Pubdate: Wednesday, March 3, 1999 Source: Fresno Bee, The (CA) Copyright: 1999 The Fresno Bee Contact: http://www.fresnobee.com/ DRUG WAR CHARADE The Clinton administration has issued its annual set of "report cards" on how well other countries are cooperating with the United States in efforts to stamp out the illicit narcotics trade. Once again, the most undeserved good grade went to Mexico, which President Clinton says is "fully cooperating" in trying to stem the flow of drugs across the border. That's nonsense. Since last year, when Mexico also won a gold star, there's been no visible evidence of improvement, despite President Ernesto Zedillo's apparent good intentions. A majority of the hard drugs entering this country still are produced in or flow through Mexico; rampant corruption at all levels continues to virtually immunize drug kingpins from prosecution; and to date not a single major drug trafficker sought by U.S. authorities has been extradited by Mexico. Yet as false as the president's certification is, the original sin lies with Congress, which since 1986 has required administrations to go through an exercise that insults other countries, forces U.S. officials to lie to avoid worsening relations and achieves nothing of substance. Indeed, this year only two countries, Afghanistan and Burma, failed to pass muster - but they're already in the U.S. rogues' gallery. Four countries - Cambodia, Haiti, Nigeria and Paraguay - were declared not fully cooperative but were exempted from U.S. sanctions to avoid further crippling their already weak economies or as a means of urging them to do better, or both. Marginally, that makes more sense than simply awarding a good grade that everyone knows is bogus. Congressional critics of this charade, among them California's Sen. Dianne Feinstein, are right to denounce the hypocrisy, and the arrogance, of handing out report cards saying what is patently false. Yet in the circumstances, Clinton had no real choice: Denouncing a next-door neighbor with which we have growing commercial and human ties will neither improve relations nor catch more traffickers, nor will it do anything to shrink the huge demand in this country for illegal drugs. In that context, one angry Mexican industrialist suggested that Mexico certify as to how well the United States is doing in its war on the drug trade. That's an interesting idea, but an even better one is for Congress to end the certification charade, provide more funds for prevention and treatment in this country, and let the administration deal with Mexico and other drug-producing countries without having headline-seeking politicians driving the agenda. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea