There was a strange ease with which the Columbian military pulled off their rescue of Ingrid Betaincourt and the rest of FARC's hostages. According to Mary Anastasia O'Grady undercover special forces got FARC rebels to go along with a plan to helicopter their hostages to a new location by telling them that the aircraft was on loan to them from a fictitious nongovernmental organization called the "International Humanitarian Mission." It's apparently quite well known that left-wing NGOs have been sympathetic to FARC causes, and the rescue seems to confirm it.
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.
I am reminded of President Álvaro Uribe's 2003 statement that some "human rights" organizations in his country were fronts for terrorists. Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd got his back up over Mr. Uribe's statement, and piously lectured the Colombian president about "the importance of democratic values."
Apparently Chris Dodd and Patrick Leahy are sympathetic to FARC as well.
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.
There's more...
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