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July 03, 2008
Hostage Rescue from Columbia ~ 3 U.S. Defense Department Contract Workers and Others
Colombia rescues Betancourt, 3 U.S. hostages
The freed Americans are former Defense Department contract workers Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell and Thomas Howes.
http://www.northropgrumman.com/
and Ingrid Betancourt and the others.
U.S. military contractor Keith Stansell
BOGOTA, July 2 (Reuters) - Colombia said on Wednesday it rescued three Americans and French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt from leftist guerrillas who had held them for years in secret jungle camps.
And this from our local newspaper:
Up to 15 hostages held by FARC terrorists for more than 5 years have been released in Colombia.
One of them is a local, a U.S. military contractor Keith Stansell, whose family lives in the Sarasota-Bradenton area was among the 15 hostages held for 5 years.
Stansell and two colleagues from Northrop Grumman Corp. had been the longest-held U.S. hostages in the world.
Stansell, 44, Marc Gonsalves and Thomas Howes were captured after their plane crashed and held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by the Spanish acronym FARC.
Their rescue, along with 11 Colombian police and soldiers and former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, dealt the most serious blow ever to the 44-year-old Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which viewed the Americans among their most valuage bargaining chips.
Stansell, captured in 2003 while flying anti-drug operations for an American company, was turned over immediately to U.S. officials in Colombia and reported heading to the United States soon, according to a statement from his Los Angeles-based employer.
The rescure:
Betancourt, who was seized while campaigning for president six years ago, called her surprise rescue “absolutely impeccable” and said she and 14 other hostages had no idea they were being rescued until they were airborne in disguised military helicopters.
“They got us out grandly,” Betancourt told Colombian army radio.
Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said military intelligence agents infiltrated the guerrilla ranks and led the local commander in charge of the hostages, alias Cesar, to believe they were going to take them by helicopter to Alfonso Cano, the guerrillas’ supreme leader.
The hostages, who had been divided in three groups, were taken to a rallying point where two helicopters piloted by Colombian military agents were waiting. The helicopters took off with the hostages, Cesar and one other rebel, and those two “were neutralized” during the flight, Santos said.
Betancourt said her hands and feet were bound on the way to the helicopters, and that only when the choppers had taken off did military crewmembers reveal their identity.
The rest of the rebel captors had dropped off the hostages and retreated into the jungle.
Stansell’s family had not heard from him since he was taken hostage but had seen a few “proof-of-life” videos, one taken by a journalist a few years ago. Every week they sent letters and called a Colombian radio station to leave messages that they believed reached Stansell in captivity.
“We just sent him a letter last week,” Coady said.
Coady and her children moved to Sarasota about three years ago to be closer to Stansell’s parents.
And there is this:
McCain had advance knowledge of Colombian raid
ON BOARD THE MCCAIN CAMPAIGN PLANE, En route to Mexico City (CNN) — After a scheduled meeting between John McCain and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Tuesday, the presumptive Republican nominee was briefed on the upcoming hostage rescue raid carried out Wednesday.
As he left Colombia Wednesday afternoon, McCain learned that raid had been successfully completed, and congratulated Uribe by phone.
Senators Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham, both traveling with McCain, were also briefed. Lieberman said McCain's advance knowledge of the raid signals a vote of confidence by foreign leaders.
UPDATE: John McCain released a statement on the operation later Wednesday afternoon.
“Today, I spoke by phone to President Uribe. He told me some of the details of the dramatic rescue of the people who were held hostage. Three Americans are now free and Ingrid Betancourt is now in good condition. I’m pleased with the success of this very high-risk operation. Sometimes in the past, the FARC has killed the hostages rather than let them be rescued.
“So I congratulate President Uribe, the military and the nation of Colombia. It is great news. Now we must renew our efforts to free all of the other innocent people held hostage. With regard to the three Americans and Ingrid Betancourt — they had been held many years, as many as six years.
“Last night, President Uribe and the defense minister did brief us that the operation was going to take place today.”
Wild Thing's comment........
Betancourt said that when she saw the men to whom they were being transferred, they were wearing Che t-shirts, like FARC members. When she got on the helicopter, she saw the man who had been the commander of the camp on the floor of the helicopter, bound, and with his eyes covered. That's when she realized something was up, and after they took off, the men explained that they were being rescued. She said they thought they were going to bring the helicopter down because they were jumping up and down and hugging each other.
The story also said that the US govt. didn't have any part in the operation, though Uribe's govt. informed the US about it a few days ago. Uribe is really kicking butt and taking names of these rebels lately! Good for him.
I heard on CNN there are still something like up to 40 were also being held. Then on the radio they said there may be some 700 hostages. Weird how the news can't get it straight.
I am just glad these people are free and can come home!
Posted by Wild Thing at July 3, 2008 02:55 AM
Comments
FARC for Obama and Chavez?
Posted by: darthcrUSAderworldtour07 at July 3, 2008 05:31 AM
This was an amazing military feat. Kudos to the Columbian armed forces and particularly their intel agent.
Any American who uses illegal drugs supports FARC, a Marxist-narco terrorist organization.
Posted by: TomR at July 3, 2008 09:29 AM
So much for negotiating a 'release', the Columbians did it the way it should be done. Go in and take them back.
And McCain was there when it happened, Good.
And where was Obama ... learning the new National anthem?
Posted by: Mark at July 3, 2008 11:00 AM
McCain wasn't there--he just stood up to try and score some political points with the feeble jingoists.
Say what you will, but the reason this fantastic rescue was successful was because the Bush admin. had nothing to do with it . . . they are reverse-Midas types who turn everything they touch to shite.
Ans say what you will about Obama, but at least he didn't use weapons of mass destruction on innocent Vietnamese women and children...
Posted by: CableSplice858 at July 3, 2008 01:24 PM
Think about this, I don't like McCain but what if Colombian President Alvaro Uribe had confided in anyone but the McCain entourage, say a Reid -Pelosi or Murtha, even an Obama. Would that trust have been betrayed to the Communist media and those hostages killed? I think so, it's the nature of our communist loving lefties to tip off our enemies.
Posted by: Jack at July 3, 2008 01:29 PM
Darth, all three should be stopped asap.
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 3, 2008 02:53 PM
It's lucky this operation was carried out by Columbian forces and not by Americans. John Murtha, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid would have been outraged that both FISA and FARC weren't given proper notification of what was going on. Their constitutional rights would have been violated.........
Kudos to the Columbian forces that pulled this off.
Posted by: Les at July 3, 2008 06:32 PM
Explain this CableSplice858 :
In Vietnam specifically, the Communist forces regularly perpetrated atrocities on Americans as well as the Vietnamese civilian population. A few examples:
In battles at Ia Drang (23 October to 20 November 1965), NVA troops slaughtered U.S. wounded. Most bodies recovered were shot in the head or back. At other locations, wounded American soldiers were tied to trees, tortured, and then murdered.
On 6 December 1967, Viet Cong massacred 252 civilians in a vengeance attack on Dak Son, an anti-communist Montagnard village.
During the 1968 Tet offensive, the North Vietnamese massacred 5,800 civilians at Hue.
Terrorism was an integral part of Communist strategy in Vietnam; terrorist attacks in Saigon regularly killed innocent women and children.
Khmer Rouge (Cambodian Communists) were particularly brutal; as guerrillas they slaughtered whole villages -- after gaining power estimates of dead from their actions run into millions.
Treatment of prisoners in Communist camps included routine brutality along with torture and psychological abuse.
From 1957 to 1973, the Viet Cong assassinated 36,725 South Vietnamese and abducted another 58,499. The VC death squads focused on leaders at the village level and on anyone who improved the lives of the peasants such as medical personnel, social workers, civil engineers, and schoolteachers. For the Communist forces, atrocities were a matter of policy and were not hidden or punished.
Despite continuous commission of such atrocities and many more small scale sadistic acts designed to terrorize U.S. troops and punish cooperating Vietnamese, many people like you cling to the belief that U.S. troops were barbaric while the Communist forces were noble freedom fighters. This is partially a media-created paradigm, based on over-reporting of U.S. or South Vietnamese faults while under-reporting the others. It is also based on endless repeating of a few true stories of U.S. transgressions along with the creation of myths about other events that did not happen or were wildly exaggerated, like those of the Winter Soldiers and the left's hero John Kerry.
During the period 1 January 1965 to 31 August 1973, there were 241 cases which involved allegations of war crimes by United States Army troops (excluding My Lai). One hundred and sixty of these cases, upon investigation, were determined to be unsubstantiated. Substantiated allegations of war crimes violations committed in Vietnam by U.S. personnel were prosecuted.
From January 1965 through August 1973, 36 cases involving war crimes allegations against Army personnel were tried by court-martial. Between 1965 and 1973, 201 U.S. soldiers and 77 Marines were convicted of serious crimes against the Vietnamese. All in all, this is a very small number given the size of the force and length of time involved. While critics say the number is small because crimes were not prosecuted, the truth is that American soldiers in Vietnam for the most part behaved well.
About the action at My Lai, "Initial investigations of the My Lai incident were undertaken by the 11th Light Infantry Brigade's Commanding Officer, Colonel Oran Henderson, under orders from Americal Division Assistant Commanding Officer, Brigadier General Young. Henderson interviewed several soldiers involved in the incident, then issued a written report in late April claiming that approximately 22 civilians were inadvertently killed during the military operation in My Lai. The army at this time was still describing the event as a military victory resulting in the deaths of 128 enemies." After reports of atrocities were filed by military witnesses, an informal investigation amounted to a cover-up, finding that a small number of civilian deaths had occurred, but that they had been unavoidable.
The investigating officer stated, "The allegation that US Forces shot and killed 450-500 civilians is obviously a Viet Cong propaganda move to discredit the United States in the eyes of the Vietnamese people." Nothing further was done until after 2 April 1969, when a soldier-witness, Ron Ridenhour, mailed a letter detailing the My Lai Massacre to thirty prominent people in Washington, D.C. -- including President Nixon, the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Senators and Congressmen. The media latched onto the story and a public firestorm began as the U.S. was subjected to worldwide criticism. On 24 November 1969, the Secretary of the Army ordered an independent inquiry into the massacre that eventually brought all the facts to light. A later investigation by the U.S. Army arrived at a lower figure of 347 deaths, the official U.S. estimate. Even though the cover up was attempted they were brought before a judgement of their peers and found guilty.
My question CableSplice858 is this how many of those Communist butchers were brought to justice?
NONE!!!
Through the efforts of people like yourself and Communist apologists like Noam Chomsky there have been none because you fail to look at both combatants equally and chose to blame the United States for your shortcomings while giving the butchers of communism a free pass. Obama is unqualified to lead himself to the latrine.
Posted by: Jack at July 3, 2008 08:24 PM
Well looky here, cable splice, when you grow up, Sparky, then come back and you can talk to us. For now, you haven't a freakin clue of what you are talking about.
Jack just explained to you what it was like in country, and Obama tells fairy tales but this is the real stuff the way it happened, Not the Hanoi John Kerry story or Weasie clark or the Dick Dirtbin story. the stories they tell begin 'once upon a time'...when you come here our stories begin with...'This aint no shit' and you, you punk faced leftist dirtbag you don't know what the hell you are talking about in the first place.
But never mind much of this is way over your head. A Communist obama supporter, for sure. It was Kennedy who got us into the Vietnam war and another democrat who quit and run away from us and the War, LBJ, but just like all of the democrats they quit have way through a tough job and try to blame someone else for their failures, and that is what they are, all failures.
You worthless piece of crap your not even worth the time I am taking to tell you this.
Posted by: Mark at July 3, 2008 10:20 PM
Tom, yes and I love how non of it was leaked like the stupid NY Times or something. They really pulled off something that was huge.
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 3, 2008 11:41 PM
Mark, LOL good one.
"And where was Obama ... learning the new National anthem?"
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 3, 2008 11:43 PM
CableSplice858, you know what, you slpped through somehow and I have no idea how you did it. You are not on my approved comment list so it had to be a glitch in my site.
So I will just refer to what Jack and Mark have said to you.
Ah heck I will add this from me to you CableSplice858........
Listen freak, people like you do not deserve to breath the air of freedom my heroes our Veterans and our troops today have fought for.
Of all the blogs you could go to to bash anything about the Vietnam war and how it was fought by Americans you could not have picked a more passionate supporter of the Nam war and our military in that war......meaning YOU PICKED THE WRONG BLOG BIG TIME TO SAY WHAT YOU DID ABOUT THE VIETNAM WAR! BIG mistake even thinking you could comment here and how the hell your comment got approved maybe it was my server or maybe you have more geekness then brains.
rule one: NO bashing of our Vietnam Vets and the Vietnam war
rule two: No bashing of our troops
rule three: repeat rules one and two into infinity
YOUR Obama has weapons of mass destruction they are his racism and he has already sent this country back a good 40 years at least. And I will throw into that his piece of shit white hating wife as well.
You can keep your Obama to yourself, he will never get good press at this blog, no way.
That you even exist in a city or town where Vietnam Vets live is an abomination!!
Now go fuck yourself!
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 4, 2008 12:02 AM
Jack I agree, if the ones you mentioned had been told what McCain had there would have been a leak for sure.
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 4, 2008 12:05 AM
Les, yes, Murtha and Reid etc. would have been making a phone call probably to the NY Times or something.
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 4, 2008 12:10 AM
CCCP 858 ... You forgot about "Napalm sticks to kids, air pirates and war criminals" you commie SOB! How's Hanoi Jane and your Huffington Post COMMIES doing dirtbag? Can I waterboard you? PLEASE?? Saddam Hussein would have dipped your yellow coat *ss in acid, eh? HAPPY 232nd BIRTHDAY UNCLE SAM & LADY LIBERTY!
Posted by: darthcrUSAderworldtour07 at July 4, 2008 01:07 AM
Hey Darth, doesn't commie poster 'CCCP Splice 858'
rememeber that Saddam Hussein (same last name as Obama's middle name)used mustard gas on the Iraqi Kurds in 1989? WMD then, eh? I saw these horrific films and photos at our intel briefs. CNN wouldn't show them at all, eh? When you're done waterboarding him, her, it... it's my turn!
Posted by: drstrangeloveb52isok at July 4, 2008 01:23 AM
CableSplice858, your hatred of John McCain, George Bush, and the military in Vietnam says more about you than what you are complaining about. Seek professional help. You need it.
Instead of worrying about innocent Vietnamese women and children you might want to consider what is happening to innocent people in this country.
A 2005 Report Shows…
*While Blacks make up 12% of the US population, they commit approximately 50% of all rapes, attempted rapes, and sexual assaults in the United States.
*Nearly 100% of all Black rape victims are raped by a Black.
*Over one third of all White rape victims are raped by a Black. Over half of all White rape victims are raped by a non-White in general.
*Another category dominated by Blacks is “Robbery with Injury.” Blacks committed a full two thirds of all robberies with an injury in cases where the race of the offender is known.
*Of the country's 14,860 homicide victims in 2005, 7,125 were black, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report. And of the 3,289 cases that year in which a single black was killed by a single assailant, the FBI says, 91% of the killers were black.
*The number of blacks killed in 2005 in this one homicide category alone approaches the total of all the blacks lynched in this country from 1882 to 1968, according to records maintained by Tuskegee University.
Why is the first affirmative action presidential candidate silent on this "African-American" ethnic weapon of criminal destruction? What has Barack Hussein Obama ever said or done to show outrage at this criminal behavior? What would he do as President to stop the disproportionate killings, rapes, and injuries of innocent Americans by "African-Americans"? The answer to both is NOTHING!
So, CableSplice858, get your head out of your ass and worry about today's problems in America and who just stands by and does nothing about it. No Outrage. No Hope. No Change. No, he can't.
Posted by: Les at July 4, 2008 01:53 AM
Well I do believe part of the reason this was a successful operation is the NYT/The Demorat politicians that put their career ahead of country, and the MSM as a whole were left out of the loop.
This is amazing liberal's you should pay attention:
Keep Your MOUTH SHUT ABOUT OPERATIONS AND THINGS MIGHT WORK OUT WELL!
I do believe GWB was kept in the dark too, but I would be willing to bet OBAMA was more clueless than Bush. IF McCain knew anything he scored a point for STFU.
I am glad these folks are home, but what I have a problem with is 5 years, WHY? it's Columbia, it's a handful of idiots in a forest...
The reason we are losing respect around the world is not Iraq, it's not Afghanistan... It's shit like this. Israel goes to war over it's citizens, we negotiate for five six years. We need to eliminate the offenders in a very public and brutal way the first time and it will save lives down the road.
Posted by: Robert at July 4, 2008 02:17 AM
drstrangeloveb52isok, yes the media won't show the Saddam stuff they hardly gave information on him before the war.
Most of what I learned about Saddam was online from a lot of military sites.
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 4, 2008 05:23 AM
Thanks Darth, Les and Robert and also Jack and Mark and Tom..... so much!
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 4, 2008 05:25 AM
Robert I agree, it took way too long to get them back. Something is wrong for sure for that to happen.
Thank God though it finally happened. whew I hope and pray they will be ok now that they are back.
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 4, 2008 05:28 AM
