Pubdate: Tue, 17 Aug 1999
Date: 08/17/1999
Source: Ft. Worth Star-Telegram (TX)
Author: Bob Ramsey

As you revealed with words like `advisers' and `escalating' in your
Aug. 1 editorial about the fight against narcotics, the crash of a
U.S. spy plane in Colombia is reminiscent of our slow drift into the
quagmire of Vietnam. I appreciate the `Star-Telegram being quick to
sound the alarm.

U.S. military "aid" to Colombia has doubled every year since the early
1990s, and this year we are talking about quadrupling such aid to more
than $1 billion.

If Americans don't speak up and put an end to this war-on-drugs
madness, the children of Vietnam-era soldiers can look forward to
military service in the much larger jungles of South America.

We face the prospect of drafting young Americans out of their homes
to fight and die in a faraway jungle -- for the purpose of protecting
themselves from themselves if they were left alone at home.

BOB RAMSEY Drug Policy Forum of Texas Irving