FARC's 'Human Rights' Friends

Wall Street Journal ^ | 7/7/08 | Mary Anastasia O'Grady

[wm_tate]

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.

[wm_tate]

Is it too much to ask that, while we provide NGO's with funds, food and support, they not provide our enemies with--to quote the old song--"lawyers, guns and money"?

-Wm Tate, www.atimelikethis.us/

[Army Air Corps]

Ping

[Army Air Corps]

Ping.

[The Pack Knight]

She met at the Venezuelan presidential palace with FARC leaders last fall. From that meeting the rebels reported that "Piedad says that Chávez has Uribe going crazy. He doesn't know what to do. That Nancy Pelosi helps and is ready to help in the swap [hostages in exchange for captured guerrillas]. That she has designated [U.S. Congressman Jim] McGovern for this."

I think that requires no elaboration.

[livius]

Disgraceful. Uribe can’t run again and I don’t know who the next president might be (possibly Betancourt), but whoever it is will have a very hard time keeping Colombia safe if the Dems win the US presidency.

[The Pack Knight]

The National Front agreement alternates the Presidency between the Conservative and Liberal Parties, so because Betacourt’s a Liberal like Uribe, she can’t be the next President. It will be a Conservative; Carlos Holguin, the Interior and Justice Minister, is the name I hear most.

[livius]

That’s interesting - I didn’t know they had an alternating system. Thanks.

[browardchad]

"Since the late 1990s, the NGO practice of dragging the military into court on allegations of human rights violations has destroyed the careers of some of the country's finest officers, even though most of these men were found innocent after years of proceedings. "Judicial warfare" turned out to be especially effective because under legislation pushed by Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, "credible" charges against officers put at risk U.S. military aid unless the accused was removed. The NGOs knew that they only had to point fingers to get rid of an effective leader and demoralize the ranks. Given this history, it's not surprising that the FARC thought a helicopter from an NGO was perfectly natural."

Pelosi, McGovern and Leahy must be really ticked at the failure of their little plan to help their buddy Chavez. Ah well, GW may be a lame duck, but he can still have a few chuckles on his way out, thanks to the US military which is more than happy to oblige, I suspect.