Hostage release in Colombia

[deBeauxOs]

As you may have heard, Ingrid Betancourt was "rescued" yesterday and today she is in France, with her children.  But it appears that the "escape op" was more than meets the eye, at least in the msm.  John McCain made a scheduled, though barely justified visit to Colombia a few days ago.  And a Swiss media is claiming that several million $$$ were paid to release to the hostages.

So.  Was McCain the bagman?

edited to fix the link

[anne cameron]

If he was they should re-count the money, they might be a mil or two short...

[Toedancer]

Yeah I'm having a hard time with this msm story myself. I watched the thing on the news when it first broke. Wasn't buying the 'no shots fired', the chopper leaving unchallenged, then the pageantry of officials and army waiting in Texas for the arrival. It stunk to high heaven. Repeatedly showing the blown up haggard pic of Ingris in the jungle taken at the obvious beginning of her nightmare. Yet she looked very very good, healthy, bright, talkative. The 3 Private Contractors hired by the U.S. army looked good as well and army doc gave them clearance to go home.

Telly shots of the kids with Sarkosky in Paris before they flew to Bogota. The kids looked like Superclass. And now as you say that family is back in Paris. Watching the whole thing on cann with charmed life Anderson, it was as if it was a reality show with syndicated rights. Bizarro!

[jrootham]

As described it was a extraordinary high wire act.  A really high octane scam.

The point being, that if the scam worked no shots would be fired.  If it didn't it would go to hell in a handbasket really fast.  As far as the money goes, I'm sure it cost some.  There had to be at least one FARC member in on it, to vouch for the authenticity.  Those people need to vanish quickly and permanently, which is several million dollars to do.

FARC is coming apart, so this kind of thing is feasible.

[skdadl]

McCain's trips are very curious, aren't they? Like, his visit here was curious too. Why would a candidate do that? The NAFTAgate thing had no legs at all (in spite of HarperCo's best efforts), so ... why?

[Toedancer]

The whole thing is curious. If I had been held in a jungle for 6 years I'd be getting some therapy and slowly integrating back into society, telling the horrific story, being with the family and gawd knows what else.

But I would not be shopping for a gown to go to a French presidential gala a mere 48 hours after being released and I most certainly would not say on the record 'no ransom was paid' unless I knew that for sure.

The government is to throw a party in the presidential Élysée Palace in her honour later this evening.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/ju ... tworkfront

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is suppose to be getting his name up there and now Chavez has called FARC 'intolerable'.

A Colombian military strike earlier this year on a FARC camp inside Ecuador led to the seizure of computers that held a wealth of intelligence about the group, including alleged links between Chavez and the rebels.

Are we all being prepped for NAFTA and closer ties? Curioser and curioser.

eta - Ah the SuperClass, strange lot.

[deBeauxOs]

Who benefits from all this?  

Who knows what's happening with Betancourt, she may be on powerful meds to ensure that she performs in accordance to her liberators' grand scheme.  People can go through strange transformations when incarcerated or held hostage.

[skdadl]

I don't know. It is the funniest story -- I keep feeling that there must be more to it, but I can't imagine what. I mean, Uribe maybe gets a boost, and McCain gets a photo op, but really, in the schemes of Merkin electoral politics, things that happen in Colombia won't figure large (although I recognize that they matter a lot behind the scenes).

There must be sumpin' more there.

[Toedancer]

There must be sumpin' more there.

Well I can't even speculate yet, I'm still into the actual script/story we're being told and wow it even included 'acting lessons'
Here is the script Colombia rescue hinged on rebel disarray, payback

The turncoat was upset with the FARC because his own commander had taken a house and farm away from him, the general said. This was payback. I chose this quote first because it's actually in the headline and I call B.S. All members know beyond a doubt that their homes/farms/money/land/whatever is up for grabs for the Cause. It was for the money. The turncoat is now free and will likely receive a sizable amount from a $100 million government reward fund, the general said. I have no idea why that piece of total moronic simpleness was not just admitted to.

This high-teck wizardy is what it is all about, no? To play with and justify to the taxpayer why they pay the big bucks to the boyz.
The Colombians installed U.S.-provided remote-controlled video monitoring devices — which can zoom in and out — along rivers that are the only transport route through dense jungles, U.S. and Colombian officials said. U.S. surveillance planes intercepted rebel radio and satellite phone conversations and employed foliage-penetrating imagery, they said.

But for me this is where the wheels fall off. U.S. spy satellites helped track the hostages on a monthlong journey that began May 31 and ended with Wednesday's rescue. A monthlong journey thru the jungle and your face would be covered in bites, your hair would be matted, your feet would be a swollen mess and not ready for designer shoes.

Now here comes the justification for whatever  the real plan is post-rescue.

But Padilla said he thinks it will take well beyond the end of Uribe's second term in 2010 to defeat the rebels, who over 44 years have filled their ranks with peasants resentful of government neglect.

They are simply too well-entrenched, he said, and unlike Central American leftist groups of the 1980s are unprepared to enter peace talks.

"They're not ready for that process," he said. "They can't set conditions."

[skdadl]

Ok: think about this. I've been following the discussion at EW's place, and it speaks to deBeaxOs's cui bono question.

Think about BushCo foreign-policy obsessions. First up, Iran, right? Forget nucular programs -- Iran has oil -- right? And then pretty high on the list after Iran, there's Venezuela. Forget a demonized Chavez -- Venezuela has ... oil -- right? And if you're going to make things complicated with Iran, you need Venezuela as fallback, right?

There has already been a highly suspect adventure along the Colombia-Venezuela border. Iran is being set up by special ops from several directions.

Possible scenario: they wait until after the elections. If McCain wins, they don't have to move right away, but if Obama wins, both the Iranians and the Venezuelans might be in trouble.

Makes sense to me -- well, I mean, it doesn't make humane sense; it is fiendish. But it makes Cheney sense.

['lance]

I don't understand McCain's "campaign" swings either, but then he's sometimes been the despair of his own campaign staff. But though I could be wrong, I find it hard to believe he's mixed up in this hostage business. What could possibly be in it for him? I see no particular up side, and at least one major down side.

When the story came out, Democrats and the punditocracy would have a field day with the hypocrisy [sic] of McCain's dealing with, and enabling (by helping in the payment of ransom money to), terr'ists -- and worse yet, Marxist terr'ists and cocaine gangsters. (Actually, I don't know how much FARC is or has been involved in the drug trade, but they have reportedly collected taxes from campesinos who grow coca -- which to US drug warriors and their cheering section is the same thing). Not to mention jaunting off on foreign adventures (literally) at a time when the US economy is melting down in the worst way in generations.

Still worse, from McCain's point of view: much of his Republican base would likely feel the same way. And some of them are already as close to open mutiny as makes no difference.

[skdadl]

Just to keep our records filled in, here is a good report from March of the Colombian raid against Ecuador/Venezeula, at a time when the president of Ecuador and Sarkozy believed that they were close to a deal with FARC for the hostages.

[Toedancer]

All fascinating stuff. But I think it really comes down to the fact Uribe can't fix (he changed the constitution to do it) another election come 2010, and Ingrid is going to run for it. She'll make an allegiance for free trade, brand all those who disagree as terrists, and fall in line with the U.S. She's prolly already been briefed.

Interesting FARC got some uranium, wonder who they are selling it to? Kind of scary to think of nukes on our own continent, in the hands of an autocrat. But then they're all autocrats, left/right/and inbetween.

[radiorahim]

The plot thickens:

Source: US Military Special-Ops Team, and Not the Colombian Army, Carried Out Hostage Rescue in Colombia
Months in the Planning, the Operation Included US Special Forces Posing as Members of a “French Humanitarian Group”

By Bill Conroy
Special to The Narco News Bulletin

July 3, 2008

A U.S. military special-operations unit carried out the recent rescue of three Defense Department contractors being held by the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), according to a source who has first-hand knowledge of the operation.

The U.S. military contractors – Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell – had been held captive by the FARC ever since their surveillance plane was shot down in February 2003 over the Colombian jungles. Also rescued in the mission were 11 Colombian military and police officers as well as former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt – who also is a French citizen.

The source of information for this report asked not to be identified, though Narco News has not been led astray by this source in the past.

The source claims the rescue mission was a U.S.-led operation with Colombian support – as opposed to the reverse, as has been widely reported in the U.S. media. The operation had been underway for some months prior to the July 2 rescue day.

In priming this pump, the U.S. team managed to plant some satellite phones with the FARC. The source declined to provide details on how that was accomplished for fear of compromising future operations of this nature. From there, the U.S. military used its technology to set up surveillance by intercepting the FARC’s communications.

The whole operation was carried out, the source claims, under the guise of being a humanitarian mission. The FARC, the source claims, believed they were dealing with a “French humanitarian group.” The communications intercepts helped to facilitate that deceit, the source adds.

http://narconews.com/Issue54/article3153.html

[deBeauxOs]

So ... those defense contractors are highly valuable commodities?  Who knew?

Or the rescue was a splashy exercise for the purpose of displaying fancy equipment and stealth operations to potential customers?  Necessary allies?  Visiting aliens?

Or, what skdadl said.

Or ....?