RCN, one of Colombia’s main news outlet, has tonight released a poll showing Álvaro Uribe’s approval rating now 91.42% up from 84.20% two weeks ago. 5.97% of Colombians have an unfavourable view of the Colombian President.
For the FARC, the game has changed. The gritty leftist insurgency, which has survived for decades in the jungles of this Andean country and provided military cover to the world’s most productive coca growers, fell prey to an elaborate ruse that Colombia’s defense minister, Juan Manuel Santos, likened to a Hollywood script.
Ms. Betancourt, who was reunited Thursday with her family, also said the raid seemed almost too fantastic to be true. It became real only when she saw Cesar, her captor, become a captive.
“Suddenly, I saw the commander who, during four years, had been at the head of our team, who so many times was so cruel and humiliated me,” she said. “And I saw him on the floor, naked with bound eyes.”
From the Messiah himself, it must have come chisled on tablets but I pulled it from the Obama website.
I want to take this opportunity to speak directly to those of you who oppose my decision to support the FISA compromise.
This was not an easy call for me. I know that the FISA bill that passed the House is far from perfect. I wouldn’t have drafted the legislation like this, and it does not resolve all of the concerns that we have about President Bush’s abuse of executive power. It grants retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that may have violated the law by cooperating with the Bush Administration’s program of warrantless wiretapping. This potentially weakens the deterrent effect of the law and removes an important tool for the American people to demand accountability for past abuses. That’s why I support striking Title II from the bill, and will work with Chris Dodd, Jeff Bingaman and others in an effort to remove this provision in the Senate.
But I also believe that the compromise bill is far better than the Protect America Act that I voted against last year. The exclusivity provision makes it clear to any President or telecommunications company that no law supersedes the authority of the FISA court. In a dangerous world, government must have the authority to collect the intelligence we need to protect the American people. But in a free society, that authority cannot be unlimited. As I’ve said many times, an independent monitor must watch the watchers to prevent abuses and to protect the civil liberties of the American people. This compromise law assures that the FISA court has that responsibility
There is these days a smug smile on my face as I watch Obama’s supporters twist in the wind as their beloved belies his true intentions, or lack thereof. I have long seen this man for what he is — an unscruplous narcissistic dupliticious politician devoid of any conviction but his own welfare. I am these days fonder of James Inhofe because at least he has convictions. And I despise James Inhofe, the Senator from Oklahoma and global warming denier.
There is no there there in Barack Obama. He will say whatever he thinks is best for him at the time. Thus he can go up to Boise and tell the good people of Idaho that there are lots of hunters in southern Illinois and that he has no intentions of taking their guns away and then waltz into San Francisco 45 days later to collect nearly a million dollars from three fundraisers and tell Gordon Getty that he intends to tighten Federal loopholes and ban the sale of certain types of weapons at gunshows. That does not qualify for backtracking with Barack because Obama thinks that there is nothing inconsistent in those two messages.
He’s had to backtrack on meeting with global sponsors of terrorism without preconditions. He’s backtracked on driver licenses for illegal aliens. Against them in Iowa, suddenly for them in California. Votes to fund a border fence but is now against building one when he gets to Texas. Against NAFTA so much that he would unilaterally (against International Law) rewrite the treaty in Ohio, now that the campaign is over well that was all said in the heat of battle. Jerusalem. It’s part of Israel. Now or forever. Oops. Sorry, my bag, that’s not quite US policy. In the process, he managed to anger both the Israeli lobby and the Palestinian lobby and the rest of the world including the US Department that had to remind the Senator of what official US policy actually is. That takes a special talent to piss off the world.
This week in the UK Independent, Dominic Lawson offers up more backtracking with Barack with English wit in an article entitled: Meet the new Obama, Master of the U-turn.
“I find comfort in the fact that the longer I’m in politics the less nourishing popularity becomes, that a striving for rank and fame seems to betray a poverty of ambition, and that I am answerable mainly to the steady gaze of my own conscience.”
Thus spake Barack Obama. These words appear at the conclusion of the chapter entitled “Politics” in Obama’s 2006 book The Audacity of Hope. They also sum up much of what we now know about Obama: a man of stunning articulacy, but also stunning self-regard.
Both characteristics have been indispensable in powering the first-term Illinois senator to the very brink of the presidency. Now, however, some of those who were most captivated by Obama’s perorations about his unflinching conscience are feeling distinctly queasy: in the brief weeks since forcing Hillary Clinton to concede, he has made them wonder what, actually, distinguishes his politics from those of the Clintons at their most ruthlessly pragmatic.
The Denver Group was formed in mid-June in response to information that Howard Dean and the DNC wanted to keep Senator Clinton’s name off the ballot in Denver in an attempt at fostering the appearance of party unity at the convention.
Through the use of mass media the Group intends to make it clear to Howard Dean and the DNC that the convention must be an open convention and must function that way, and to that end Senator Clinton’s name must be on the ballot. Her name must be put in nomination and there must be a roll call vote allowing the delegates Senator Clinton has earned and who represent more than 18 million Democratic voters, to cast their votes. The representation of those 18 million Democratic voters is the only acceptable means for conducting the convention regardless of outcome, and the only acceptable means that is in accordance with the democratic process.
‘César’ on the left was the FARC’s jailkeeper. He ran the detention camps that kept the most important of the FARC’s victims deep in the jungles of the Guaviare. His real name is Gerardo Aguilar Ramírez. The man on the right is Alexander Farfán, alias ‘Gafas’. These are the two guerrillas captured during the raid that freed Ingrid Betancourt and the 14 other hostages.
We do not have a death penalty in Colombia. They will instead receive forty years in prison. It’s time to re-open Gorgona and place them there amidst the snakes and sharks. Gorgona is a Colombian island in the Pacific Ocean situated about 50 km off the Colombian Pacific coast. It formerly housed a prison. The island is overrun with poisonous snakes and surrounded by shark infested waters.
They should be charged with crimes against humanity. I have no sympathy for them. Justice will be served.
Senator Barack Obama said Thursday that he might “refine” his plans for a phased withdrawal from Iraq after meeting with military commanders there later this summer. Here’s what he said:
Mr. Obama said at his news conference that he planned a “thorough assessment” of his Iraq policy when he visits the country later this summer. “I’ve always said that the pace of withdrawal would be dictated by the safety and security of our troops and the need to maintain stability,” he said. “That assessment has not changed. And when I go to Iraq and have a chance to talk to some of the commanders on the ground, I’m sure I’ll have more information and will continue to refine my policies.”
These comments, of course, set off the Obama Fan Base into a tizzy. What can he mean? And, of course, there were broad smiles all around on the GOP side for Obama had dug himself a hole of his own making. McCain is scoring points at Obama’s expense as the situation in Iraq turns the corner into a realm of more stability and a sense of normalcy pervades over Baghdad. So Obama attempts to stay in the conversation and sound well relevant or even competent and then comes off as neither.
It’s another edition of backtracking with Barack:
We’re going to try this again,” Mr. Obama said. “Apparently, I wasn’t clear enough this morning on my position with respect to the war in Iraq.”
Apart from the fact that you opposed the war in March 2002, and this is now July 2008, no you haven’t been clear. And it’s catching up with you. The full story from the New York Times.
Below the fold the backtracking with Barack transcript: (more…)
Íngrid Betancourt is back among us and with her family. In typical Íngrid fashion, it is clear she will resume her public career and that career will not be limited to Colombia. In truth, Íngrid is now just not a Colombian but a powerful voice of humanity against the scourge of kidnapping. Kidnapping is such a horrible thing and in Colombia we have endured this for forty years. Íngrid was held 2,319 days and she was lucky, she came back alive. My friend Eduardo Garcés and his father Jorge Garcés were not so lucky. Kidnapped in 1992, the Army was never able to find them. They died somewhere in the Putumayo or in Caquetá. According to a captured FARC guerrilla, Eduardo was killed trying to escape. His father died of a tropical disease in some forgotten cave in the Andes within two years of his kidnapping. Or I think of Benjamin Barney, 88 at the time of his death, shot in the back of head on his cattle ranch in Florida, Valle. He had refused to pay a FARC tax.
For Colombia, this is a singular moment, one that we will enjoy as part now of our glorious history. Perhaps the Israeli raid on Entebbe in Uganda in 1976 was more dramatic and certainly freed more people though three hostages were killed in that operation but for us this raid is simply one of which we are in total awe. Colombia puede. This is, in truth, the greatest accomplishment of Álvaro Uribe, not the raid, but rather he has given us back our confidence and lifted our pride. That there is a new Colombia rising, that is Álvaro Uribe’s doing. Colombia is on the move, thanks to Uribe.
While this was a Colombian-conceived, Colombian-planned and Colombian-executed operation, we cannot but fail to thank the United States, the French, the Spanish and the Israelis. From technical assistance to needed hardware and technology, these countries have stood with us and we are extremely grateful.
Here is the Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 edition of interesting reads and events from around the world.
Zimbabwe Opposition Rejects Talks
Zimbabwe’s opposition leader on Wednesday rejected a call from the African Union to begin talks with President Robert Mugabe, citing the continuing violence orchestrated by the government. The full story from the New York Times. Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports on why the African Union is not exactly moving quickly on the crisis in Zimbabwe.
Thailand’s Political Crisis
The Asia Sentinel updates the latest on the crisis in Thailand that threatens to topple the government of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej.
Mongolia’s Elections
The former communist Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) has won the national elections, the General Election Committee said on Thursday as it dismissed allegations of vote rigging. The MPRP won 47 of the 76 seats in parliament, while its main rival the Democratic Party won 26 seats, spokesman Purevdorjiin Naranbat said. A full report from Straits Times. The riots, so far, have killed five in Ulan Bator.
Optimism in Iraq
There is an unexpected air of normalcy prevailing in Baghdad these days, with consumption flourishing and confidence in the government growing. Iraq beat China in a qualifying match for the 2010 World Cup. Violence is down. The progress is astonishing, but can it last? Der Spiegel provides the coverage.
Europe Worries About Stagflation
As rising energy and food prices continue to fuel inflation, the economies in industrialized countries are beginning to stagnate. The mix, known as stagflation, presents politicians and central bankers with virtually insurmountable problems. Der Spiegel has the full report.
