ON BOARD THE MCCAIN CAMPAIGN PLANE, En route to Mexico City (CNN) - After a scheduled meeting between John McCain and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Tuesday, the presumptive Republican nominee was briefed on the upcoming hostage rescue raid carried out Wednesday.
As he left Colombia Wednesday afternoon, McCain learned that raid had been successfully completed, and congratulated Uribe by phone.
Senators Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham, both traveling with McCain, were also briefed. Lieberman said McCain's advance knowledge of the raid signals a vote of confidence by foreign leaders.
UPDATE: John McCain released a statement on the operation later Wednesday afternoon. (Full statement after the jump)
“Today, I spoke by phone to President Uribe. He told me some of the details of the dramatic rescue of the people who were held hostage. Three Americans are now free and Ingrid Betancourt is now in good condition. I’m pleased with the success of this very high-risk operation. Sometimes in the past, the FARC has killed the hostages rather than let them be rescued.
“So I congratulate President Uribe, the military and the nation of Colombia. It is great news. Now we must renew our efforts to free all of the other innocent people held hostage. With regard to the three Americans and Ingrid Betancourt - they had been held many years, as many as six years.
“Last night, President Uribe and the defense minister did brief us that the operation was going to take place today.”
From CNN Politics
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I'm sure Obama will visit Columbia soon. Just as soon as he figures out where it is.
Other article was closed, so I'll post here:
Let's see, Cindy admitted to her abuse of PRESCRIPTION (legal) drugs
Barack admitted to his use of ILLEGAL cocaine in his book
Cindy is the spouse of a candidate
Barack IS a candidate – oh, yeah, what Cindy did upsets me WAY MORE than what the skunk in a suit did
Sorry, Obamabots – you can't have it both ways.....!
PUMA PAC
But he does not know the price of gas.
OK here we go again!! I'm having flash backs:
when Iran released hostages THE DAY Reagan was elected- not hard to do when you've given the terrorist weapons in trade for thier lives before you were elected-remember Ollie North- "I do not recall." (over 100 times)
Then the Berlin Wall- Reagan didn't have a thing to do with it- that wall was comming down anyway, you can't keep families seperated; he just used it as a cheap oppurtinuity.
Anybody see the GOP pattern- taking credit for things that they had nothing to do with.
Just goes to show ya what other nations can do when Bush keeps his nose out of things.
Now McCan't is using this as a cheap oppurtunity. Imagine that!!!
Are we supposed to be surprised that the right-wing militarist ruler of Colombia is pro-Republican? This is a non-story.
Ok, but what does this have to do with high gas prices, the rising cost of food, and all of the other factors invovled in the reason majority of Americans are struggling?
That is what is so funny that they are trying to paint Obama as an elitist. With McCain being a long time Senator, a son of an Admiral and married to an heiress, I can see who fits the mold of an elitist. Obama seems like a real down to earth guy, someone you would like, someone with character. A genuine person. The country so needs that right now.
What really makes me sad about McCain is how much he is pandering now. I honestly don’t think he believes half of what he says anymore. Poor guy sold out and has lost sight of everything that made him worthy of being a good leader.
Bush told McCain of the raid in advance. How can you say that this means people trust him? This is pathetic....Old man will go down big time on November 4, 2008
Can someone tell me what Lieberman is to McCain besides his shadow? Why don't he go hang out with the loser Puma tards or something....sheesh.
What do Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman want? They follow McCain around like hungry puppies. If John really wants to be president, he has to ditch these two transparent groupies. No straight talk unless you connect with real people, not Washington hacks.
Liz T. in Tucson
A little false flag maybe?
What about freeing the innocents at Guat. Bay??
Can McCain go anywhere without Leiberman and Graham??
Gramm and liarman are in bed with the drug lords,lots of money on that table.
ok, a shady don't follow the rules gov trusts mcsame – how is this positive?
J.Li. from Connecticut has no idea what he is doing. In the name of winning a war against terrorism he has lost his true self. God bless him.
This is sooo going to back-fire on Lieberman. Just wait! Lierman is a loser. It's the blind leading the blind....or maybe a loser leading a loser.
NO DOUBT ,MCCAIN WAS GIVEN A BRIEF PLAN AND HOPE TO RESCUE THE THREE AMERICANS HOSTAGE HELD BY F.A.R.C [ REVOLUCIONARY FORCES]
Lieberman is McCain's hack. Lieberman will loose his seat in November.
One more proof that the 'war on terror' can be won with stealth tactics and intelligence.
Bring troops home from iraq now !
A raid that McCain knoew about...was it possibly staged?!
PUBLICITY STUNT!!! WON'T GET MCCAIN ANY VOTES.
(Lieberman said McCain's advance knowledge of the raid signals a vote of confidence by foreign leaders.)
This is the saddest attempt to link a story to this campaign. Joe, it does not show a vote of confidence it shows that John McCain is a presidential candidate who was in Columbia when this was set to go down, so they let you know.
Its a stretch, it really is a stretch.
Gotta love good ole Joe!
Had McCain stayed in the USA and the operation taken place, that would have be more creditable than he visiting the country. Nothing is hidding in such a visit when the rescue of American citizens are involved.
Well, well, well. Now if the MSM would report that McCain's backer's firm just pleaded guilty to funding Colombian terrorists....
What a fraud McCain is at best, and extremely corrupt at the worst.
Yeah, McCain's there to talk about free trade and how it will benefit Columbia while we are suffering from rising gas,food cost and jobs there have gone to foreign countries. When McCain was in Ohio he didn't mention free trade, just vote for him. Yeah, just vote for McCain he'll have you putting newspapers in the sole of your shoes to cover the holes that need repairing.