July 8 2008  
 
The "perfect rescue" of Ingrid Betancourt is starting to show its imperfections which paradoxically could make it more credible. To have the ex FARC hostage in the hands of the Uribe government and the Colombian military was in itself a complete success. However, it was just too tempting not to make the most of this victory. US advisers are real experts at these set ups such as the impeccable rescue in Iraq of the soldier Jessica Lynch which, once it was revealed as a complete farce, turned into a military and media disgrace.
 
Jessica's "adventure" lasted several months which were enough to make a movie. Ingrid's appears to have come to a not too happy end and very quickly. The playwright's pieces of the Colombian military's chessboard just won't fall into place: completely naive guerillas to put it mildly, and no one can now explain how they kept an armed struggle going for 40 years; the official military forces being as merciful as angels so that they spared the lives of 60 guerillas on the ground who watched stupefied and the helicopters flew away; two commanders who got into the aircraft, laid down their arms so as not to offend the peace missionaries and agree to sit down so that they could be overpowered. And so on…….
 
A spokesman for the US State Department rushed to inform us that the operation was supported by the US and subsequently denied it. An Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, reported that Tel Aviv trained the commandoes. Washington then came out and stated that no merit should be taken away from the Colombian military, but at the same time it did lend support in Bogotá:
 
"US Southcom is in charge of military relations with countries from Latin America and the Caribbean and has intervened in the Colombian armed conflict. From February 3rd 2008 to July 2nd it carried out 17,000 hours of surveillance flights during 54 operations on Colombian territory. It gives US$50 million per year for direct and indirect rescue operations and has planned six crisis scenarios in which 300 Department of Defense soldiers and interagency personnel intervened."
 
Now, add to this the trifling sum of US$4 billion in military assistance since 2000 when Plan Colombia began. Such an investment could not be made without its media rewards and even more so as Radio Suisse Romande (Swiss National Radio) informed us from Geneva that, instead of a "rescue", it was a negotiated deal which cost US$20 million.
 
It's certain that in war the first casualty is the truth. This casualty has been suffering for 40 years in Colombia. But this does not mean that scenes recorded substituting reality should not be carefully made and show some respect shown for the intelligence of the audience. The perfect operation in a theater of war is just not credible. It's always recommendable that some small cracks are left in here and there so that the "theater" looks real. This makes the unlikely look likely.
 
If this is not the case the Colombian "check"· operation could end up "mating" itself when the truth comes out. It will then transform a political triumph into a military and media disgrace. Just go and ask Private Jessica Lynch.