War On Drugs: that other disastrously misguided non-war …

This is shaping up to be a huge scandal in Colombia, recipient of about $700 million dollars in U.S. military and economic aid in 2006:

Paramilitary Ties Implicate Colombia's Political Elite

By Juan Forero

Washington Post Foreign Service

In what has been heralded as a decisive moment in Colombia's shadowy, decades-long conflict, a powerful paramilitary commander is to appear in a special court Tuesday to account for crimes that include massacres and assassinations. Salvatore Mancuso's testimony will be the first by a top death-squad leader in a Colombian courtroom, and it is being touted by the administration of President Álvaro Uribe as evidence that the wheels of justice are turning.

Rather than rejoicing, however, the Uribe government has found itself in the awkward position of being implicated in the wrongdoing. Over the past several weeks, Colombians have been gripped by revelations of ties between paramilitary fighters and several congressmen close to the president, as well as some officials in his administration. The scandal now threatens to unravel his authority.[snip]