Free Republic

President Alvaro Uribe's hometown newspaper reported Thursday that Colombia's immensely popular leader will not seek a third consecutive term in 2010 elections. "President Uribe is not running for a second re-election. El Colombiano is in a position to affirm that the president has already decided to step aside so new leaders can assume power," the Medellin newspaper reported. El Colombiano did not reveal its sources.

President Bush held his last Cabinet Meeting this morning TranscriptPresident Bush met this morning with President Calderón of MexicoTranscriptThis afternoon President Bush honored President Uribe, Prime Minister Howard, and Prime Minister Blair. Transcript Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

Rush attends a Medal of Freedom ceremony at the White House. During the ceremony President George W. Bush presented the Medal of Freedom to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, former Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

Sounds nutty, I know, but Ambinder breaks news that The One’s dining with “conservative opinion leaders” in Maryland, evidently at George Will’s house. Among the attendees: Bill Kristol, David Brooks, and … anyone else? Coincidentally, I got an e-mail from a reader shortly after noon noting that Limbaugh had a surprise guest host today who spent the beginning of the show dropping hints that Rush had been called away to urgent business in D.C. and that it might have to do with something he said yesterday about giving Obama advice. I ignored it — but now they’re dropping hints on...

For those with questions about Gov. Sarah Palin's competence in the area of foreign policy, consider this: She has already demonstrated more leadership on foreign policy know-how and savvy than the entire Democratic party leadership put together. If this was a sports event in the contest of Gov. Palin versus the Democratic party leadership, it was a blowout with an easy win for Gov. Palin with a score of about 100-0. The incident I'm about to relate demonstrates Gov. Palin's competence, but it more dramatically demonstrates the incompetence of the Democratic party's foreign policy leadership, including the total incompetence of...

Election '08: The press spent so much time sniping at Sarah Palin for her visits with global leaders that in the end it babbled about itself. What it missed was news on John McCain's foreign policy. Who are the real rubes?Palin's meetings with foreign heads of state in New York this week sent a stark message to the world's tyrants: If she and John McCain are elected to the highest office in the land, America will stand by the embattled nations it calls friends. Not those nations with the most money, prestige or radical think tanks lobbying Congress on their...

This morning President Bush addressed the United Nations general assembly for the last time. Transcript After the address he and the first Lady met with some political dissident at Governors Island in New York City Transcript Vice President Cheney attended a weekly House Republican conferencemeeting on Capitol Hill Secretary of Defense Robert Gates testified today on Capitol Hill before the Armed Forces Committee on Afghanistan and Iraq Vice Presidential candidate, Governor Sarah Palin met this morning in New York City with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. She also met with Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger...

Leadership: If anything shows how Democrats are beneath their office, it's how they snubbed the visiting leader of Colombia on his current trip. Sarah Palin, by contrast, shows respect.Based on their treatment of President Alvaro Uribe, who is here to plead for a free trade pact, it's almost as if Democrats don't want the U.S. to have allies. Uribe made a rare visit to Washington, and shamefully few Democrats agreed to meet him. Uribe didn't come asking for much — only that Congress keep its word on an agreement that will drop tariffs on American goods sold in Colombia and...

President Bush on Saturday used the visit of Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe to urge Congress to pass a free trade agreement with the South American country. In remarks to reporters alongside Uribe at the White House Rose Garden, Bush said it is vital that Congress considers the trade pact before adjourning. “It is a statement of friendship, it's a statement of common values. And if this agreement were not to pass it would embolden the voices of populism in the neighborhood, to the detriment of a government which has been very strong in dealing with human rights and human dignity...

The President delivered his Weekly Radio Address from the White House. The subject was the economy. President Bush welcomed President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia to the White House on September 20, 2008. Colombia is a strategic ally of the United States, and this visit underscores the deep friendship and extensive cooperation between the United States and Colombia. The two leaders discussed a range of issues, including their shared commitment to the United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, continuing to reduce violence and increase peace and security in Colombia, and strengthening democracy throughout the region. The President is hosting a White House...

The Colombian TV released footage taken by the army during the rescue operation of July 2, 2008 where several hostages were freed, including presidential hopeful Ingrid Betancourt and 3 American citizens. American CIA and Israeli Mossad were involved in this operation.

BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- Colombian President Alvaro Uribe says one Red Cross symbol was used in a daring and successful hostage rescue mission that took place two weeks ago. What seems to be part of a red cross is seen on a bib worn by a man involved in the rescue in this official image. One of the rescuers was wearing the symbol on a bib, Uribe said Wednesday in a nationally televised announcement that was also carried on radio. He described the wearing of the symbol as a slip-up. Such a use of the Red Cross emblem could constitute...

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia misused the symbol of the Red Cross in this month's military rescue of politician Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other guerrilla-held hostages, the government said on Wednesday, admitting a possible violation of the rules of war. "We regret that this occurred," President Alvaro Uribe said in a speech following reports that the Red Cross emblem was displayed on a vest or T-shirt worn by a Colombian intelligence officer who took part in the rescue mission. Falsely portraying military personnel as Red Cross members is against the Geneva Conventions as it could put humanitarian workers at risk when...

On the day the Colombian military freed Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other long-held hostages, the Italian Parliament passed yet another resolution demanding her release. Europe had long ago adopted this French-Colombian politician as a cause celebre. France had made her an honorary citizen of Paris, passed numerous resolutions and held many vigils...

Uribe should soften his tone with FARC: Betancourt Mon Jul 7, 2008 2:58pm EDT PARIS (Reuters) - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe should soften his tone when dealing with the Marxist FARC guerrillas, freed hostage Ingrid Betancourt said on Monday, urging him to break with the language of "hatred". Betancourt was rescued last week after more than six years in the jungle as a captive of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), in an operation that was widely seen as a vindication of Uribe's hardline stance against the guerrillas. The FARC is still holding hundreds of captives and Betancourt, who...

Undercover Officers Got Acting Lessons; 'Crocodile Dundee' BOGOTÁ, Colombia -- New details have emerged about an important supporting role for the U.S. in Colombia's daring rescue of 15 hostages held by the country's Marxist guerrillas. One area where the Americans were directly involved: Giving Hollywood-style acting classes to the Colombian undercover military officers who duped the guerrillas into handing over the hostages. Preparation for the rescue mission, which freed three Americans and former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, involved mounting a makeshift studio on an army base and drilling the undercover military officers in their acting roles, according to senior...

War On Terror: A foreign country puts its men on the line to rescue American hostages and pulls off one of the greatest rescues in history. Might a little gratitude from Congress be in order?Not since the 1976 Israeli raid on Entebbe has a rescue of hostages held by terrorists ended so spectacularly. Wednesday's liberation by the Colombian army of three Northrop contractors and 12 others will go down as one of history's great strikes against terror. In the wake of the rescue, Democrats' caricature of Colombia as a night-haunted right-wing dictatorship, a la 1976 Guatemala, looks increasingly hollow. The...

You will REALLY enjoy this 2-minute clip. Great little short mini-documentary showing the release yesterday of the Colombian and American hostages who had been kidnapped years ago by pro-Communist, pro-Che Guevara FARC guerillas.The former Presidential Candidate, (female), lead hostage and one of the main speakers on the airport tarmac, profusely thanks the pro-US President Uribe, and then, rolling her eyes still in disbelief, says she was "amazed by the BRILLIANCE of the Army of Colombia" in their plan to seize the hostages, faking as if they were leftists rebels themselves.Another of the liberated, a man, shouts, LONG LIVE LIBERTY! and...

MEXICO CITY—Senator John McCain congratulated President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia on Wednesday for the Colombian government’s rescue of 15 hostages, including three Americans, held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a Marxist-inspired insurgency that Mr. McCain repeatedly criticized this week during a trip to Latin America. “This is great news,” Mr. McCain told reporters on his campaign plane enroute to Mexico City from Cartagena, Colombia, after Mr. Uribe called Mr. McCain in the air to inform him of the success of the operation. “Thank God they are released.” The timing of the rescue, which occurred while Mr....