"Colombia's military destroyed a U.S. government helicopter to keep it from falling into the hands of leftist rebels who forced the aircraft down during an anti-drug mission last week, U.S. officials said. Five Colombian police officers died while trying to protect the downed aircraft, and three Colombian army soldiers were wounded. The helicopter belonged to the U.S. State Department but didn't have Americans on board when it took ground fire from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, last Friday. The policemen 'were killed while securing the perimeter to rescue the crew of the downed helicopter,' a U.S. Embassy official said in Bogotá. The helicopter's crew, including a Peruvian pilot working for Dyn-Corp., a Reston, Virginia, company contracted by the U.S. government as part of the anti-drug-war effort, was evacuated unharmed. Although no U.S. citizens participated directly in the fighting, some were close to the action, a Colombian official said."

Dyn-Corp and other similar companies "contracted by the U.S. government," are often fronts for CIA and Special Forces operations in areas where Washington says it has no troops involved in combat operations.

Readers of the well-crafted Journal article may appreciate how the author deftly avoids using words indicating that there was fighting between the FARC and Colombian forces, that the helicopter was shot down by the FARC, or that government cops and troops were killed and wounded by rebel fire.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home