Andy McCarthy, who prosecuted the perpetrators of the first World Trade Center attack, asks, So … Should Colombia Give the Hostages Back to the Terrorists?
The International Committee of the Red Cross is in a snit over Colombia’s use of its emblem during the brilliant rescue operation that freed Ingrid Betancourt and other hostages from the FARC terrorist group.
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The ICRC doesn’t have much to say when, for example, Palestinian terrorists use its resources as cover to transport terrorists and explosives (see this 2004 WND report from Michelle Malkin). Why squawk about this one?
Taranto makes exactly the right point:
Maybe we’re dense, but it seems to us that rescuing civilian hostages from a terrorist group is a higher humanitarian priority than preventing unauthorized use of a trademark. The way the Red Cross interprets them, the Geneva Conventions seem almost quaint.
As I mentioned in this afternoon’s podcast, the hostage rescue mission was indeed carried peacefully and its purpose, which was met, was the rescue of prisoners which were held by an organization that had tortured those prisoners for years. It was indeed a humanitarian mission, and not a shot was fired. If the Colombian military wanted to kill the FARC members they could have.
As you can see in the newly-released videos of the hostage rescue, the Red Cross insignia was one of many used in order to make the helicopter look like the helicopters used by any of the many NGOs that routinely deal with the FARC.
Think about it: NGOs dealing with the FARC, a criminal and terrorist organization, use the Red Cross emblem. Why doesn’t the ICRC complain about that, too?
