ABOARD THE 'COFFEE POT' WITH COLOMBIA'S PRESIDENT

CARTAGENA DE INDIAS, Colombia -- On a sultry summer morning here two
weeks ago, Colombian army sharpshooters dotted the ancient rampart
once used to protect this city from British invaders. Under a
cloudless sky and penetrating sun, the uniformed men in heavy boots
gazed up and down the fortress wall looking for signs of trouble.

Their mission was to defend visiting Colombian President Alvaro Uribe,
whom rebels have been trying to kill for years. Soon a heavily armed
motorcade swept the presidential entourage along the highway by the
sea to a hotel where Mr. Uribe attended a forum on local
infrastructure issues.

Later that afternoon the president was again aboard Colombia's Air
Force 001 -- which Colombians call "the coffee pot" because it's so
old -- flying back to Bogota. I interviewed him on that flight and he
talked about the war on terror and his policy of "democratic security."

In his first year in office Colombia has gained good ground against
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Captures of
guerrillas and paramilitaries are up sharply, as are desertions from
illegal groups. In the first half of this year, kidnapping is down 33%
and the country registered one of the lowest homicide rates in the
past decade.

[Alvaro Uribe]Yet Colombia remains a long way away from winning this
war and Mr. Uribe is unequivocal about the need to achieve full
disarmament of the insurgents. While he has made it clear that he will
negotiate with any party interested in peace, he refuses to compromise
with armed opponents.

"Pluralistic democracy cannot accept armed opposition and in Colombia
we have an open democracy," he told me. This is his core conviction,
and if ever there was a president who stays on message, it is Mr.
Uribe. His presidency has been defined by his perpetual-motion tour of
the country to host "community councils," encouraging civil, political
debate.

The routine pace is hectic and fraught with danger but it may also
explain his 70% approval rating. No matter what one thinks of Mr.
Uribe's politics, it is impossible to deny his motivational skills.
Between his intense patriotism, infectious optimism and, perhaps most
importantly, an unwavering determination to defeat terrorism, he has
inspired a nation to hope for the future.

Inside Colombia, Mr. Uribe's toughest job has been to manage the
resources of a poor country against an enemy flush with funds derived
from the appetite for banned drugs in rich countries. That gap has
widened as the violence has scared away investors and the opportunity
cost has compounded for almost a decade. Colombia has gotten poorer
while the rebels, having taken over the businesses of defeated drug
cartels, have gotten richer.

Outside of Colombia Mr. Uribe's big challenge is to get the world to
see the nature of the problem his country confronts. He has been
unable to convince the United Nations that the rebels are terrorists
despite the voices from the left that support such a view. Recently,
former Salvadoran guerrilla leader Joaquin Villalobos wrote a long
essay in Semana magazine arguing that the FARC has lost all moral
legitimacy and is now merely a criminal enterprise seeking power. As
Mr. Uribe says, "The guerrillas are using land mines and their source
of financing is drugs and kidnapping. That is sheer terrorism."

Some American policy makers have begun to figure this out. The U.S.'s
Plan Colombia, which under Bill Clinton prohibited the use of U.S. aid
against narco-guerrillas, now allows Colombia to go after all the bad
guys. This has helped. Of course it would be silly to suggest that it
will reduce world-market supplies of drugs. But if the Colombian goal
is to get the gangsters to take their trade elsewhere, then the
project has value.

Not surprisingly, military successes aren't going down well with the
guerrillas. Yet faced with practically zero popular support, their
options are limited. They have, however, held onto the hope that their
legendary disinformation campaigns designed to discredit military
leadership still pack some punch.

The weapon of choice in this propaganda war is the recurring charge
that the military has links to the paramilitary and therefore is a
human-rights violator. This approach has yielded results over the
years with the U.S. State Department playing the role of the useful
idiot. It pulled the visas of top brass more than once and forced the
removal of the best generals from the field operations whenever
allegations surfaced. Long, drawn out investigations exonerated the
accused. But by then the rebels had what they wanted, the
demobilization of their nemeses. The personal destruction of some of
the military's bravest, most dedicated men has been devastating for
morale and the espirit de corp.

In recent years, Colombians have fought back by courageously outing
false witnesses and alleged guerrilla sympathizers inside the attorney
general's office. But the practice of swamping military leaders in
accusatory paperwork continues.

I asked Mr. Uribe if he believes the links exist. "Institutionally,
no. If there have been links at lower levels, they have almost
disappeared," he said. "There has been a sharp increase in arrests of
criminal elements and in paramilitary arrests. In many cases people
complain that the armed forces are not effective. But no one says that
this is because of paramilitary links. My conclusion is that our armed
forces have been without political support, financial support and
moral support."

That's why, under his leadership, there are 11,000 new "campesino
soldiers" patrolling in places where they were born, two new mobile
brigades totaling 1,200 soldiers and 10,000 new police officers.
Effectiveness has also improved using a strategy that includes
"civilian cooperation" in information gathering. Addressing issues of
moral support, he told me that while he accepts the discretionary
power of the U.S. over visas, he thinks it should "reconsider the
cases of the generals" who were absolved of all charges against them.

Mr. Uribe's serious approach to law enforcement, the first in many
years in Colombia, has given the country a few wins. Yet even the
energetic optimist knows the challenges remain grave. Colombia, he
says, "has the worst domestic terrorist threat in the world."