Colombia 'foiled attempt on Bush' [largest guerrilla group ordered an assassination attempt]

BBC ^ | Nov 27, 2004 [local] | Jeremy McDermott, BBC, Colombia

[Mike Fieschko]

The largest guerrilla group in Colombia ordered an assassination attempt on US President George W Bush during a recent visit there, a senior official says.

Colombian Defence Minister Jorge Alberto Uribe said Mr Bush was targeted in the city of Cartagena last Monday.

Informers and other intelligence sources revealed the attempt, he said.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have long accused the US of meddling in the country's 40-year civil war.

The Farc's seven-man ruling body ordered guerrilla units to make an attempt on Mr Bush's life, Mr Uribe said.

Long list of reasons

The Colombian authorities insisted that the attempt was thwarted by the heavy security net thrown up around the US president which, apart from his own secret service details, included 15,000 members of the Colombian security forces.

The Farc have a long list of reasons for wanting Mr Bush dead, most pressing is the fact that Washington provides over $600m in mainly military aid to Bogota and supplies intelligence from US listening stations, satellites and spy planes that are focused on Colombia.

Another reason is the issue of extradition.

The US has indicted much of the Farc high command on drugs trafficking charges and two senior Farc commanders in prison seem set to sent to face American justice.

The fact that the guerrillas would even consider killing the most powerful and heavily protected man on earth shows that US involvement in Colombia is so deep that the rebels feel they have very little to lose.

[EggsAckley]

ungghh.

[Veto!]

The fact that the guerrillas would even consider killing the most powerful and heavily protected man on earth shows that US involvement in Colombia is so deep that the rebels feel they have very little to lose.

No way. It shows that they are murderous terrorists.

[ETERNAL WARMING]

And these are the people we want to honor by giving them US jobs.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

Why can't a MOAB land on a rally at FARC encampment. And, just report a meteor struck Columbia. I remember the Taliban were going nuts when we started using Daisy Cutters.

[HarryCaul]

"The fact that the guerrillas would even consider killing the most powerful and heavily protected man on earth shows that US involvement in Colombia is so deep that the rebels feel they have very little to lose."

They might be surprised at exactly how much they have to lose.

I wouldn't go believing that the US is so wrapped up in Iraq that retaliation for a presidential assassination wouldn't be swift, terrible, and complete. That's a very, very wrong assumption.

[HarryCaul]

And perhaps shows the depth of their arrogance more than anything.

This is not something they would get away with.

[Walkingfeather]

You know ... maybe it is a.... "clear and present danger"

[FairOpinion]

I think Clinton pardoned and let loose several members of FARC in the last days of his presidency.

[MissAmericanPie]

Is this event when Bush had to go to the rescue of his Security Agent? Which I also believe was an attempt to assassinate the President, or is this attempt number two?

[Finalapproach29er]

Yep. I'm fed up with "rebels" and "insurgents".

These are Marxist murdering bastards. The press is a disgrace.

[Ex-Dem]

No, that was in Chile, not Columbia, which makes this all the more surprising.

[Mike Fieschko]

Is this event when Bush had to go to the rescue of his Security Agent?

No, this is different. The one where he 'rescued' the Secret Service agent was in Chile.

[Sarastro]

And they think they would be better off with Cheney in the Oval Office after bumping off Bush? They seem to have sh!t for brains.

[SaltyJoe]

Colombians are divided (like Americans). Some are very God fearing Catholics, and others are religious hating criminals. Unfortunately for the Colombians, they have a very violent and hostile environment. Their present generation is not to blamed for what they've inherited. I like to think that those who are fighting for decency, law, and order are doing the very best that they can.

It's hard, I'm sure, given the huge demand for drugs in America and the rest of the world, that criminals and weak wills are so ready to abandon civil behavior and vows to law and order for a quick profit.

We can rant all we want within the safety of our American homes, and it's easy for us to make a stand. For many Colombians, to affirm their loyalty for a particular belief may win them a not so fashionable neck tie (slit throat with their tongue pulled out of their neck).

South Americans fighting for law and order need our prayers and support every bit as much as our President.

[Arizona Carolyn]

Yep. It's in Barbara Olsen's book.

[MissAmericanPie]

Thanks for the clarification, but when the first incident happened I suspected a foiled assassination attempt, now this clear attempt makes me even more suspicious of the first incident.

[PhilDragoo]

Barbara Olson, The Final Days: The Last, Desperate Abuses of Power by the Clinton White House, Regnery, 2001, "Clemency for Cop Killers: Pardons for Terrorists Send a Signal", pages 15-21. Puerto Rican FALN, not Colombian FARC.

Bill Clinton has worked harder than he ever has in his life for cocaine dealers however, pardoning Roger Clinton and Dan Lasater.

Olson lists all 2001 pardons on pages 121-123.

[Arizona Carolyn]

Sorry about that, I thought it was FARC and didn't look it up.

Didn't he pardon one of Don Tyson's exec's, too?

[PhilDragoo]

Archie Schaeffer III, chief spokesman for the Tyson corporation, convicted in Donald Smalz' investigation of Mike Espy, former agriculture secretary.

[Tyson's pilot testified he was given envelopes of cash to deliver to "the governor". Tyson supplied the official who helped Hitlery score 100K in cattle futures.]