Say Anything Blog

First off, let me say that my hat’s off to the Colombian military, which pulled off one of the best bait and switch schemes to rescue 15 hostages long held by FARC that anyone could imagine.

Pretending to be FARC allies who wanted to move the hostages by helicopter for an interview with an international relief agency, they persuaded the FARC guerrillas to allow them aboard two helicopters along with two FARC guards. When they were airbornes the guards were (I like this part) “overpowered” (I’ll just bet they were) and the hostages were told of the rescuers real identity, and that they were now free.

And FARC, at this very moment, is sitting in a sweltering Colombian jungle having just lost any trump card they thought they had and feeling very, very stupid. They may even be left out of the Terrorist Hall of Fame over this one.

Anyway, today the most high profile of the hostages, former Colombian presidential candidate and French citizen Ingrid Betancourt returned to her native France:

PARIS - “I cry with joy,” Ingrid Betancourt said. And she did. After six years as a hostage in the Colombian jungle, the former Colombian presidential candidate and French citizen flew back to her beloved France to be embraced Friday as an icon by the country that raised her

A hero’s welcome — led by President Nicolas Sarkozy — greeted Betancourt from the moment she descended from the plane at the Villacoublay air base southwest of Paris. A dual French-Colombian citizen, Betancourt was campaigning for Colombia’s presidency when she was kidnapped in 2002.

Merely surviving an ordeal like that is something worth all the accolades she can get. The details of her captivity along with those of the other hostages will be interesting when they’re finally made public.

Maybe, just maybe, the left will realize what kind of animals those “revolutionaries” really are.

In the meantime, happy Fourth of July, Ms. Betancourt. Brings a whole new meaning to “Independence Day”, doesn’t it?