Why is the House debating sending troops to Columbia?

[Renew Deal]

Where did this come from? Who is proposing it? According to Schakowsky, the pukes want to send troops there. :wtf:

[Literate Tar Heel]

1. Columbia, South Carolina??

damn, that's close to here ... I'm getting scared now

[Renew Deal]

2. lol, no

the country

[Literate Tar Heel]

3. oh ... Colombia ... whew, I feel better now ... n/t

[LittleApple81]

24. We actually call it Locombia. And Colombia exports oil t the US too.

One time I saw how much and was surprised. Not a MAJOR supplier but pretty big.
And the Locombia government critters SOLD their country and their soul to the highest bidder for all the wealth of the country... oil not excepted.

4. Colombia, then Venezuela, then Cuba , get with the program

Haven't you been paying attention?

[lastknowngood]

19. That's the plan the united states of south america their next

war theater.

[htuttle]

5. I haven't heard this

But I'd bet a dollar it has something to do with Venezuela.

There have been several incursions into Venezuela by Colombian troops in the last few months. Colombia has accused (without proof) Venezuela of 'sheltering' FARC.

Smells like a setup. The timing seems weird, but IIRC, Kerry has made angry noises at Chavez as well, so maybe the plan would be carried out whoever gets elected.

Crap.

[Ann Arbor Dem]

11. I agree that it has to do with Venezuela. They have oil. n/t

[izzie]

6. Sending troops to Columbia? I thought we had them their.

Are not we in a "War on Drugs"? Can any one name the country we do not have troops in?

[htuttle]

7. Yes, they do have some there now for 'Plan Colombia'

But the bulk of the US 'troops' in Colombia are private contractors -- Dyncorp in particular. (IIRC, it was Dyncorp pilots who mistakenly shot down some missionaries there a few years back).

[Hubert Flottz]

18. Something to do with oil and pipelines!

Just like any other imminent threats! It's about pipelines in the area that they need security for! I read something a while back where the Oil companies were having trouble guarding pipelines in South America, so now the taxpayers will provide security, so that Bush's friends can make billions! Same as in Afghanistan and Iraq, our kids are doing Guard Duty for Halliburton!

[Literate Tar Heel]

20. and even more than that

http://www.feasta.org/documents/papers/oil1.htm

an excerpt:

So far only one OPEC country has dared switch to the euro: Iraq, in November 2002. There is little doubt that this was a deliberate attempt by Saddam to strike back at the US, but in economic terms it has also turned out to have been a huge success: at the time of Iraq's conversion the euro was worth around 83 US cents but it is now worth over $1.05. There may however be other consequences to this decision.

One other OPEC country has been talking publicly about possible conversion to the euro since 1999: Iran, a country which has since been included in the George W. Bush's 'axis of evil'.

A third OPEC country which has recently fallen out with the US government is Venezuela and it too has been showing disloyalty to the dollar. Under Hugo Chavez's rule, Venezuela has established barter deals for trading its oil with 12 Latin American countries as well as Cuba. This means that the US is missing out on its usual subsidy and might help explain the American wish to see the back of Chavez. At the OPEC summit in September 2000, Chavez delivered to the OPEC heads of state the report of the 'International Seminar on the Future of Energy', a conference called by Chavez earlier that year to examine the future supplies of both fossil and renewable energies. One of the two key recommendations of the report was that 'OPEC take advantage of high-tech electronic barter and bi-lateral exchanges of its oil with its developing country customers, i.e. OPEC should avoid using both the dollar and the euro for many transactions.

8. well at this rate, the United States

:evilgrin:

[Jacobin]

9. Sadly, Clinton started it with $2 billion in military aid

Pissed me off.

Now we get another quagmire, but this one much closer to home and in a temperate climate!!

:-)

[htuttle]

10. They are talking about doubling the number of US troops there

There also seems to be a counter-amendment being discussed to limit the number of US troops sent there.

[katym]

12. perhaps bc bush finds reason to waste a little more money there....

:bounce:

[IronLionZion]

13. There are plenty of CIA spooks down there

"protecting America" by assisting the cocaine traffickers.

By this has more to do with Venezuala I think. Those folks may need liberating if gas gets any more expensive.

[Literate Tar Heel]

17. oh, Venezuela's definitely getting "liberated"

http://www.feasta.org/documents/papers/oil1.htm

[acmavm]

14. if we have troops to spare to send to Columbia, then why are we

reactivating people who are out of the service and sending them to Iraq? Why are people having extended tours?

Dumb asses.

[chelsea0011]

15. Who's left to send? Boy Scouts?

[tom_paine]

16. Look the the Busheviks REALLY want that Venezuelan Oil.

I don't know what Chavez is. He MAY be as evil as the Busheviks.

But he is the Elected Leader of Venezuela, and that's more than we have.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

21. Must be the WMD in Bogota..or Caracas..or Havana..or..or..

Maybe Osama was heard singing some salsa music, or because South American women are forced to wear peasant blouses.

What the hell, let's liberate everyone, we all know they'll be throwing flowers at the troops and teaching their kids to smirk, just like they're doing in Free Iraq.

[Literate Tar Heel]

22. third time I've posted this here

but it's an interesting read and explains a lot about why the "axis of evil" is really so "evil":

http://www.feasta.org/documents/papers/oil1.htm

excerpt:

So far only one OPEC country has dared switch to the euro: Iraq, in November 2002. There is little doubt that this was a deliberate attempt by Saddam to strike back at the US, but in economic terms it has also turned out to have been a huge success: at the time of Iraq's conversion the euro was worth around 83 US cents but it is now worth over $1.05. There may however be other consequences to this decision.

One other OPEC country has been talking publicly about possible conversion to the euro since 1999: Iran, a country which has since been included in the George W. Bush's 'axis of evil'.

A third OPEC country which has recently fallen out with the US government is Venezuela and it too has been showing disloyalty to the dollar. Under Hugo Chavez's rule, Venezuela has established barter deals for trading its oil with 12 Latin American countries as well as Cuba. This means that the US is missing out on its usual subsidy and might help explain the American wish to see the back of Chavez. At the OPEC summit in September 2000, Chavez delivered to the OPEC heads of state the report of the 'International Seminar on the Future of Energy', a conference called by Chavez earlier that year to examine the future supplies of both fossil and renewable energies. One of the two key recommendations of the report was that 'OPEC take advantage of high-tech electronic barter and bi-lateral exchanges of its oil with its developing country customers, i.e. OPEC should avoid using both the dollar and the euro for many transactions.

[LittleApple81]

23. You know? Right before the war on Iraq, a C-Span caller said it was

because Iraq was switching to the Euro... and he got laughed by the host and the person on the program. I was scratching my head, and didn't believe it either (this was before I discovered DU).

Nothing is too far fetched for these BushCo critters.

[Literate Tar Heel]

25. I think it was just one reason of many

for them to go into Iraq, but as far as Venezuela goes, it could well be the biggest reason ... if you think about the implications of so much of the world's oil being bought and sold in euros, it could be a disaster for an American economy that seems determined to go as far into debt as it can