Next Small War

[SWJED]

Tom Regan of the Christian Science Monitor did his round-up of the news today on Colombia - FARC Rebels Still Undermine Peace Effort. His online column regularly covers a topical issue and links to all the recent news and background / reference material. I find it useful - check it out.

The killings last week of more than a dozen rural woodcutters in a rural region of Colombia mark the most recent move by the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) "to exploit the power vacuum left by the demobilization of 32,000 right-wing militiamen."...

But the Colombian military is not without its successes. Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports a military spokesman announced Monday evening the capture of a high-ranking rebel chief with the nom de guerre "King Kong." Carlos Ipia Dizu is the head of the 6th Company of the FARC and is best known for his kidnapping of three Germans in 2001. One of the men escaped and the other two were eventually released. BBC provides an overview of the conflict, including the US role in the region...

US and Colombian officials have often accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of aiding the FARC by not providing touger security along the border of the two countries. The Colombian army says the FARC has many bases just across the Venezuelan border which it uses as places of refugee when under heavy military attack...

[slapout9]

Crockett and Tubbs are back on the beat this Friday so everything will be OK.

On a more serious note I am afraid the success of the drug ops pushed them across the border. I suspect this happened because we finally were allowed to extradite drug dealers from Columbia instead of just collecting Intell on them. Don't think Hugo Chavez will let us do that. What a shame he should be the first one on the list.