U.S. HAS LIMITED ROLE IN COLOMBIA

The pending decision by Congress to approve a $1.3 billion aid package for
Colombia, most of it in military assistance, has touched off nervous
mutterings in some corners that the United States might be stumbling into a
quagmire of sorts in that South American country.

Certainly, the situation in Colombia is reason for nervousness. A
long-running guerrilla insurrection, combined with the criminal and quite
lucrative production of cocaine for smuggling into the United States, have
unraveled the fabric of civic life in that country. A continuing string of
kidnappings, bombings, assassinations, death squads, mass murder and
widespread political corruption has rendered normal life almost impossible
and destroyed confidence in civic institutions and government.

That nightmare has the potential to spread to other nations in the region
and has already made it impossible to control the flow of cocaine into the
United States via Mexico and the Caribbean. Colombia accounts for an
estimated 80 percent of the coke reaching American streets, so doing
nothing is not an option for us.

Unfortunately, there's a strong possibility that even $1.3 billion won't be
enough to turn the tide in Colombia. That's not an argument for U.S.
military intervention; such a step would be a disaster, as most people in
Washington understand very well. Policy-makers are simply hoping that U.S.
financial and military aid will dampen the chaos in Colombia enough to
allow local institutions to reassert themselves. In other words, while
we're helping to provide the resources, the Colombians are going to have to
reclaim their country themselves.