Firsthand Accounts from Colombia
By Steve Harrigan
Steve Harrigan’s bio
I wanted to go to Colombia to see their army fight FARC terrorists. I thought it would be good video, jungle, and timely, since three FARC leaders were dead, Congress was debating aid to Colombia, and McCain was visiting.
I had a Colombian friend ask the Defense Ministry if I could go out with their troops. The answer I got was that it was quiet now, but that next week would be “muy muy interesante.”
I looked at those three words, “muy muy interasante.” I forwarded the note to the bureau chief. This could be enough to sell a trip to NY. But if it turned out to be nothing, you could look bad. It costs money to move crews and gear around.
“Muy muy interesante,” I said aloud.
The plan was to fly to Bogota, then a military helicopter south.
I have not been in a chopper for a while. This one looked familiar - so did the digi camo uniforms … all American made.
The Colombian side gunner yelled at me to fasten my belt. Helicopter guys often yell, so no offense was taken. It was a simple hook belt, not a triple belt like in a Black Hawk, plus it was daylight and no one was shooting.
I know I should make a list of travel gear. The item I forgot this time was earplugs. Had to ride with both fingers jammed in ears. That will make you remember your earplugs.
The gunner swung open the door so the cameraman Yo could take pictures of the jungle. The gust of air cooled off my wet back. We banked over a river and I grabbed the roof to hold on. There was just a belt between me and the river. The gunner and I smiled at each other. And I was the kid who was scared of The Flying Bobs.
Lunch with colonels. An hour of straining to understand Spanish. The meat was thin, the flip side covered with fat. I tried to separate the fat from the meat but could not with a butter knife. Would have been polite to eat it but I left it.
Boarding second helicopter looked at blackberry. Someone calling. Hostages freed. A moment of uncertainty. Gear already on helicopter, which was leaving. Did a phone report then flew, fingers again in ears.
Said we had to go where freed hostages were. Landed near where they were freed. But they had already left, back to capital.
Another helicopter, then fixed wing back to capital. Landed 7.50 pm. Did phoner from plane. I was the annoying guy.
Needed to find a room with a balcony. Needed to face East in order to get a signal to do a live shot. It was midnight. Ordered chicken lasagna.
Loaded gear into two tiny taxis. Tipped doorman 20 for lugging cases. Finance man Giglio will never believe this. Note to self: bring tens.
Set up two laptops on roof. Tried to follow step by step instructions. Gear is small, portable, fragile and fickle. No signal. Looked at watch. Amor stayed up late. Plus I had been plying him with Hess King Cones.
“Check the cable to the camera. Make sure it’s snug.”
Boom, picture. Diagnosis from far away, late at night.
Come back to roof four hours later. Used umbrellas to protect laptops from heat. The guys who design this stuff must be office guys.
When the story hits, FOX News is there. With bureaus across the world, there isn’t any news that gets by FOX News. 
I am glad that Columbian hostage story has a happy heartwarming ending. FNC was the only place with complex pics and news updates throughout the night. That is why its the number one cable news network in the world
All this to say…………what?
Way to go Steve…I was wondering where you had been lately? Should have known lol
Fox News was the only news channel that I saw that reported the rescue as perhaps having included a settlement with FARC (i.e. paid ransom) instead just a brilliant special forces operation. At this point, we don’t know what happened. Most of the MSM just report this as being a brilliantly planned rescue. I have my doubts.
I just hope that McCain doesn’t try a publicity stunt by meeting with these men and saying he knows how they feel because he was a POW. I am sick of him always bringing that old subject up.
I have monitored the situation from news reports for the last 3 years and posted them at Blogs For Natalee to see if there was any chance that Natalee Holloway was taken by the FARC for political leverage over the U.S. Gov. to negotiate for release of FARC members held in custody inside the U.S.A. and Colombia.
We are very happy to see that the 3 Americans and Ingrid B. have been released but we know hundreds more are still held.
Continue to put the heat on the FARC and Hugo Chavez there Big supporter.
Good Job Mr. Urbie and all of Colombia.
Free the hostages. Free Colombia !
Just saw this on nbc…..Made sure they did’t mention Mccain… Might help him with his run for election…..Their savior might be re checked for how good he is, if they did that . the sorry good for nothing bias things.
I would bet a case of beer there were some Delta Force guys mixed in with the rescue. I noticed in Gen Huber’s press conference he spoke pretty good columbian spanish. Just like most of the SFOD guys.
Good Job.
As an American currently living in Colombia with a brother-in-law in the Colombian military it was great seeing this story unfold. Now the day after the event I can actually feel a sence of pride surging through the people here in the country. The Colombians really do believe they are seeing the end of more than 40 years of fear.
Great reporting as always Steve! Keep it up and be safe!
Sincerely,
Dana Trentacost Wayne, New Jersey
Great job as always Steve and great job FNC with covering the story! Keep up the good work Steve and FNC!
Sincerely,
Dana Trentacost Wayne, New Jersey
Brad, it seems that you didn’t watch any other channel then, I was trying to get some info from Fox and didn’t get much, changed the channel over to CNN and they had full coverage, even in the morning all the coverage was coming from CNN and on CNN.COM they had the live TV from Colombia in English and Spanish.
Great Work Steve and FNC with covering this story, keep up the good work!
Sincerely,
Dana Trentacost Wayne, New Jersey
danadan22222@yahoo.com
Keith Stansell is a friend of mine. Keith was living in my home town of Colquitt, GA, at the time he was captured. He was engaged to a local girl and had bought her a nice ring, right before his last trip. That trip was, in fact, supposed to be his last trip, as Keith intended to settle down in South Georgia and live the slow-paced, rural life.
I spoke with Keith right before his last departure, and, as I usually did, commented about how dangerous his work seemed. As usual, Keith didn’t make much of the danger. When the hostages’ plane was shot down and Keith was captured, our government gave Keith’s family little hope that they’d ever see him again.
I was pleasantly shocked when the news broke of the successful rescue mission. I’m looking forward to seeing Keith again.
The sad thing is that Ingrid Betancourt was warned, by the Colombian government, not to go into that area, because it was extremely dangerous. She went there, against that advice, which was correct, and she was captured. Had she used a little common sense, she would not have been a prisoner of the FARC. Everyone here in Colombia is thrilled with this wonderful rescue mission by the Colombian Armed Forces. The FARC and other guerrilla groups here in Colombia have very little popular support among the population and the support they do have, is fading, each day.
Hey………Harrigan. Haven’t read any of these Fox blogs since you stopped writing them….with the reubin sandwinch. Ah…Life is good once again. Not only are you inspiring….you gave me my appetite back. Is this Giglio the same Giglio that buys the expensive sunglasses? …you know…the notorious Frankie Guns? Isn’t he the one that gave you earplugs to start with? Maybe not. Surly Fox would never trust him with …finances. Maybe fives would be even better. You know…those Hess King Cones will get a guy every time…won’t they? What the heck is a Hess King Cone anyway, Harrigan? Must be reporter code for something really good though. Either you are the best correspondent Fox has going or you are one lucky Irishman….whichever way it is, this has been a great story to follow along with you, interesting, important and exciting. But even better, it was awesome to have you back blogging. Yours have always been the best…beat the heck of all those desk jockey reporters at Fox. Thanks…..Harrigan. It’s chicken Lasagna tonight in your honor. eaten with a new appreciation for freedom. Our food critic disguised as a war correspondent never gives us a bum tip. Please keep your seat belt fastened and thanks for two days of great news reporting and a real Harrigan blog to feast on.
Your long time fans……A&N
Brad, It’s Colombia, not Columbia. You must work for Fox News.
Dr. Harrigan,
I used to read your blogs when I was a young girl. My mother would not let me send feedback to you. But now I am grown and she can’t stop me. I just want to thank you for all those blogs you used to write from all over the world. You were the one that got me interested in that world outside of my own back yard. Thank you for that. I always thought you were a very brave man, but now that I am grown I know for sure what a very brave man you are. I hope you will keep blogging because we need people like you to tell us the truth about this world. And that sour grapes person is all wrong about CNN. They suck. I for one am very glad you left them and came over to Fox, the best News going, because they have honest and competitent reporters like you. I liked Mike Tobin and Greg Palkot too, but my mother never let me write to them either. But I think I will start now because I can, and because we all need to encourage the great reporters or soon we will just be stuck with the ones that want to brainwash us.
Thanks, Dr. Harrigan, for everything.
Neatie
“Comment by stephanie
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Brad, It’s Colombia, not Columbia. You must work for Fox News.”
actually Stephanie it’s Colombia not Columbia… you must watch MSNBC…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombia
I wholeheartedly agree with the person who said FoxNews had the best coverage of the Colombian hostage rescue. Its the only channel i watch for fair and balanced news updates. Anybody else who says otherwise, it just a left winger who is a part of the liberal smear machine. And the ratings dont lie, FoxNews consistantly is beating those other liberal networks by a wide margin.
I am a huge fan and avid viewer of the FoxNewsChanne also. I really admire their approach to news. Much better than the other major news channels. They cant even compare.
Thank you Stephanie! Colombia vs. Columbia drives me crazy (but I do watch FNC and listen to Rush).
Two comments:
1. Why the fixation with McCain? He hasn’t said a word re. this incident. On the other hand, Obama has said he will be visiting Colombia. (COLOMBIA, not Columbia!!)
2. Why do you think only Americans can do thing well. As I recall, the rescue of the Iranian hostages was done by American forces and it was a total fiasco.
re: 2. Why do you think only Americans can do thing well. As I recall, the rescue of the Iranian hostages was done by American forces and it was a total fiasco.
PLEASE, don’t pin that on the military for messing up that hostage rescue — that rescue was doomed to failure because Jimmy Carter micromanaged everything — there were only a few rescue helicopters allowed to leave the carrier flight deck, Carter would not send backups; when the air filters of the copters clogged because of the desert sand; there were not enuff copters left on the mission to proceed.
Modern Democrats can’t manage military campaigns, it started with JFK and the Bay of Pigs.
One of my poli sci profs worked for Dean Rusk in the JFK admin and he stated that NO ONE in the meetings b4 the Bay of Pigs had a map of the invasion….that’s one of the reasons why it failed. Jimmy just kept up JFK’s and LBJ’s list of screwups.
“Comment by Armando
July 4th, 2008 at 9:27 am ”
Armando,
I agree to an extent, however we have had more than our share of successful rescues… and only the one failure you mention… but please never fault us for trying to retrieve our men and women held on foreign soil, “never leave a man behind” words to live by, words to die by…
Congratulations to the Colombians… another small step in claiming your country back from the brink… we here in America are behind you Colombia!
So glad you finally got some civilized food, (CHICKEN lasagna). What a manly meal. They give you free helecoper rides, a good scoup and you can’t even eat the steak the officers serve you?
The guys who design the equipment might be office guys, but your a dweeb.
Jody you are tired of hearing McCains’ story and I am tired of people like Jane Fonda, John Kerry that don’t like what the USA stands for. Mabe Obama can turn America into what he wants. What we have now is better that what he will give. Thanks to the people who rescued those people. And thanks to the next President of the USA, John McCain for going to War for USA when ohter stayed home and gripped about the USA. God Bless America. Franklin D. Simmons
Acutally, I was thoroughly disapppointed at FNC’s lack of coverage for this major news story the other day. I had to switch to that dreaded CNN AC360 to get the coverage I wanted. CNN was on top of this international story, but not Fox News. This was one of the biggest news stories of the year and FNC blew it.
Nice going guys! Nice to see it was 100% Colombian SOF and not Dev Gru getting it done.
Doing OW-DV…… Bravo Zulu!!!!! SF and c u at Mc-D.
Steve,
Did you try Ajiaco while in Colombia? It is delicious!!!
I think you guys (FOX) were probably the first to report that a ransom of 20MM may have been paid. Way before Radio Suisse…. Well done. More info on that? French security analysts said that it is unlikely that 20 MM was paid, but that most likely money was used to infiltrate the FARC.
I can’t beleive they give you a piece of fatty meat… we have great meat…. Go to an “Asadero”. Preferably one outdoors….Ask for “Ternera a la Llanera”. Alternatively, go to mcdonalds…. can’t go wrong with a Big mac..
Good luck,
F
Wonderful rescue!! Finally Uribe has been the great leader Colombia has needed for a long time. During his tenure he has done more for Colombia than any prior leader, withstanding undeserved attackes. Before him, Colombian leaders were inept morons, who tried to appease the murdering thugs of the FARC. The U.S. government should stand in solidarity with Uribe, supporting his government as much as possible. The fact that Congress even debated sending aid to Colombia is absurd. Uribe’s success is a great help to the U.S. in its wars agains terrorists and drug cartels. Hooray for Uribe… Viva Colombia y las gloriosas fuerzas armadas Colombianas! Felicitaciones a todos! Viva la democracia… Abajo con los izquierdistas basuras, comunistas asesinos, terroristas sin causa…
what kind of laptops? sounds like you need a panasonic toughbook. i prefer the cf-29. always low on ram though so make sure you upgrade. what type of transmission system are you using? inmarsat, bgan, something else?
Congratulations Colombia! Congratulations Colombian people! With respect and love from my family of 50 people, Dr Rosa gershfeld.
Adam Housley has done a great job covering the stories in Venezuela and he made a trip to Colombia when Chavez and Correa were threatening Colombia– since he is covering the fires right now, someone on the blog posted you were covering Colombia–
thanks for coverage– My interest was personal– as I lived in Colombia in my younger years! Go Uribe!
I am elated to see Betancourt out of there as well as the others!!!
any pictures Steve Harrigan?
Two recent items worth the attention of those here following matters in Colombia:
Here’s one link:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121538827377131117.html?mod=todays_columnists
…do read it all the way to the end.
*next link next post*
LDG–
GREAT LINK– I love the video! jaque mate! I just want to hug the man, Uribe!!!! He did take some chances– and LOL to FARC et al losing ground!!!!!
Where is the other link?
re:
Comment by Susan–AZ
July 7th, 2008 at 11:26 am
“Where is the other link?”
Heck of a good question… Looks like it is Moderators-R-Us over on this thread as well.
any time you fine folks would get around to putting through my other comment from 7. July at ~6:45 am would be greatly appreciated.
Boy– we can’t go anywhere without having our links not posted— LDG posts great links and relevant to the subject on hand!
grrrrr!
presuming it got lost, here it is again:
http://www.miamiherald.com/421/story/594893.html
Good job Steve Harrigan. Its great is there any slide shoes Steve?
I am back in here looking for a second link! I haven’t found it– hmm? Now where to go look?
The moderators have sure become somewhat controlling!
So— what are you telling us? Just to post statements like, great article… Nothing more!
just a test post, don’t mind me.