Aid to Colombia

Re “Colombia at Risk,” editorial, Nov. 24: U.S. victims of thievery, thuggery, pimping and murder are the primary source of funding for Colombian insurgents, both left and right. To send more U.S. tax dollars to President Andres Pastrana will only serve to intensify the destruction wrought by decades of wrongheaded U.S. drug policy. It is total madness to become more entangled militarily. This Latin American tar baby will surely make Vietnam seem like child’s play. History and common sense tell us not to become the fourth combatant in a three-sided civil war in which we already foot the bill for all other parties. Sadly, all this escapes those who shape U.S. policy.

The answer is to cut off funding for all participants in this struggle. This can only be done if we challenge our appetite for illicit Colombian products. Was anyone paying attention when Dr. George Koob and Dr. Kim Janda of Scripps Research Institute unveiled a vaccine for cocaine addiction last summer? If The Times looked into that story, it would be begging more funds for addiction research rather than slouching toward Armageddon.

CHRIS CAUHAPE

Indio