NEWTON'S LAW: AMERICA: BEACON OF FREEDOM OR A BANK TELLER TO THE WORLD?

There is a price to being the world's beacon of freedom. And the bills are coming due.

In the international community, count on the United States to play a benevolent, trusting father with a houseful of demanding kids, all appealing for favors when the old man has his hands full.

Granted, it is naive to relate international relations to personal relations. In a personal relationship, it would seem pathetic to pay cash for friendship. In the global scheme of things, it is done all the time.

Accept as we might the long-range and strategic logic to this, the request of Israel this week for an extra $3 billion in American assistance seems slightly askew.

Israel's finance minister asked for the money to cover economic and other costs of the Persian Gulf war.

Okay, the arguments are complex but intelligible. On the surface, however, this is the case: America has dispatched high-tech weaponry and troops to Israel in the hopes that country won't go to war. In return, Israel has asked for additional money for its trouble.

Restraint has never been a detectable Israeli trait where air power is concerned and it seems we're rewarding them for this untested accommodation.

Turn the tables and see if America will take the deal: send Israel to war and we'll take the $3 billion and stay home.

Obviously, geography and many centuries of religious history prevent that from being a very good plan. Still, it seems a lot of nations have their hands out these days.

In some cases, they have their tight fists out. Japan is a nation more dependent on Middle East oil than the United States yet has no fighting forces in the Persian Gulf.

Japan agreed initially to pay $3 billion to fend off Iraqi aggression. Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu upped the ante this week to $13 billion. The Japanese parliament, however, indicated it might be reluctant to impose this sacrifice on the Japanese people.

And you thought George Bush had trouble working with the U.S. Congress. The Japanese parliament, for the record, is called the Diet; that might say something about the weight of that body's support for the war effort.

Then comes the case of Peru, which to date has no involvement in the Persian Gulf war (hey, even Senegal sent 500 soldiers) but is not shy about proclaiming a wish list to American diplomats.

The president of Peru, Alberto Fujimoro, has proposed that now would be a good time for the United States to write off part of Peru's $20 billion debt.

This debt forgiveness would link an anti-drug agreement with "pardoning of the foreign debt and the support of international finance institutions," claim the Peruvians.

In other words, in order for Peru to convince its farmers not to grow the plants that cocaine comes from, the United States should take a red pen to the accounts receivable.

It should be added that Peru faces a March 1 deadline to qualify for $100 million in U.S. aid for fighting drug trafficking. Fujimori has failed to convince the American State Department that his country has been cooperative in those endeavors.

Again, these are more complicated issues than have been presented here. Fujimori might well make the point that it is more cost effective to manage coca eradication in the mountains of Peru than it is to fight the cocaine problem on the streets of Washington.

Still, America, fighting abroad for global liberty, seems to be terrorized at home by nations that view us not so much as a guiding light of justice but as an automatic teller machine.

It is reported that when William Mulholland completed the project that brought water from the mountains into the city of Los Angeles, his dedication speech was brief: "There it is," he said, "take it."

Where money is concerned, it seems that the American government has issued an invitation similar in tone.