Saturday, November 23, 2002; Page A22

FOR THE UNITED STATES to increase its cooperation with the thuggish rulers of Burma, on the grounds of mutual interest in fighting illegal drugs, would reflect a surprising gullibility and lack of judgment. This is a regime, after all, that shelters drug lords and reaps uncounted millions in the shadow of the drug trade. For Bush administration officials to consider such a move now, just as Burma's dictators are ratcheting up their defiance of U.N. mediators, would be almost unthinkable. And yet, according to The Post's Glenn Kessler, such an upgrading of relations is being promoted by midlevel State Department officials. Surely the White House will know better.

Burma is a Southeast Asian nation, rich in resources and natural beauty, that has been run into the ground by a corrupt and brutal military regime. Its generals fired on pro-democracy demonstrators in 1988, killing thousands. It annulled a 1990 election in which the National League for Democracy won 82 percent of parliamentary seats. It has kept the league's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest for eight of the past 14 years. Its army has doubled in size since 1988 and includes more child soldiers than any other fighting force in the world. It uses rape as a weapon against ethnic minorities. It has been repeatedly condemned by the United Nations for countenancing forced labor.

It's a regime that would fit comfortably on the axis of evil (and, not surprisingly, that maintains warm relations with Saddam Hussein). Last spring, responding to international pressure, the regime freed Ms. Suu Kyi, the daughter of Burma's independence hero, from house arrest and promised to begin a dialogue with her aiming toward establishing democracy. But after that initial gesture, the generals have gone nowhere. They are not talking to the democrats. They are not permitting her to publish any kind of newspaper. They are in fact locking up more pro-democracy activists. The U.N. mediator who brokered her release recently talked about throwing in the towel.

America's international anti-drug bureaucrats no doubt would welcome a chance to expand their playing field. They are willing to be persuaded by a few crop burnings staged for maximum effect. But officials with a wider horizon should know that the only hope for progress in combating the drug trade in Burma, as in fighting AIDS and promoting prosperity, is to bolster Aung San Suu Kyi, not to undermine her.

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