BOGOTA, Colombia, July 8 -- For months before a group of disguised Colombian soldiers carried out a daring rescue of three American citizens and a prominent Colombian politician from a guerrilla camp, a team of U.S. Special Forces joined elite Colombian troops tracking the hostages across formidable jungle terrain in the country's southern fringes.
The U.S. team was supported by a vast intelligence-gathering operation based in the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, far to the north. There, a special 100-person unit made up of Special Forces planners, hostage negotiators and intelligence analysts worked to keep track of the hostages. They also awaited the moment when they would spring into action to help Colombian forces carry out a rescue.
That moment came in June after a Colombian army major hatched an unconventional plan. Further developed by Colombian intelligence agents, the plan abandoned the idea of a military raid and relied instead on tricking a rebel group notorious for killing hostages into simply handing over 15 of their most prominent captives.
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The complex operation included infiltrators in the FARC's highest echelons, a team of Colombian commandos playing the parts of relief workers and guerrillas, and an elaborate scheme to intervene in the rebels' radio communications network. The sting was directed at the leaders of guerrilla units who were responsible for moving hostages through the jungle but who communicated infrequently with the FARC's seven-man directorate.
Brownfield explained to Cheney, Rice and the others how Colombian officials would ensure that a fake radio message -- purportedly from the unit headed by the FARC's supreme leader, Alfonso Cano -- would be sent to the guards. The order would be to prepare the hostages to be picked up by a relief agency and then flown by helicopter to the rebel high command...
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