A Roundup of the Colombian FARC hostage rescue.
Which, by all accounts, was one for the books.
By Moe Lane Posted in Colombia | FARC | Foreign Affairs | The War On Terrorism | Uribe — Comments (16) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
As you've no doubt heard, fifteen hostages were rescued yesterday from the South American terrorist group FARC. Actually, what you probably heard was that French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt (oddly, though she ran for President of Colombia, it's never the other way around), Three Americans, and mumblemumblemumble some Colombian guys mumblemumblemumble got rescued, but that's just the American media's little way.
But I digress.
Read on.
Basic details from MSNBC (Via Tim Blair):
Santos said military intelligence agents infiltrated the guerrilla ranks and led the local commander in charge of the hostages, alias Cesar, to believe they were going to take them to Alfonso Cano, the guerrillas' supreme leader.
The hostages, who had been divided in three groups, were taken to a rendezvous where two disguised helicopters piloted by Colombian military agents were waiting. Betancourt said her hands and feet were bound, which she called "humiliating."
The pilots, she said, were posing as members of a relief organization, but "they were dressed like clowns," wearing Che Guevara shirts, so she assumed they were rebels.
But when they were airborne, she looked behind her and saw Cesar, who had treated her so cruelly for so many years, lying on the floor blindfolded.
...see also the BBC, CNN, and Reuters (the AP doesn't want my business). Some thoughts on this:
1). If you're wondering why a big counter-terrorism strike just happened to take place during Senator John McCain's visit to the region*, stop wondering: it was a no doubt deliberate decision on Colombia's part. Note that while they briefed the American delegation prior to the event, the actual operation took place while McCain was en route to Mexico. President Uribe wants good relations between Colombia and the USA, but he also wants to establish a certain separation. Bringing off a major counter-terrorism operation during, but independently of, a working visit by three US Senators should fit the bill.
2). The Colombian military pulled off a very neat job here. Hostages rescued, two high-value terrorists captured, the potential for further operations retained (presuming that they don't use the opportunity for disinformation, which is also not a bad strategy) - they hit all their objectives, and they did it all without firing a shot. There's always the luck factor to consider (the absence of bad luck as much as the presence of good), but this was a pretty professional operation, and the nation of Colombia should be justifiably proud of the people who brought it off.
Not that they should particularly care what an American blogger thinks on the subject, but I still think it's only polite to say.
Moe Lane
*Decent ad on the subject, by the way:
Unshrewd — Comments (2) »
A Roundup of the Colombian FARC hostage rescue. 16 Comments (0 topical, 16 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
Remember when everyone laughed at the President for having Uribe to Crawford? I mean, why would he have some petty Latin American "presidente" to his ranch? What could he have been thinking?
Heh.
Heh is right. It's called "Being Mired in Outdated Thinking."
Has anyone besides me noticed how the aging 68-er crowd (and their younger groupies) seem to have had their worldview frozen back in the 1970s and don't seem to have noticed how much things have changed?
Back in the 1970s, Ibero-America was mostly a bunch of goofy banana republics with honcho presidentés. Not any more. Did they get the memo?
When that crowd babbles about "Europe" and "What Europe thinks," it's clear that their concept of what is "Europe" (in both geography and on-the-ground realities) is still mired in the view they formed during their c. 1972 apres-college trip around "old" Europe. (When John Kerry babbled in 2004 about getting "the allies" involved, I had to wonder if he had any clue about "Europe" - since even if they had had the will, unlike the case c. 1979 countries like France and Germany are no longer credible military powers.) The old divide is gone, and there's a whole new slice of Europe that's opened up - and it's very friendly. Did they get the memo?
Heck, I'll go one further, since Zimbabwe has been in the news a lot lately and I go to southern Africa pretty regularly. In outdated, mired minds, sub-Saharan Africa is still just a mob of squalid, hopeless, dictatorial basket-cases. The good news you don't hear very much is that these days, Zimbabwe is more the exception than the rule. There are now actually more bright spots than dark spots in sub-Saharan Africa. Did they get the memo?
Being a member of this "aging 68-er crowd" with my "worldview frozen back in the 1970s ", I am grateful for your historical acumen. I shall be sure to carefully read your future postings for their wisdom.
Fault-finding missions are always successful.
...who never got over being SDS types.
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC. I've been usurped!
though a lot of it is shrouded in a blue or purple haze - I was eithteen or nineteen, after all. If you actually had to get out and hustle a living, you very quickly became "un-mired."
Only if you went to work for government, academia, and some of the professions, notably law, even today you can still hang on to the same dumba** ideas you had while smoking dope in a college dorm in '68
In Vino Veritas
One of the rescuees is the step father of my son's good friend. The sad thing is the family is visiting relatives in Peru right now, so they don't he was rescued.
Oh, and they have to be kicking themselves at Obama HQ right now. Two days ago they make this big deal about McCain visiting Columbia because he cares more about them than Americans. Today's front page of USA Today, "American hostages rescued in Columbia during McCain's visit".
Obama is turing into the political equivalent of the keystone cops.
"If they were merely incompetent, then at least SOME of their actions would have been to the benefit of the country."
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC. I've been usurped!
Those agents who infiltrated the FARC ranks didn't even have warrants, and weren't wearing their uniforms or badges, were they?????
Fascists! Civil Rights!
Their leader was BLINDFOLDED and BOUND after capture. Looks like some human rights abuses after the bad arrest, possibly torture. The Un is headed to Columbia now.
they waterboarded a FARC member to find out where their secret hideout was.
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4.62, 0.51
Please.
People PAY to be treated that way in San Fran...
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Dependence is Slavery.
Heh. Heh heh.
Maybe I'll try the same thing during the Democrat convention in Denver. I figure a Che t-shirt, pink tiara, and a Hope decoder ring should get me in the door.
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"We want great men who, when fortune frowns, will not be discouraged." - Colonel Henry Knox
Ah, but Gov. Richardson (D) was on FOX this AM mumbling about how so many made this happen, like him visiting fat hugo - by tomorrow we will learn that this was actually planned and carried out by Obama.
By the power vested in me by my ancestry and my choice of nom de plume, I hereby grant unto Colombian President Álvaro Uribe the honor and title of "Honorary Albanian."
Honestly, how do we hire this guy?