Buried halfway down in CNN’s story is the only true first-person account to establish context. Why the quote is buried raises more questions about CNN’s motive (sensationalism vs journalism).

The witness is quoted “”After all these years of guerrilla war, we have become experts in identifying who is before us,” she answered. “That’s why I said it was very strange to me. I said, ‘Well, what is this? A helicopter, a white helicopter. Red Cross? No. France? No.’ There was no flag. There was nothing; there was no sign anywhere.”

The witness is former Colombian Presidential Candidate Ingrid Betancourt. The only on-record witness in this particular CNN article to refute any claims that International Red Cross symbols were used at the point of extraction.

Apparently, this source account is not good enough to establish legitimacy for what is otherwise a courageous and commendable rescue attempt.

Terrorists are criminals, not valid soldiers of war. To categorize them as equal in any manner demeans true soldiers while emboldening monsters.

So on that note, maybe it’s good that this came up. Our own Supreme Court seems bent upon extending Constitutional rights to foreign terrorists. Maybe it’s time someone actually went through the international process of “splitting hairs” in excluding terrorists from the dictates of the Geneva Conventions.

I think the DNC ad selectively cropped his speech in order to stay within the 30 sec ad break, no?