COLOMBIA

For Drug War Or Military, It's A Waste Of U.S. Funds

The Bush administration is about to shift from one endless war to another in
Colombia, as it seeks to use anti-drug money for military aid.

The United States has provided more than $1 billion in assistance to fight
Colombia's drug trade during the past two years. Much of that aid already
goes to the military but, in theory, it goes only to anti-drug activities
such as spraying crops.

Now Bush wants to change U.S. law to allow direct assistance to the
Colombian military to fight thousands of left-wing rebels.

Congress should not go along.

In the tense climate of post 9/11, the administration argues that it needs
to respond to a new mission: combatting terrorism. True, but the
decades-long civil war in Colombia has little to do with the deeds of Sept.
11. And reports of atrocities by the Colombian military, and the right-wing
paramilitary groups that sometimes operate with its complicity, are as grim
as those of the three main guerrilla groups.

It's a longstanding bloody conflict with no end in sight, especially with
the likely election as president this month of Alvaro Uribe, who promises to
step up the war.

Plan Colombia hasn't won the war on drugs, either. Spraying herbicides on
coca plants to wipe out cocaine supplies hasn't reduced the cultivation of
the crop but simply bumped supply sources around. In fact, coca supplies
probably have gone up in the last year. Supply sources won't stop as long as
there's a multibillion-dollar market for the stuff in the United States.

The United States has spent billions of dollars on the war on drugs in
Colombia with little to show for it. There's no reason to wage another
unwinnable war there.