CHAOS IN COLOMBIA

Bloody Civil War Resumes After Talks Collapse

After three years of fruitless peace talks,
the Colombian government and leftist guerrillas have resumed their
38-year-old civil war in bloody earnest, with Bogota's armed forces
moving to recapture a rebel-controlled "demilitarized zone" that is
the size of Switzerland.

President Andres Pastrana's latest move does not appear to be an
exercise in brinksmanship. He has ordered full-scale air and ground
attacks. Colombia, which has been torn asunder by decades of fighting,
will have to endure more violence before it can again hope for peace.

The resumption of fighting is likely to increase momentum in
Washington for greater U.S. involvement in Colombia. Congress and the
White House should proceed with caution.

Just six weeks ago, there was hope of a breakthrough, as Pastrana and
rebels agreed to speed up talks on a cease-fire. But the recent rebel
hijacking of a civilian airliner and kidnapping of a senator prompted
the president to end the talks. The FARC, the country's main guerrilla
army, also has been escalating its campaign of urban terrorism,
killing nearly two dozen civilians in car bombings.

The fresh outbreak of fighting could affect the presidential election
in May. Before the peace talks ended last week, polls showed most
Colombians were cynical about the peace process. After Sept. 11
terrorist attacks against the United States, Colombians were less
willing to view the FARC, listed last year by the U.S. State
Department as a terrorist organization, as a legitimate party to
negotiations.

Pastrana was elected in 1998 after pledging that he would negotiate a
peace with the rebels. But the president's bold moves, such as ceding
to the guerrillas a 16,000-square-mile demilitarized zone,
accomplished nothing other than giving rebels a chance to regroup
their military forces and intensify narcotrafficking activities.

The government also has strengthened its army, partly with U.S. aid
that is supposed to help fight drugs, not guerrillas. Plans call for
U.S. funds to be used for to train and equip a new army brigade to
guard oil pipelines and the electrical grid against guerrilla sabotage.

The situation should trigger alarms in Washington. Since the U.S.
government has now labeled the FARC a terrorist organization, support
is building for the United States to expand training and equipment
deliveries to the Colombian military.

Such a move would put the United States on dangerous ground. The
prospect of a Colombian military takeover of the DMZ means the certain
arrival of the murderous paramilitary forces, which already are
responsible for more killings than the guerrillas. If Washington
expands aid to the Colombian military, it must do so on the condition
that the military sever all ties to the paramilitaries. That's
unlikely to happen, given the increasing threat that hardliners pose
to the Pastrana government.

U.S. officials should also step back from and reconsider the $1.3
billion Plan Colombia, which has accomplished little. The cornerstone
of the U.S. program, the large-scale spraying of herbicides over coca
crops, has failed to reduce drug production and has raised concerns
about the impact of spraying on people, legitimate crops and animals.

It should be clear by now to the Bush administration and Congress that
the violence, corrupt politics and drug trafficking in Colombia have
hit critical mass and are beyond the control of outside interests,
including the United States.