A Conflict That No One Can Win : Fighting intensifies in an El Salvador that refuses to face reality

The deaths of three U.S. military advisers in El Salvador are a sad reminder that--even as we prepare for a possible conflict in the Middle East--this country is still deeply involved in a bloody brush-fire war in our own back yard.

The three U.S. Army personnel died after a military helicopter they were riding in was hit by rebels who are fighting the government of President Alfredo Cristiani. Although the aircraft was brought down by small-arms fire, the incident will renew the debate over U.S. military aid to the Cristiani government, because it comes at a time when the rebels have recently gotten their hands on surface-to-air missiles (SAMS).

After more than 11 years of fighting that has left more than 70,000 people dead, the rebels, known as the FMLN, have fought a much larger and better-equipped Salvadoran army to a stalemate on the ground. The big advantage government forces have is air power, mostly U.S.-made. But with SAMS to worry about, the Salvadoran air force has grown cautious in its support of ground troops, so a battlefield victory has become all the more elusive.

It’s almost certain that the FMLN got the missiles from renegade members of the Sandinista army in neighboring Nicaragua. Earlier this week the Managua government announced the arrest of several officers who were charged with selling Soviet-supplied SAMS to FMLN representatives. But how the Salvadoran rebels got the missiles is less important than the fact that they have them and have shown they can use them, downing four government combat aircraft in the last few weeks.

The shootings could tempt President Bush to ask Congress to release $47 million in military aid to El Salvador that was frozen last year because the government’s investigation of the murder of six Jesuit priests by army troops was unsatisfactory. That would be a mistake. The lesson to be drawn from this latest tragedy in El Salvador is that the civil war there still can’t be won by either side. It would be far more productive for each side then to return to the negotiating table to try and arrange a cease-fire.