Mary Anastasia O'Grady, of the WSJ, has a great opinion piece in today's paper - FARC's 'Human Rights' Friends.
While we focused on the brilliance, humor and audacity of the rescuers wearing Che t-shirts, O'Grady discusses the FARC's absolute trust that some nameless Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) will provide helicopter support to the terrorists. While the operation had been planned for nearly a year, and surely picked up steam with the recent laptop recovery - link -, the fact that the helicopter support wasn't questioned by the FARC demonstrates NGO cooperation and sympathies to terrorists in the past.
It may have taken years for army intelligence to infiltrate the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, and it may have been tough to convincingly impersonate rebels. But what seems to have been a walk in the park was getting the FARC to believe that an NGO was providing resources to help it in the dirty work of ferrying captives to a new location.
The Colombian military tricked the FARC into releasing their most valuable hostages. I am reminded of President Álvaro Uribe's 2003 statement that some "human rights" organizations in his country were fronts for terrorists. Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd got his back up over Mr. Uribe's statement, and piously lectured the Colombian president about "the importance of democratic values."
But as the helicopter story suggests, Mr. Uribe seems to have been right. How else to explain the fact that the FARC swallowed the line without batting an eye?
The Colombian military tricked the FARC into releasing their most valuable hostages. I am reminded of President Álvaro Uribe's 2003 statement that some "human rights" organizations in his country were fronts for terrorists. Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd got his back up over Mr. Uribe's statement, and piously lectured the Colombian president about "the importance of democratic values."
But as the helicopter story suggests, Mr. Uribe seems to have been right. How else to explain the fact that the FARC swallowed the line without batting an eye?
O'Grady mentions some names in her article. Commie Hugo Chavez has been long linked to the FARC. Colombian Sen. Piedad Cordoba is pictured with the Venezuelan leader. She is under investigation in Columbia for ties to the FARC. US Senator Chris Dodd, former Democrat presidential candidate and Countrywide VIP is mentioned in the quote above. And, our Dear Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who has been pushing for hostage trades (aka diplomacy) with the FARC.
Presidents Bush and Uribe are mentioned too, but in a different light... The video below offers a good summary.
Here is a video of one of the three US hostages, Marc Gonsalves. U/T: Hotair.
