Pubdate: Sat, 10 Nov 2001
Source: South Florida Sun Sentinel (FL)
Copyright: 2001 Sun-Sentinel Co & South Florida Interactive, Inc
Contact:  http://www.sun-sentinel.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1326

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.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom