[Travis McGee]

It seems like we would rather see Cubas across the hemisphere than get a brush of mud on our starched state department sleevs.

[wardaddy]

Looking back....who was worse Somoza or the Sandies?, Roberto D'Aubisson and Arena or the Salvadoran Terrs?, Generals or Monteneros?, Allende or Pinochet?....you get my drift.

Unfortunately our State Dept. is still in Alger Hiss mode.

As I said before, I once knew Caranza fairly well. He's not an angel but he knows damn well how to break FARC's will to fight or at a minimum slow their advances through the populace. Guys like him in rural Northern Colombia have no choice. They have to either submit to the Terrs or kill the hell out of them. The government forces outside of the bush hat tiger striped Elite Battalions (with US guys alongside btw) have lost the will to fight.