Iraq and Afghanistan continue to enjoy top billing in America's newspapers and on our television news programs. With untold billions of dollars flowing regularly into that part of the world and American soldiers continuing to be killed there, it's no surprise our government and our media pay close attention. South America remains an afterthought for government policy-makers and news show producers. Whether we like it or not, that may soon change, as well it should.

Military tensions between Venezuela and Colombia, for example, flared earlier this month to a new and dangerous level when Venezuelan president and strongman Hugo Chavez massed armed forces at his country's border with Colombia and threatened military action. This saber rattling, Chavez said, was in response to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe ordering a small military force into its western neighbor, Ecuador, to track down and kill a Colombian guerrilla leader operating from what had been the safe haven of a neighboring country (and who reportedly maintained contacts with Chavez).

While the outward signs of hostility have cooled (the two leaders exchanged a formalistic handshake at a recent meeting), such disruptions in this part of the world —- where the United States maintains significant, if often forgotten, interests —- ought to concern all Americans (especially those who drive cars).

Although the publicly stated reasons for the tensions between the Colombian and Venezuelan leaders relate to Colombia's efforts to eradicate the leftist guerrilla threat that has plagued the country for decades, most observers know it is Colombia's openly pro-U.S. stance that really rankles Chavez. The entire South American continent has long chafed under the benign neglect of one U.S. administration after another. Chavez has proven quite adept at drawing on that deep resentment to bolster his own position. His ability to wield influence in this manner, of course, is strengthened greatly by virtue of the fact that Venezuela sits atop major oil reserves and provides nearly 13 percent of our country's daily oil imports (more than three times the amount of oil we import from Iraq).

Economic realities such as this should cause the United States to pay closer attention not only to Venezuela and other Andean countries such as Peru, Bolivia and Chile, but to the entire South American continent, which collectively is a massive trading partner for the United States. Not only oil, but huge quantities of raw materials and consumer products (coffee, for example) are offloaded daily at U.S. seaports and airports from ships and planes arriving from South America. American taxpayers, too, have a stake in what happens in this region. Billions in foreign aid flow into the region. On the darker side of the trade ledger, cocaine, marijuana and heroin from South and Central America fuel the appetites of drug users in American cities.

Yet for many in Washington, dealing with South American leaders and governments remains at best a necessity, and more often an irritant. Dealing with Venezuelan President Chavez has proved especially vexing for Washington. Many in our nation's capitol view him as a comical figure, but in so doing fail to comprehend him or the culture from which he springs. Many of our leaders also do not understand Colombia's president; refusing, for example, to acknowledge the risks Uribe has taken to assist the United States. Falling prey to such oversimplification and misunderstanding is not only wrong but also obscures whatever chances there are for improving our long-term economic, political and security interests in the hemisphere.

While Washington's current national security worldview remains focused like a laser beam on Iraq and Afghanistan, fires smolder and burn elsewhere. Shifting at least a portion of that concern and those resources to South America, and especially to the Andean region that currently is near the boiling point, is critical to our security. There may not be weapons of mass destruction lurking in the jungles of Venezuela, Colombia or Ecuador (there weren't in Iraq either, of course), but arms are flowing into the area. Venezuela, for example, is buying billions of dollars worth of Russian military equipment. Leftist guerrillas and narco-terrorists remain firmly entrenched in the region, and evidence that other terrorist groups are using the area for problematic purposes is mounting.

Even if the possible loss of a significant portion of our imported oil requirement does not wake the United States from the somnambulant manner in which it views Latin America, perhaps the growing security threat in that area will —- hopefully before a major crisis jars us awake.

> Former congressman and U.S. Attorney Bob Barr practices law in Atlanta. Web site: www.bobbarr.org.

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