Nick Capo's column on George Bush's support of dictatorships is lacking in detail, but it raised an excellent point. The Reagan and Bush administrations were clearly willing to look the other way on foreign human rights abuses for the sake of maintaining a sense of "order" in the Third World. Here are a few examples of that "sense of order."

-- Paraguay: General Andres Rodriguez took control of Paraguay in 1988 after overthrowing Alfredo Stroessner. Rodriguez is a well-known drug trafficker whose regime was called a "democratic opening" by President Bush in 1989.

-- Philippines: In 1981 Bush, then vice president, praised Ferdinand Marcos for his "adherence to the democratic processes." Marcos adhered to these lofty principles by having the genitals and pubic hair of over 60,000 Filipinos set on fire for "political reasons."

-- Panama: Manuel Noriega first met with CIA Director George Bush in 1976. Noriega was receiving $100,000 per year as a CIA "asset." A 1975 Drug Enforcement Agency investigation revealed that Noriega was trafficking cocaine. Once in power, the Reagan administration decided to "just say no" to such claims because of Noriega's aid in the covert war against Nicaragua from 1984 to 1987.

In 1987, after a Miami grand jury indicted him on drug trafficking charges, the CIA attempted to destabilize the Noriega regime. CIA actions in Panama came to an abrupt halt when a communiqu was sent to Washington, D.C. warning Bush of information Noriega had that could harm Bush's chances of winning the 1988 election.

Perhaps such information pales in comparison to Bill Clinton's revelation of casual marijuana use 23 years ago.