The usual chauvanistic double standard

Hey Folks -

A lot is being made of the freeing of the "hostages" in Columbia, particularly in regard to Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans. They were held for six years or so in the jungle under "humiliating" conditions that one called "a waste of time."

Well, they are alive, and I haven't heard that they were tortured. All of the "hostages" were involved in the war against the FARC, their captors, which makes them prisoners of war rather than hostages.

Columbia is one of our Empire's client states, our foothold/watchdog in South America - we pay off its leaders with dollars "for the war on drugs"; they provide a staging area for our covert South American actions and keep their people down to better serve our financial interests. So, it is to be expected that great celebration would be made here following this incident. Ahh, the lefties are on the run; and Grandpa Munster-McCain was even there to see it go down!! On to Venezuela!

Well, I'm glad the aristocratic Ms. Betancourt and the mercenary Americans are alive and in decent health, but I'm not moved by their whining complaints. Their captors lived in the same jungle under the same difficult conditions BECAUSE of the efforts of their captives and their fellow-travelers. None were beaten, tortured, or executed. The food was not gormet quality or always "balanced," but it looks as though they ate the same thing their captors had to eat, and what medicines were available were provided the prisoners.

Looking at how our own hostages/enemy-combatants/prisoners-of-war have fared over the last six years, it looks like Betancourt & Co. got off easy.

- Uke Man