of punch-drunk boxers trying to take swings at one
another.

And -- as is nearly always the case in civil wars like this -- most of the
people getting stepped on are the civilians, the ones who would rather the
two fighters just go away.

Whether we like it or not, this turmoil down in Colombia is important to us.
The government of Andres Pastrana is a strong ally of this country and we
should do what we can to help him out of this terrible situation. Colombia
has been an important trading partner for the United States in Latin
American for years, has been a stable democracy and deserves help.

Colombia is also important to us because of the drug trade. It supplies 90
percent of the cocaine and a big chunk of the heroin consumed by users in
this country. Putting a stop to that trade would not solve the drug problem
here but it would make life more difficult for dealers and make the deadly
substances harder to get for users.

Putting a noose around the Colombian drug trade would also cripple the
rebels. They are not drug traffickers in their own right, but they do
collect "taxes" from traffickers in return for the protection they provide
them. And with those taxes, the rebels buy arms.

This trafficker-rebel connection was what spurred Congress to approve a $1.3
billion military aid package to the Colombian government last week.

Congress had the right idea, but this package is unfortunately flawed. At
the last minute some supporters of the legislation were able to remove
critical language that would have allowed Congress to suspend aid if the
Colombian army was found to be engaging in human rights abuses. It was an
important safeguard, especially considering the awful human rights record of
the Colombian military.

Now the president must decide if the legislation is worth the risk. It is
not, and he would be smart to veto it and send it back to Congress demanding
the language be reinserted. For this is dangerous business in Colombia,
business that could easily suck this county into a tangle that will cost us
dearly.

We should, then, proceed with the utmost caution or we will be very sorry.