John McQuaid: US military contracting bears bitter fruit in Colombia

Colombia's stunning rescue of 15 hostages held by the Farc, including the US military contractors Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell, is great news. But amid the celebrations and debriefings, Americans would do well to reflect on the circumstances surrounding the three contractors' capture and five-year imprisonment in the first place. The men were employees of a tiny airborne surveillance programme operating out of the US Embassy in Bogota. Small teams of the well-paid former military officers flew two specially-outfitted small planes over the jungles of southern Colombia. They searched for drug labs, encampments and other evidence of guerrilla activity, shooting photos and videos and intercepting radio communications. Then, in the space of six weeks in 2003, the programme imploded. In February, one plane's... [read full story]