AN IRON FIST FOR WAR-WEARY COLOMBIA

Alvaro Uribe, elected president of Colombia on Sunday, owes his rise to his
bitterest enemies - the country's leftist guerrillas. The current
president, Andres Pastrana, exasperated with the guerrillas' kidnappings
and murders, cut off peace talks in February. Frightened and frustrated,
Colombians turned to Mr. Uribe, who plans to double the military's size and
build a million-strong citizen militia.

It is easy to see why Colombians, longing to defeat the guerrillas and
restore a semblance of order to their blood-soaked country, would reach for
this approach. But the only long-term solution to this war is through
negotiation. Mr. Uribe sought yesterday to soften his image by hinting at
talks with the guerrillas. He will have to reverse other policies closely
identified with him to avoid inflaming an already disastrous humanitarian
situation in the countryside. When he was governor of Antioquia state, Mr.
Uribe supported rural security militias, which organized civilians to
patrol under local military commanders. The government phased out these
groups in 1997 because some had developed interconnections with violent
paramilitaries, which are responsible for most of Colombia's killings.

Recently the paramilitaries have grown, deepened ties with the military and
achieved considerable legitimacy among the middle class. Mr. Uribe also
said he might add them to peace negotiations. He must forcefully distance
himself from the paramilitaries or they could become even bolder.

Washington is on the verge of sending more military aid, and dispensing
with the requirement - routinely violated - that Colombia use it only to
fight drugs. While the distinction between fighting drugs and terror was
largely fictitious and therefore perhaps dispensable, at least Congress had
conditioned the military aid on serious efforts to sever ties between the
army and the paramilitaries. Unfortunately, Mr. Bush certified that
Colombia has met those conditions, despite a wealth of evidence to the
contrary. This undercut the principal value of the aid - giving political
cover to those who advocated a divorce from the paramilitaries.

Given his background, Mr. Uribe could be especially effective in reining in
the paramilitaries, and he says he will combat illegal groups on the left
and right. He has every right to prosecute a war and restore order. But he
must do so cleanly, without putting a government stamp on death squads
unleashed and unchecked in rural Colombia.