DRUGS: LET LOOSE THE DOGS OF WAR

When Chart Thai deputy leader Kobsak Chutikul said some weeks ago the US
should not rule out a military option in the fight against one of the
world's largest drug armies, operating freely along the Thai- Burmese
border, many dismissed him as mad. After all, such a suggestion concerns
Burmese sovereignty. Bilateral ties, people said, are on the upswing and
such drastic action would put the two countries back to where they were
just over a year ago - cross-border shelling that ended in scores of deaths
on both sides.

In the interim since Kobsak made his statement people have had time to
think. It is not easy to dismiss such a comment, especially from a man not
known for making knee-jerk, off-the-wall statements.

The more one thinks about it, the more sense it begins to make. Drugs and
terrorism are two sides of the same coin. In other words, one feeds on the
other. And if our leaders are serious about fighting drugs and terrorism,
perhaps the option of giving the military more flexibility should be given
a high priority.

When Kobsak made the statement, he was pointing to the 20,000-strong United
Wa State Army, a pro-Rangoon outfit which is based just a stone's throw
away on the Burmese side of the border with minimal interference from the
Burmese government.

Before the September 11 terrorist attacks, the idea of using the military
to actively counter narcotics would have been quickly shot down. But today,
as defence strategists and military planners redefine their security
mandate and consider their options in an emerging international order,
using military might to fight a drug army makes a lot of sense.

This is not something entirely new, however. Admiral Dennis Blair,
commander of the US military forces in the Pacific, has made it one of his
priorities to untangle the murky links between terrorist groups, drug
runners and other outfits in the world of transnational crime. Blair's
Pacific Command Joint Interagency Task Force sees the police and military
working together to curb the movement of drugs and transnational crime in
the region.

For Thailand, Task Force 399 in Chiang Mai province was one of the more
progressive models that jointly addressed border security and drug
trafficking. It was here that Thai elite units, Border Police and soldiers
from the Third Army, with the help of US Special Forces instructors, came
together to coordinate their activities in order to strengthen the northern
Thai-Burma border, an area prone to all sorts of transnational crime.

Kobsak was right to say that the international community has the right to
take action against those who pose a threat to society, wherever they may
be. He's also right to say that surgical air-strikes against the Wa army
would be in line with the emerging international order.

For years Rangoon has been using the UWSA as a powerful bargaining chip in
dealing with the Thai government. Rangoon would scream and holler whenever
Thai troops clobbered the Wa for stepping out of line. But, the junta has
no control of the Wa's activities.

It's high time the government and the military came together and let the
Burmese generals know they must be accountable for the Wa's illicit activities.