MISDIRECTED AID TO COLOMBIA

The lines are fuzzy in the Colombia drug war. The administration of
President Andres Pastrana needs support -- financial and political -- from
the United States, but under the current aid package, that support is
misguided.

Pastrana is fighting a civil war with Marxist guerrillas who are closely
tied to the drug traffickers in Colombia and control almost half of the
country. It is difficult to fight one without fighting the other. But the
United States should make it clear to Pastrana and his security forces that
the $1.3 billion in aid is for fighting the drug trade, not the guerrillas.

But, again, the lines are fuzzy. The aid package contains 60 military
helicopters and training for an anti-narcotics brigade. It will be all but
impossible to guarantee that those helicopters and those troops will be
used only against drug traffickers.

There are useful parts of the package, including money for human rights
training, judicial reform and a program to offer alternatives to farmers
who now cultivate drugs.

But it will be difficult to change the habits of poor Colombian farmers who
can make far more money cultivating coca plants than they can growing corn.
And as many farms as government troops destroy, that many more will pop up
elsewhere.

The United States should offer help to any country struggling with
democracy and fighting to preserve it. But the aid to Colombia, although
well-meaning, seems a bit misdirected.

- -- The Tulsa (Okla.) World