COLOMBIA IS A PROBLEM FOR U.S.

The South American country of Colombia is facing a crisis that threatens
its very survival. For decades, it has been plagued by a war funded through
kidnaping, extortion, hijacking and the drug trade.

Three thousand Colombians have been killed and nearly as many kidnaped as a
result of terrorist violence in the last year alone. Over this same period,
12 mayors and two legislators have been murdered and another 12 legislators
abducted.

Last February, presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt was also kidnaped,
and, recently, leading presidential candidate Alvaro Uribe narrowly escaped
an assassination attempt that claimed the lives of three innocent bystanders.

Terrible devastation is being wrought in Colombia, and the effects are
being felt in the U.S. as well. Colombia is the source of 90 percent of the
cocaine and a significant portion of the heroin consumed in the United
States. Terror groups have kidnaped and killed U.S. citizens and regularly
attack U.S. investments in Colombia. As part of the global battle to defeat
terrorism, the Colombian crisis must be addressed.

The three Colombian insurgency groups most responsible for this cycle of
violence already appears on the State Department's list of terrorist
organizations -- the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the
National Liberation Army (ELN) and the United Self-Defense Forces of
Colombia (AUC). These groups are involved in all areas of narcotics
trafficking, from cultivation and processing to transportation, and support
their terrorist activities through these and other violent means.

Traditionally, the FARC has sought to control the rural countryside and
strike at government infrastructure. Now, it appears that they are seeking
to expand their operations against urban targets as well. In recent weeks,
bombs have been set off in cities including Bogota, the capital city of
eight million people. More than 110 towns, nearly 10 percent of Colombia's
urban centers, have lost electricity. Until recently, most of Colombia's
population had not felt the effects of the war, but with 75 percent of the
population living in cities, the human and economic toll could rise in the
next several months.

Following three years of failed attempts at peaceful negotiations with the
FARC and the ELN, Colombian President Andres Pastrana is seeking to expand
his country's military operations against the rebel groups. A current
restriction prohibits the Colombian government from using U.S.-supplied
military equipment to combat the insurgents.

The Bush administration's effort to extend the scope of U.S. military aid
to Colombia is an important acknowledgment of the fact that the fight
against the rebels is intertwined with the war on drugs. Clearly, our past
attempts to draw a distinction between the two no longer reflects the
current situation in Colombia.

While I support the administration's initiative, I also believe that the
Colombian government should commit more of its own resources to protecting
its people. Though the Colombian military has made progress over the last
few years, particularly with regard to human rights, it continues to be
poorly structured and ill-equipped to adequately combat the guerillas.

Heightened violence in recent months has stretched these capabilities even
further. Colombia must follow up U.S. aid with a sustained effort to
adequately provide for the safety and security of Colombians.

It is in the interest of our national security that we address the
Colombian crisis before it spirals out of control, destabilizing the entire
region and potentially forcing U.S. entry into a prolonged and bloody
conflict. We cannot afford to ignore this alarming destruction and human
suffering in our own backyard.