Re: [Marxism] Betancourt's halo [SIC] under spotlight

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Three male "US military contractors" proclaim the shocking but apparently
unchallengeable "fact" that Ingrid Betancourt, a former prisoner of Farc
rebels in Colombia, was "selfish" and "domineering" in captivity.

In their memoir, the three US military contractors claim to describe their
five-year ordeal in the jungles of Colombia. 

"US Military contractors" captured in Colombia dump on former civilian
prisoner Betancourt, and Adam accepts this as God's own ultimate expose of
Betancourt!  You ought to be deeply ashamed of yourself, Adam, but I assume
the factional commitments that lead you to view Betancourt as possessing a
"halo" -- actually, noone claims that Betancourt is an angel rather than a
human being -- that you are duty bound to remove By Any Means Necessary
immunize you against second thoughts.

They were "US Military contractors," your source explains, a fact that I
don't recall seeing in the NYT version that also gave complete credence to
their claims. Adam leaves out even the slimmest suggestion that their duties
include using their imprisonment to legitimize discrediting a liberal
opponent of the regime, who could still possibly become an opposition
candidate for president, though she has withdrawn her name as of now.
Perhaps a little character assassination can save Uribe the trouble of
countenancing a physical one.

No, this is the real dope!  We got her!

My conclusions: No wonder she thought they were CIA agents! Okay, maybe she
had the wrong agency but the concept is not fundamentally wrong. And she
thought the Colombian prisoners should be separated from the Americans to
avoid the taint of connection to the imperialists. Sounds reasonable to me.

Get a better grip on the class line, Adam. It is not just drawn between
Colombians who have more money and US plain working-stiffs, who happen to be
using their "labor power" to invade a country, their "wages" being paid by
the Pentagon to force a government on Colombia that denies their basic
rights.  

Perhaps you think the FARC will be the beneficiary of your shabbily
justified "expose" but it is really the US and its subject Colombian
government that gain. 
Fred Feldman



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