cannabisnews.com: Into the Quagmire Into the Quagmire Posted by FoM on June 24, 2000 at 07:42:57 PT Abroad at Home By Anthony Lewis Source: New York Times When the Senate approved the Tonkin Gulf Resolution in 1964, giving President Johnson carte blanche for war in Vietnam, only two senators said no: Wayne Morse and Ernest Gruening. We have made some progress since then. When the Senate voted this week for an open-ended commitment to aid a war against drug cultivation in Colombia, 11 senators dissented by supporting a modest amendment. The lives of American soldiers are not at risk in Colombia -- yet. But in other respects the parallels between this adventure and Vietnam are spooky. Congress is about to approve an enormous program -- $1.3 billion in military aid to Colombia as a first installment -- with no convincing strategy and no end in sight. Exactly as in the case of the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, there has been little public debate or understanding. If Americans knew what we were getting into in Colombia, I think they would overwhelmingly reject this new involvement. "There has been no consideration of the consequences, cost and length of involvement," said Senator Slade Gorton, Republican of Washington, one of the opponents. "This bill says let's get into war now and justify it later." Colombia is a country with a fragile civilian government and a military with one of the worst human rights records in Latin America. The country is harried by left-wing guerrilla groups and right-wing paramilitaries, all financed by drug money. The theory of the military aid proposal is that the aid -- helicopters, crop destroyers and the like -- will be carefully supervised by the U.S. military so it goes only to fight drug trafficking, not to get involved in Colombia's civil wars. To state that proposition is to recognize its absurdity. But the strategy is flawed for an even more fundamental reason. Fighting narcotics by trying to reduce the supply is an idea with a proven record -- of failure. We have been spraying coca fields and aiding military forces in Latin America for 20 years. Cocaine is cheaper and more available on our streets than ever. No doubt more coca plants will be eradicated in Colombia as the $1.3 billion in military aid starts to flow in next year. What will happen to the peasants whose fields have been poisoned and livelihoods destroyed? Some will join the guerrillas. Others will flee across the nearest border. Ecuador has already been warned to expect 25,000 Colombian peasant refugees. And in the end there will be no reduction in the amount of processed cocaine on the world market. Not if recent history is a guide. Every time U.S. efforts have reduced production in one place, it has increased elsewhere. The reason should be obvious in a world that now acknowledges the power of the market. As long as the demand for illegal drugs booms in the United States, someone will supply it. The profits assure that. Colombia's national police chief, Gen. Rosso José Serrano, whose efforts against drugs have been much admired, pointed to demand as the key factor in a comment he made as he retired this week. "We'd rather see drug consumption drop than get any of this aid," he said. Study after study has shown that the key to dealing with the drug problem is reducing demand. One by the Rand Corporation found that treatment of drug users is 10 times more effective than trying to interdict supplies. The defeated amendment to the Colombia bill that got only 11 Senate votes would have used $225 million of the military aid money for drug treatment and prevention programs in the United States. Like so much in our drug policy, the Colombian adventure is a product not of reason but of politics. The Colombian military, whose political power will grow with fancy new weapons, lobbied shrewdly in Washington. So did U.S. makers of helicopters. But the driving political force was fear -- just as in Vietnam. Lyndon Johnson did not want to be the first American president to lose a war. Bill Clinton knew that if he did not endorse the Colombian adventure, Republicans would accuse him of being soft on drugs. So in we go, hoping for light at the end of the tunnel. BostonPublished: June 24, 2000Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company Related Articles: Congress Leaders OK Spending Pact http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6143.shtmlColombia's Top Cop Laments Drug Warhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6142.shtmlColombia Drug Package Nears Vote In Senatehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6130.shtmlDrug Control or Bio Warfare? http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread5616.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on June 25, 2000 at 17:11:54 PT: Not the first, and (sadly) not the last. Dank, it was an NSA spy plane flown by a US Army captain and Agency/Army crew. But they were combatants any way you slice it. They were spying on the FARC, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if the FARC brought them down.But people have been lost in Colombia before... and you don't/won't hear about it, for fear of the folks back home waking from their "Best economy ever!" induced slumber and realizing how close we are to aluminum coffin and playing "Taps" time.I am so glad I am not in anymore, but I fear for the families of soldiers who *will*, mark my words, be put in harm's way... for nothing. Just like Libya. Just like Lebanon. Just like Somalia. Just like every rat-hole the US has stuck it's nose into, only to get it bloodied, and for what? To keep some flaming idiot from sticking needles in his arm or powder up his nose? (Couch it in language like *that*, and then see if the service families want their kids to traipse off to Bogota.)Americans are far too trusting of a government that has repeatedly proven it deserves none. When it says that it has foreign interests, it rarely bothers to explain that those interests are corporate, not covered under the rubric of 'national security', but so some Congressman's son can make a killing (pardon the pun) on the market. But it is willing expend the lives of its protectors to achjieve that profit.It usually takes a few dozen corpses coming back in body bags before that lesson is learned. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by dankhank on June 24, 2000 at 08:25:23 PT: Yes, there has ... The lives of American soldiers are not at risk in Colombia -- yet. But in other respects the parallels between this adventure and Vietnam are spooky.Seems like I recall last year that a female chopper pilot, her chopper and crew died when the chopper mysteriously "crashed" in the Columbian jungle. To my knowledge, no explanation has surfaced as to the cause of the crash.Our first casualities in Columbia?Maybe ...In any event, one wonders at the sheer perfidity of our leaders who continue to try to tell Americans how to amuse themselves.Peace ... HEMP n STUFF [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: