Military crime

A United Nations investigator confirmed last week what had become all too evident in a series of reports in this newspaper about the appalling murder of innocent civilians in Colombia by members of the armed forces.

After a 10-day visit to the country, U.N. official Philip Alston minced no words in condemning what he called ''the cold-blooded, premeditated murder of innocent civilians for profit.'' He rejected the notion that this reprehensible practice was the work of a few bad apples:

``The sheer number of cases, their geographic spread, and the diversity of military units implicated, indicate that these killings were carried out in a more or less systematic fashion by significant elements within the military.''
 
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