US NEEDS TO BUOY COLOMBIA IN ITS CIVIL WAR

Colombian terrorists sent a clear message to Alvaro Uribe last
Wednesday as he was being inaugurated as president of Colombia.

Guerrillas with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, lobbed
rockets at the presidential palace and in downtown areas that killed 19
civilians. The unmistakable message: "Here we are. Come and get us."

Immediately after his landslide electoral victory, Uribe sought United
Nations support in negotiating a peaceful resolution to Colombia's seemingly
interminable violence, despite evidence that former President Andres
Pastrana's three-year "peace offensive" had accomplished nothing.

But Uribe clearly stated that he would meet violence with violence if
serious negotiations were rejected by the guerrillas. With the bombs of
Bogota, the battle is openly joined.

U.S. policy toward Latin America during the Bush administration is likely to
be thought of as before-and-after Uribe's inauguration.

Despite George W. Bush's pledge to take Latin America more seriously than
his predecessor, he has not done so. But just as Sept. 11 quickly focused
his mind, so Aug. 7 will do the same for this hemisphere.

Why should the United States become involved in Colombia's civil war?
Because Colombia is a large country strategically located between Central
America and the rest of South America. Chaos there affects the region as a
whole. Some 90 percent of the cocaine that reaches the United States comes
from or through Colombia. Above all, we are already involved up to our
armpits. As they say, follow the money.

For decades, Americans have had a serious drug habit. Washington has made
that habit illegal, and thus for those who service our demand the profits
are enormous. Some Colombians, from cartel chiefs to peasants in the fields
growing coca, have benefited in differing degrees from this trade. But
almost all Colombians have suffered the consequences: widespread murder,
kidnapping, displaced people, unemployment, massive corruption and the
destruction of already shaky democratic institutions.

The only real, long-overdue response to this situation is some form of drug
legalization to remove the massive profits. But since Washington politicians
don't seem to have the wisdom or courage to do that, and doing so would
require substantial readjustments worldwide, we must now settle for
confronting the symptoms.

Polls indicate that a majority of Colombians would like U.S. troops to come
in and take care of the guerrillas. These frustrated and desperate
Colombians seriously underestimate the problem. But the vast majority of
U.S. leaders are equally simplistic or dishonest in their appraisals. They
have heretofore refused to see that the drug war and the civil war in
Colombia are hopelessly intertwined and that we cannot dump more than $1
billion of military aid in two years exclusively into fighting drugs, as we
have tried to do. That is futile and counterproductive.

Washington must support Uribe in his plan to double the size of the
Colombian army to deal decisively with guerrillas. And a greater emphasis
must be placed on infiltrating their forces and killing their leaders.

But that is the relatively easy part. We must also support Uribe in carrying
out a far more comprehensive, integrated plan that will deal with a wide
range of political and social issues, from strengthening the justice system
to weeding out pervasive corruption. This aspect must be taken very
seriously and funded - unlike the broad, unfunded proposals in Pastrana's
Plan Colombia.

Washington has taken a few steps in the right direction. Some military aid
can now be used against guerrillas or right-wing paramilitaries. The
instability in Colombia is increasingly seen as part of a regional problem.

There is some support for economic policies that will benefit Andean
countries, from the Andean Trade Preference Act to restructuring foreign
debt. There is some hope that recent FARC terrorism will get the even more
naive or dishonest European Union to face realities in Colombia.

The terrorist bombs were a message to Americans as much as Colombians.
Washington politicians and democratic leaders worldwide must finally face
the realities of the terrorist challenge to Colombia's democratic government
and institutions.

The problem will assuredly get worse, in Colombia and the entire region, if
we do not respond seriously and maintain our support.