GET TOUGH WITH BOTH SIDES

The Bush administration appears ready to shift the U.S. war on drugs in
Colombia to a war on terrorism.

Despite the name, Washington still needs to set clear goals and timetables
for U.S. involvement in South America's oldest armed conflict.

The proposed shift in strategy may be a more honest assessment of
Colombia's problems, which impact the United States through drug
trafficking. Leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitaries guard coca fields
and drug barons for money and they use these profits to fund a guerrilla
war that terrorizes the Colombian people. Colombia also is the United
States' largest supplier of cocaine.

But whatever label Washington gives its Colombia campaign, it must avoid
two things: getting the United States stuck in a foreign conflict and
wasting the money of American taxpayers.

The United States is spending $1.3 billion on this anti-drug effort, mostly
for training, helicopters and herbicides. The results have been negligible.
Drug production continues, along with kidnappings, car bombings and
civilian massacres.

Last week, Anne Patterson, U.S. ambassador to Colombia, said Washington
will try to extradite Colombian leftist guerrilla and right-wing
paramilitaries who are involved in drug trafficking or money laundering.
U.S. officials are talking about providing Colombia with new
counterterrorism aid. These may include funding to prevent and investigate
kidnappings and help in guarding oil pipelines from terrorist attacks.
President Bush and Colombian President Andres Pastrana plan to meet on
Sunday in New York to discuss these ideas.

Colombia does merit U.S. attention. The country is home to three of the 28
terrorist organizations listed by the State Department. At a time when
Washington is fighting international terrorism, it needs stability in Latin
America. The question is how best to help Colombia help itself.

International patience is running out with the Revolutionary Armed Forces
of Colombia, or the FARC, the country's largest rebel group. To get the
FARC to the peace table, Pastrana gave it a "demilitarized zone" in
southern Colombia the size of Switzerland. That strategy hasn't worked. The
FARC has responded with more drug trafficking, kidnappings and murder. A
tougher hand is needed for these thugs.

But dealing with the FARC also means dealing with its enemy, the
paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. The AUC is responsible
for most of the civilian massacres. Mass murder is the paramilitary's
calling card, meant to eliminate suspected guerrilla sympathizers. Despite
Colombian government efforts to crack down on the AUC, it continues to have
close ties to the Colombian military.

Until Colombia finds a way to deal forcefully with both the guerrillas and
the paramilitaries, no amount of U.S. aid will make a difference.