Bush: "cold-blooded killers" - Colombia rebels blame U.S. for seizure of aircraft trio

Miami Herald ^ | February 22, 2003 | MARIKA LYNCH mlynch@herald.com

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Colombia - Two in plane shot at close range - FARC holding 3 Americans

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Colombia Tries to Find Missing Americans - SUSANNAH A. NESMITH, AP - [Full Text] BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombia's defense minister said Friday that troops would only try to rescue three Americans being held by rebels if the attempt wouldn't risk the hostages' lives. Defense Minister Martha Lucia Ramirez said Colombian troops are trying to locate three Americans apparently captured by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, after their plane crashed during an intelligence mission Feb. 13 in rebel territory. A fourth American and a Colombian army sergeant were shot and killed at the site of the crash, authorities said.

President Bush said that at least one of the deaths was an execution. "One man had a bullet hole in the back of his head - clearly an execution," he told the Spanish language network Telemundo in an interviewed that aired Thursday. "So we are dealing with cold-blooded killers that need to be treated as cold-blooded killers."

Bush said the United States is sharing intelligence with the Colombian government, to help the "troops in the jungle to try and rescue the three."

Colombian officials have said that both men were slain execution style. Ramirez told reporters that Colombia was working closely with the United States "to identify the place where these citizens are and hopefully be able to conduct a rescue operation." She said no attempts would be made to move in on the kidnappers until authorities have determined the risks to be "practically nothing" of hostages being killed in a rescue mission.

The FARC has not commented on the alleged kidnapping. The State Department has appealed to the captors for proof the Americans are alive. The Colombian Army on Thursday offered a $345,000 reward for information leading to the safe return of the three.

The kidnapping marks the first time U.S. government employees have been captured in Colombia's 38-year civil war that pits the 17,000-strong FARC and a smaller rebel group against the government and right-wing paramilitary fighters. About 3,500 people, mainly civilians, die in the fighting each year. The U.S. government has given Colombia almost $2 billion in the past three years mostly in military aid. The aid was initially restricted to counter-drug efforts but Washington recently allowed Colombia to use the equipment and U.S.-trained troops to confront the rebels directly.

The FARC considers the United States' involvement in Colombia's conflict an act of war and has warned that it would target U.S. citizens and interests.[End]

[happygrl]

These devils have captured missionaries over the years and murdered them too.

I hope all those who put stuff up their nose in this country face God with blood on their hands.

These terrorists are financed by cocaine.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

[livius]

They're also financed by extorting money from the oil companies under the threat of blowing up the oil pipelines and collecting money from kidnappings and extortions of individuals. I have translated truly appalling individual accounts of innocent Colombians who have fallen into the clutches of FARC.

One of them I particularly remember was a young woman who had a tiny stall in a commercial center where she sold things like radios, hair dryers, etc. Some FARC representatives, whom she described as young and educated (I bet they were college students), arrived one day andt old her that they had come to collect the "revolutionary tax" and that if she did not pay it, she would be considered a "military target."

When she couldn't get the money together by the deadline, they called her home and let her know that they knew the route her children took to school.

She and her husband and children fled in the night, leaving behind their home and her business, and after several long bus rides and time spent hiding out in the homes of friends in distant cities, were able to get out of the country.

This was such a common occurrence that the Colombian government actually had a special office for dealing with people who had been made homeless by FARC, either because their homes had been destroyed or because they had been forced to flee. Unfortunately, the Government didn't have enough money to offer any help to these people, but simply recorded their stories and tried to help them with any paperwork they might need to get other assistance.

And as for its oil extortion business, what FARC is essentially doing is not only ripping off the oil companies, but stealing the oil royalties that are supposed to go directly to the little towns along the pipeline. There are places where teachers have not been paid in years and where health clinics have been closed for want of supplies, among other things, all because FARC has extorted or flat-out stolen the monies the towns were supposed to get.

There are also towns where people cannot go outside on certain days when FARC declares an "armed shut-down."

Imagine living like that. FARC cannot be stamped out soon enough, as far as I'm concerned.

That's one of the reasons I become completely enraged on these threads by the many drug-legalization folks who actually say the US should not be helping Colombia, because the whole thing has to do with drugs and, in their opinion, drugs are cool. Aside from the fact that I don't agree with the latter statement, while it is true that FARC does get a lot of its money from drugs, it has plenty of other sources. Unless we want to see all of Latin America someday living in fear of these thugs, we've got to do something now. I'm really, really glad that Bush is taking this seriously.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I'm really, really glad that Bush is taking this seriously.

They're terrorists and will be treated as such.

[corkoman]

I hope all those who put stuff up their nose in this country face God with blood on their hands. These terrorists are financed by cocaine.

I hope all those who support the War On Drugs in this country face God with blood on their hands. These terrorists are financed by the artificially high prices supported by a prohibition against an otherwise victimles crime.

[steve50]

These terrorists are financed by cocaine.

And the group that fights against them, the AUC, has admitted it gets at least 70% of its funding from the coke trade. Montesinos was getting $1 million a year from us while he aided drug smugglers. Face it, everybody in the area plays the drug game, and we play right along with them.

[happygrl]

Not me.

I don't put stuff up my nose.

Those who do are the players for whom I have contempt.

A whole country has been ruined because of that habit.

[happygrl]

NO.

Smart-alecs like you will get yours in the end.

[happygrl]

Read post #5. It puts the lie to your theory.

[steve50]

A whole country has been ruined because of that habit.

Didn't seem to have to much effect on the country when you could buy it from Sears Roebuck mail order, syringe and all. End the WosD to remove the profit motive and let Darwin sort them out. The profits have destroyed our police, courts, currupted our government, and destroyed the BoR...just as alcohol prohibition did.

[happygrl]

The point is that the people who put this stuff up their noses are responsible for the situation in Columbia. They create the demand no matter what the profit is.

The WOD is another argument which I am not entertaining at this time. Drug users are morally culpable for the destruction in Columbia.

[Leisler]

"These terrorists are financed by cocaine"

Cocaine is no more profitible than tea leaves. What makes it profitible in the illegality of it. This is a natural and as you well know, predicted side effect. Much like prohibition and prostitution.

That aside, FARC should be run to ground and wiped out. They want a war, lets give it to them.

[Leisler]

It is not the demand, it is the profit. I am sure there is a demand to ski in Miami, but there isn't enough profit to pay for the basic machines needed to make snow in a hot climate. Thus although snow is cheap, and there is a demand there is no supply, because there is no profit. Profit is the pipeline between the user and the grower. Less profit, less pipe. Few people work for nothing. Many people take great risks, even illegal risk, for great profit.

[corkoman]

Smart-alecs like you will get yours in the end.

I dont know who you are. I am a clinician and researcher. Just because I see the root of a problem doesnt make me a smart aleck. Because I turn your words against you to make a point? Is your skin that thin?

I wish no ill upon you. I would be satisfied if knee-jerk armchair totalitarians would consider that the War on Drugs is responsible for FAR MORE damage than the drug effects on people.

[steve50]

The bankers who launder the cash, and our government agencies that actively traffic in the stuff are much more to blame.

A court in Penn. just gave two narcotics agents $1.5 million because their boss fired them for investigating a CIA protected Dominican ring working for a right wing politican down there. Of course the appeals court will toss it out, that's how the drug game is played. It's became one of those public/private partnerships we hear so much about

[happygrl]

I am talking about moral culpability.

I do not dispute that the WOD has created its own set of problems, but those who make a choice to use drugs are morally culpable for the destruction which results.

[happygrl]

Read my reply # 46.

[taxed2death]

"I'm really glad that Bush is taking them seriously"

Is this the same Bush that gave the OK for Afgan drug lords to plant poppie after the Taliban was removed from Afganistan?

Just how serious is he?