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Author Topic: Colombia: President abuses Red Cross for hostage capture
blake 3:17
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Babbler # 10360

posted 17 July 2008 08:06 PM      Profile for blake 3:17     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Outside of other concerns the rescue of FARC hostages had a very ugly damaging tactic employed...

quote:

Uribe admits Red Cross emblem used in hostage rescue
1 day ago

BOGOTA (AFP) — Colombian President Alvaro Uribe acknowledged that his army used the Red Cross emblem in its bloodless July 2 rescue of 15 hostages, a move the humanitarian agency swiftly denounced as "abusive."

Uribe allowed Wednesday that one army official wore a vest with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) emblem but said that it was because the official was nervous about the operation and there were many leftist rebels on the scene.

So "the official took a piece of cloth out of his pocket with the initials CICR (ICRC) on it, and he put it on his vest; we are sorry that this has happened," Uribe said, suggesting there was no effort at deception.

CNN television reported that it had viewed unpublished photos and video of the rescue in which a military official is seen using the emblem of the international humanitarian organization, in what some said could be deemed a "war crime."

Uribe said he presented his apologies to the ICRC on Wednesday morning, but Red Cross outrage over the incident was immediate.

"The emblem of the Red Cross needs to be respected in all circumstances and cannot be used in an abusive manner," the ICRC said in a statement from Bogota.

In Geneva, ICRC spokeswoman Florian Westphal said: "The respect of the emblem is crucial so the ICRC can bring help to people affected by the conflicts in Colombia or elsewhere."

Full story.



From: Toronto | Registered: Sep 2005  |  IP: Logged
Sven
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posted 17 July 2008 09:44 PM      Profile for Sven     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Obviously, the Red Cross should not be abused...and its use here must be investigated. Practically, I doubt that the emblem had any affect on the success of the mission. If a Red Cross helicopter dropped in on a FARC camp, the FARC was not going to say, "Oh, the Red Cross is here. I guess we'll turn over the hostages to them." It's my understanding that the local FARC had been duped to believe that FARC brass had arranged to procure the services of a helicopter to move the hostages to another location. The hostages were released for that purpose, not [i]because[/b] it was a "Red Cross helicopter".
From: Eleutherophobics of the World...Unite!!!!! | Registered: Jul 2005  |  IP: Logged
Fidel
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posted 17 July 2008 10:05 PM      Profile for Fidel     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The west has used Red Cross cover for covert maneuvering before during the dirty war in SE Asia. So it's not too surprising.
From: Viva La Revolución | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged
Sven
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Babbler # 9972

posted 17 July 2008 10:33 PM      Profile for Sven     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Perhaps more pertinent to the ploy than the Red Cross emblem:

"So, what is the uniform of choice when fooling terrorists in Colombia?

Sure, there's plenty of talk of one intelligence team member, nervous about the mission, who wore a Red Cross symbol against orders. But other accounts confirm the use of something you can probably pick up at any mall: a Che Guevara T-shirt.

That's right, the same T-shirts you see Hollywood celebrities, starving pseudo-artists and confused hipster teens wearing around local coffee shops."


From: Eleutherophobics of the World...Unite!!!!! | Registered: Jul 2005  |  IP: Logged
Cueball
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posted 17 July 2008 10:54 PM      Profile for Cueball   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I guess next time they will just shoot the real Red Cross workers.
From: Out from under the bridge and out for a stroll | Registered: Dec 2003  |  IP: Logged

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