IN COLOMBIA, BUSH'S POLICIES OF RESTRAINT THE SMARTEST MOVE

In one of those classic intern moments -- a group of interns this past
summer and I, hoping to catch a free lunch and seminar at the Drug
Enforcement Agency -- somehow ended up in a roundtable discussion group
with DEA Director Asa Hutchison. At first I was a little bit awed and
intimidated -- you can't run the elevator without a DEA agent escorting you
and they discourage 'peeking around' -- but the lunch turned out to be a
DEA propaganda pep rally.

I politely listened but remained unconvinced the United States was winning
the war on drugs, and recent events in Colombia made that skepticism a reality.

In the dense jungles of South America, three Americans captured by the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are being held as prisoners
of war. Their Cessna 208 crashed into the FARC-controlled region of
southern Colombia on Feb. 13. Three of the five passengers were taken as
captives and the remaining two passengers were found shot dead in the plane.

The FARC, originally established in 1964 as the military wing of the
Colombian Communist Party, has evolved into a drug-trafficking,
manufacturing, violently powerful rebel force of some 12,000-17,000
soldiers. Their method of operation includes bombings, taxation of peasants
and farmers, murders and kidnapping for ransom -- a profitable fund-raising
scheme as it turns out. In 2000 the United States instituted a
comprehensive anti-drug policy dubbed Plan Colombia. The aim of the program
is to aid the Colombian government in its efforts to eradicate drug
production and contain rebel violence.

Part of the plan includes spraying herbicides over Colombia's coca fields
as well as photographing drug crops for targeting and tracking.

Small units of U.S. special forces are stationed in the country and are
responsible for training Colombian personnel in combat tactics, but are
restricted to advisory positions only.

Congress wisely limited the number of military personnel allowed in
Colombia to 400, but in hostage situations the president is given authority
to increase needed personnel to "carry out emergency evacuation of U.S.
citizens or any search-and-rescue operation for U.S. military personnel or
U.S. citizens." On Saturday, President Bush authorized an increase of 150
special forces troops in Colombia. The additional forces are currently
restricted to providing intelligence and guidance to Colombian troops
currently searching for the hostages, but they have the capacity and now
presidential authority to execute a rescue mission.

Critics denounce Mr. Bush's deployment of more troops.

They claim that any rescue operation by U.S. troops in Colombia would be a
violation of international law and Colombian sovereignty. Colombian
officials further claim that military aggression in a rebel controlled
region may result in massive casualties. "Colombia is not Afghanistan, it
is not Iraq," Colombian congressman and former leftist guerrilla Gustavo
Petro told Radionet. "With the type of violent conflict we're living here,
what the United States is going to get tangled up in is a new Vietnam."

For the past few months the rebels have been trying to use 80 kidnapped
Colombians -- law makers and soldiers -- as a bartering tool for the
release of some 3,000 mid-level FARC commanders held in Colombian prisons.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has refused to negotiate a prisoner
exchange thus far, but FARC rebels believe they have an upper hand because
of the "three gringo prisoners of war."

Military insurgency in a rebel-controlled sector is extreme by any
standards, but the United States has pledged a commitment to fight the war
on drugs in Colombia -- a country that produces 90 percent of the U.S.
cocaine supply -- and we must do so in a cooperative fashion.

Granted, Colombia is a dense region much like Vietnam, and goodness knows
the last thing Bush needs is for this rescue operation to turn into a
debacle like the Iran hostage crisis of 1979, but the current hostage
situation has reached a level that diplomacy may be past solving.

Thus far Bush has shown restraint and a willingness to allow Colombian
forces to take the lead in the search and rescue operations of the
hostages. That restraint may soon wear thin with time, and the Vietnam
people fear may develop in the Middle East could soon become a reality in
Colombia.