Pubdate: Tue, 13 May 2003
Source: The Monitor (TX)
Copyright: 2003 The Monitor
Contact:  http://www.themonitor.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1250

RETHINKING COLOMBIA

U.S. Should Reconsider Its War On Drugs

A tragically botched hostage rescue attempt near Medellin in Colombia that 
left a governor, a peace adviser and eight soldiers dead last week serves 
as a reminder that the Iraqi campaign is hardly the only place in the world 
where American forces and taxpayers' money are embroiled in dubious conflict.

The U.S. government has provided about $2 billion in equipment, training 
and other support to the Colombian government over the past couple of years 
- -- ostensibly to fight the war on drugs but with some spillover into the 
ongoing civil war. That war has claimed 3,500 lives a year and created 
thousands of refugees. It would be wise to revamp this policy rather than 
continue to throw money and materiel into Colombia.

Two considerations should be paramount as Americans rethink this commitment 
to the Colombian war, begun at a fairly intensive level by the Clinton 
administration and continued under President Bush. Both have to do with 
getting serious about reducing terrorism.

In the light of terrorist threats elsewhere, it is prudent to reconsider 
commitments made before Sept. 11 changed our understanding of the most 
pressing dangers in the world. If people with tragically extreme religious 
beliefs are the main threat to America, does it not make sense to redirect 
resources toward that threat?

The second aspect requires more fundamental rethinking. Administration 
spokesmen talk about the links between drugs and terrorism.

But the links that exist do so precisely because the United States insists 
on a policy of prohibition. It is prohibition that creates the sky-high 
prices for illicit drugs, making possible extravagant profits for those 
skilled in concealment, clandestine organizing and ruthless violence. It is 
prohibition that makes it possible for terrorists to raise money for their 
nefarious deeds by dabbling in the drug trade.

If America really wanted to reduce the ability of terrorist groups to fund 
themselves, the most effective single step the country could take would be 
to repeal drug prohibition.

Some will still argue that the costs of ending prohibition would outweigh 
the benefits of reducing terrorism. Possibly. But any discussion of 
reducing terrorism that does not include ending prohibition as an option is 
not a serious effort but an exercise in wishful thinking.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens