President George W. Bush calls Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to congratulate
and thank him for the rescue of 15 hostages, including three American employees
of Northrop Grumman, held in the jungles of Colombia for years by the Communist
terrorist group FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia).

In this image provided by the US Air Force former American  hostage
Keith Stansell, third from right, steps off the ramp of a C-17 Globemaster III
onto U.S. soil at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas July 2, 2008. 

It is worth noting here that FARC, a Communist terror organization, has received considerable support from "socialist" Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Sadly, Colombia has had to put up with this slimeball as a next-door neighbor for years as Colombia has tried to rid itself of drug cartels and governmental corruption.

Uribe, whom I have criticized in the past for not being bold enough, has obviously grown a pair sometime recently. Or, maybe the spectre of a Barack Obama American presidency has shaken Colombia into more aggressive action. I mean, it has to have occurred to the Colombian government that Obama will certainly be no help whatsoever in dealing with their terrorist-drug cartel problems.

Obama is on record as saying he would welcome Chavez in "talks without pre-condition", despite the midget dictator's continued aggression toward the United States and most of his free, democratically-elected neighbors.

Well . . . that has to be comforting to the folks who are fighting the same terror organizations that Chavez is bankrolling.

All of South America is thinking that the days of capitalist, democratic, freedom-advancing support from Washington could very likely be coming to a close. With only 6 1/2 months of the Bush administration left, the Colombian government decided to strike while the iron of American support of freedom was still hot.

Because, right now, anything after January 21, 2009 is a toss up.