John Ridley, a novelist, screenwriter, and occasional talking head for MSNBC, raised questions this morning about the timing and circumstances of the US led rescue of hostages (including Americans) in Colombia yesterday. It was a masterful maneouvre involving subterfuge and deceit that resulted both in the freeing of hostages and the capture of rebels — or terrorists, using the vernacular of the White House. Ridley commented that he was intrigued by how artful a screenplay the whole event would make.
It seems that, according to Joe Lieberman, who travels with John McCain, sometimes standing beside him and correcting mistakes when he speaks on the fly, the Colombian authorities notified McCain of the mission as it was underway. Liberman says McCain was made privvy by those authorities to a number of the plan’s details while he was en route to their country. That was the circumstance that, along with the timing, raised Ridley’s suspicions because it was not a matter of security, since there were no shots fired and no one was in any danger.
So, he reasoned, why single out McCain as the sole US citizen, aside from White House operatives, to inform of the mission — particularly its details — when McCain is not a journalist, and is not the only candidate running for president. It would perhaps be understandable if authorities had feared McCain might arrive to a hailstorm of bullets and sniper fire, but that was apparently not the case. One would hope anyway that in such a circumstance, McCain would have the good sense and experience to know that he should turn his plane around.
This also is not the first incident in which there appeared to be some coordination between the White Hose and the McCain campaign. It raised more than a few eyebrows when President Bush spoke to the Israeli Knesset, and the first to tie the president’s ill-conceived remarks publicly to Barack Obama was John McCain. The president had not mentioned Obama by name, and only White House insiders traveling with the president first confirmed and then denied that Obama was even being referenced. But even more curious was the timing of McCain’s announcement that he had changed his mind to favor expanding off-shore drilling for oil just as President Bush was about to issue a call for Congress to do the same while even the Republican governor of, of all places — Florida! — was about to come on board as well.
The issue for debate is whether the tail is sometimes wagging the dog as the White House attempts to help McCain win the presidency while limiting direct Bush-McCain appearances as much as possible.
Because of what we know about this administration — its willingness to lie, to trample on civil liberties, to deplete American military resources and treasury in the pursuit of personal spite — I cannot help but believe that it is well within the realm of possibility. It is rather remarkable that American hostages can be freed with such a brilliant plan (and perhaps right on cue) even as Osama Bin Laden continues to hide out and make videos taunting the United States. Why not turn some of this amazing intelligence and technology on capturing him? Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised to see that very capture come about when McCain travels to Afghanistan.
