After being abducted and kept as a hostage for the past six years, Ingrid Betancourt and the other hostages were rescued by a brilliant manouevre by Colombian forces. The military operation was perfect and Betancourt compared this operation with the skill of the Israeli military.

In “The Australian” she is quoted as saying:-

“We have an amazing military. I think only the Israelis can possibly pull off something like this.”

Anyone who remembers Entebbe will appreciate her comment.

I particularly like the fact that John McCain who happened to be in that part of the world gave all credit to the Colombian military even though U.S officials admitted that they had helped the Colombians. McCain was modest about American involvement as were the U.S officials in Bogota.

The only dark cloud over this amazing operation is that Betancourt seems to be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome and that after six years she is identifying somewhat with FARC, the guerrilla mob who kidnapped her. It is possible that she is being diplomatic so that no other hostages suffer in the future.

Once again, I am impressed by French Prime Minister Sarkozy’s response to a situation. Since Betancourt is French he thanked the Colombian govt and military for rescuing her.

Finally, the most important point about the operation is that although the govt of Colombia was being pressured by “Reporters without Borders” to negotiate with the kidnappers, this was not done. The founder of this journalists’ organisation, Robert Menard, admitted “Our insistence on the need to negotiate with Farc, hoping they would release their best card, was a mistake”

Let that be a lesson to anyone who thinks that negotiating with terrorists is a good idea.