DON'T LET U.S. GET SUCKED INTO COLOMBIA QUAGMIRE

"Mission creep," the bureaucratic and political virus that's infected more
than a few U.S. initiatives abroad, is starting to manifest itself in
Washington's involvement in Colombia's drug-fueled civil war. Left
unchecked, mission creep has sucked the nation into unanticipated quagmires
- - Vietnam was an extreme example. In Colombia, it would be best kept in
check before it's too late.

Until now, Washington's involvement has been expensive - nearly $2 billion
- - but strictly limited to supplying the government of President Andres
Pastrana with economic and military help to combat the narcotics trade. But
since a tentative peace initiative negotiated by Pastrana and left-wing
rebels fell apart earlier this month, the Bush administration and Congress
have made moves to broaden the use of U.S. military aid to help the
embattled Colombian government.

Secretary of State Colin Powell last week said he might ask Congress to
lift long-standing restrictions limiting U.S. military aid to Colombia to
the fight against narcotics, and the House passed a nonbinding resolution
supporting broader aid for Colombia.

Those moves are disquieting. They could lead this country into a
wrong-headed military involvement in a civil war that's raged for nearly
four decades with no resolution.

The centerpiece of the so-called Plan Colombia, undertaken by the Clinton
administration and approved by Congress, was $1.3 billion for the purchase
of helicopters destined for Colombia's military, to defoliate drug crops,
interdict drug shipments and otherwise disrupt the narcotics trade. In
practice, the military has used much of the aid for combat operations
against the two left-wing guerrilla groups that finance themselves through
the drug trade.

The effect on drug production has been less than minimal. Coca production
in Colombia actually increased sharply in the past year, as Bush
acknowledged last week. Diverting military aid to help Pastrana fight the
insurgency could set Washington on the proverbial slippery slope, at a time
when U.S. resources are best put to use fighting al- Qaida terrorists elsewhere.