ANOTHER MISGUIDED WAR

Under the ruse of fighting the drug trade, Congress and the Clinton
administration are rushing more military aid to the government of Colombia.
Here we go again -- fighting the wrong war the wrong way in Latin America.
The move is a dishonest ploy that offers little hope for stemming the flow
of narcotics and threatens to draw the United States deeper into Colombia's
internal war.

The package that soared out of Congress Friday and onto the president's
desk was packed with enough legalized bribery to win strong bipartisan
support. The "emergency" spending measure, which President Clinton sought
in January, includes money for bike paths, homeless shelters, even the
lobster industry. Billions would go toward disaster relief and to subsidize
utility bills for the poor.

Little of it amounts to genuine "emergency" spending. Most is political
pork -- which brings us to Colombia. That package provides Colombia with 60
Blackhawk and Huey helicopters, along with money to train and equip the
police and military. Colombia wants the aid to sweep its forces through
rebel-held strongholds in the southern jungles and to decimate the coca
crops the rebels use to finance the insurgency.

Aggressive tactics are fine. Colombia should have cracked down years ago on
coca farmers. It hasn't in part because right-wing paramilitary forces
profit from the drug trade, too. Sending Hueys into the hills will make
great theater, but it is likely to strengthen -- not sever -- ties between
the paramilitaries and Colombia's army, which has an atrocious record on
human rights.

Drug money is so pervasive in Colombia that legitimate trade is the new
black market. Colombia supplies the United States with about 80 percent of
its cocaine. Production is increasing, fields are more secure and rebel and
paramilitary groups are fighting for profits and territory. More military
hardware won't take the place of solid intelligence on traffickers, a
functioning court system, credible signs the government will improve its
human rights record and protection and incentives for peasant farmers to
grow substitute crops.

Sending $1.3-billion in aid gives Colombia the false notion that Americans
are prepared to fight their battle for the long haul. Why would the
Colombian government strengthen domestic civil institutions, liberalize
agrarian policies or clear the ranks of corrupt military officers when
Washington made clear for months that decisive aid to fight the rebels was
coming anyway?

Even constructive aid to Colombia would divert attention from the real
problem: Americans' insatiable appetite for illegal drugs. If Colombia's
cocaine disappeared tomorrow, neighboring countries would quickly make up
the difference. When there's a demand, a supply will materialize.

Instead, this military package inflames an old problem. President Clinton
made history during a trip to Central America last year by apologizing for
past U.S. support for repressive military regimes. By giving aid to
Colombia under such dubious terms, he takes a step toward reawakening that
shameful legacy.