It was as if no one at the White House wanted word to spread that five more Americans had lost their lives fighting a secret war in Colombia; a country which produces more cocaine and heroin than any other nation on earth.

They apparently don't want us to know that we are also on the verge of losing the world's most threatened democracy to terrorists funded by the drug trade; and that all of this has gotten worse since Bill Clinton was elected.

That's not to say that Bill Clinton deserves all the blame. Colombia has been wracked by narco-terrorism for more than three decades. But the Clinton administration has done little to improve the situation.

When Ernesto Samper was elected president in 1994 with a campaign financed by Colombian drug traffickers, the Clinton State Department rightly decertified Colombia as an ally in America's war on drugs.

But instead of quietly acting to strengthen democratic forces in Colombia, the Administration passively watched as drug violence escalated, and nearly half of Colombia fell under the control of narco-insurgents who have waged a campaign of terror against the government.

In May of 1998, Colombians elected a new president; Andres Pastrana, the Conservative Party leader. His campaign focused on ending the threat of FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) violence and taking forceful action against the drug trade.

But promised support from Washington never materialized, leaving Pastrana little choice but to pursue a policy of appeasement and negotiation; a strategy advocated by Clinton's State Department. The result: increased violence and a 30 percent jump in the drug trade.

Today, ten American citizens are missing, dead, or being held hostage by narco-terrorists in Colombia. An estimated 450 Colombian police and soldiers are now being held captive by the FARC.

Thousands more have been killed in FARC ambushes, bombings and terrorist raids. Last month, FARC's boldest, bloodiest offensive to date moved battle lines to within 18 miles of Bogota, Colombia's capital.

More than 118 soldiers and policemen were killed within the span of four days. And throughout, Bill Clinton's policies have exacerbated a deteriorating situation.

The administration's zeal for protecting human rights in Colombia and its unwillingness to support honest and courageous efforts like those of Colombian anti-drug chief Rosso Jose Serrano, have left the government in Bogota little choice but to bargain with the narco-terrorists.

As the growing carnage demonstrates, it is an approach doomed to failure. White House Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey was in Bogota when the bodies of the most recent American dead were being recovered from the wreckage of their spy plane.

He returned to talk about drug rehab and education efforts, but offered little by way of advice on how to keep Colombia from descending into narco-anarchy.

Absent reasonable help from Clinton, McCaffrey, or anyone else in the White House who claims not to have inhaled, President Pastrana may look to one of his Andean neighbors for a way out of his quagmire; the "Fujimori Solution."

In Peru, where drugs and terrorist insurgency had plagued the political climate for decades, President Alberto Fujimori declared war on the traffickers, and he meant it.

It was a head-on confrontation so brutal that many nations condemned him for violating of the guerillas' human rights! But Fujimori's war against the Sendero Luminoso insurgency worked.

Unfortunately, the situation in Colombia has deteriorated to levels President Fujimori never faced in Peru. President Pastrana's efforts to eradicate narco-insurgency and terrorism from Colombia by negotiation have failed.

If we really do care about human rights and the survival of a South American democracy, we had better get engaged in a hurry.

As Robert Charles of the House Criminal Justice and Drug Policy Subcommittee explained to me: "Congress has been trying to get the Clinton Administration to focus on Colombia for the past half decade.

The instability we're seeing in Colombia is, to a large extent, the result of Administration flip-flops, delays, indifference and a general failure of resolve."

Unlike many other places where Bill Clinton has dispatched American military forces, America's vital interests are threatened by what's happening in Colombia.

Unfortunately, the solution isn't bombs and cruise missiles; it's a sustained commitment of intelligence, law enforcement and military resources. This is a war which can be won, but not the way we're fighting it today.

Pubdate: August 11, 1999
COPYRIGHT 1999 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.
Oliver North is a former marine colonel, who you may remember from the Iran-Contra hearings, and currently hosts 'Equal Time' on MSNBC.