DRUG WAR DETRACTS FROM SECURITY MISSION

Ah, that Department of Homeland Security: all things to all people ...

As if that ominously titled addition to the president's Cabinet didn't
have enough to do, our nation's "drug czar" (speaking of ominous
titles) figures the department can play a strong role in the war
against illicit narcotics.

John Walters, speaking with reporters in Mexico City yesterday, said
he figures that, as part of its mission to crack down on terrorism,
the new department will be fortifying U.S. borders and keeping a
closer eye on money-laundering. Such steps, he says, will help stem
the drug tide. He also has an idea that the department, which will
combine dozens of federal agencies, will be a tighter ship than the
ones we've been sailing against the drug lords for half a century.

The drug trade, he noted, "has used the seams between governments and
within government to protect itself."

To Walters' way of thinking, the wars on terror and drugs go hand-in-
hand: "We know drugs fund violence and anti-democratic forces."

Yes, indeed, your czarship - and among the anti-democratic forces
funded by nose candy have been operatives of the United States government.

As for the multi-millionaire capitalists in cahoots with commie
guerrilleros, yes, they're to blame for plenty of violence and misery.

And what makes them so rich? The high prices paid here in gringolandia
for the processed vegetable matter that must be smuggled across our
borders or onto our beaches.

"We need to stop sending hundreds of millions of dollars to brutal,
violent groups in Mexico and Colombia and in our own country," he said.

Yes, indeed. And if the stuff weren't illegal, the industry wouldn't
be in the control of thugs, who in turn wouldn't be buying protection
from terrorists with a cut of the drug swag. Then our nation, and
Mexico, could invest drug-war money in mutual security - strengthening
our borders and shores against people aiming weapons at more than just
the underworld and cops.

Short of turning our 1,800-mile Mexican frontier into a reverse Berlin
Wall, there's little the U.S. can do to keep out people: hard workers
in search of jobs, human mules packing drugs, or terrorists who figure
a hike around Hachita beats a confrontation with immigration officials
at JFK.

The workers we exploit. The drug-smugglers we make a show of pursuing.
But terrorists? As we've seen in Kenya and in Bali, they're a global
menace. Tourist-dependent Mexico has as great an interest in civilian
security as its northern neighbor does.

Down where North America becomes a bunch of isthmuses, borders become
shorter. Some are jungle, some savannah - but all of them are easier
to patrol than the one running from Brownsville to San Diego.

If we're serious about heimat, uh, homeland, security, our nation must
consider the continent as a whole. We must take diplomatic initiatives
toward mutual protection; no easy task in loudly nationalistic Mexico,
nor in the republics running from Guatemala to Panama - but an effort
worth making.

The drug wars, for all our czar's noble words, will detract from the
more important task of stopping terrorism. Congress should consider
legalizing drugs as part of reordering our nation's priorities.