I thought I was dreaming this morning when I heard in a half-awake state that Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages, including three American Pentagon contractors, were rescued from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). According to media reports, Colombian special forces were able to free Ms. Betancourt and the other hostages without firing a single shot. This is another important victory for Colombian President Uribe and the Columbian armed forces.

The Economist provides some details on the operation:

The rescue operation involved years of planning. But it was also testament to the army’s new sophistication in intelligence and infiltration. The army built on its recent successes in disrupting the FARC’s communications and isolating its leaders. An attempt to rescue other guerrilla hostages in 2003 had ended in disaster, when a dozen were killed by their captors.

This time the army relied on trickery. A former hostage who escaped last year supplied details of the jungle camps in the remote south-eastern departments of Guaviare and Vaupés. Army intelligence agents, posing as senior FARC members, made contact with the guerrilla commander guarding the hostages. They gave him a false order purporting to be from the FARC’s new leader, Alfonso Cano, that the hostages were to be taken to two helicopters sent by a humanitarian organisation—mimicking the arrangements when five other captives were released earlier this year after mediation by Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chávez.

Once on board the helicopters, the two guerrilla escorts were overpowered and the army agents, dressed in Che Guevara T-shirts, broke the news to the hostages that they were flying to an army base and freedom. “We couldn’t believe it. The helicopter nearly fell because we jumped for joy,” said Ms Betancourt.

While much of the international press attention has focused on Ms. Betancourt, the three American contractors released were the longest held US captives in the world. The International Herald Tribune reports Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell had been held since February 2003.

More from IHT:

The U.S. and Colombian governments learned the hostages’ location “any number of times” and planned several rescue missions during their five years in captivity, but the difficulty of extracting them alive has prevented the missions from being carried out, according to a U.S. government official in Washington who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of intelligence matters.

Last month, Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said soldiers had spotted the three men in the southern jungles, but they disappeared into the forest before the troops could attempt a rescue.

And after the men were freed Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield said U.S. and Colombian forces cooperated closely on the rescue mission, including sharing intelligence, equipment, training advice and operational experience.

The Guardian claims this is a “mortal blow” for the Marxist narco-terrorist organization. While the Telegraph notes:

There are still some 25 political hostages in guerrilla hands, not to mention up to 700 Colombians being held by the FARC for ransom. The rebels began “collecting” the political hostages more than a decade ago, hoping to exchange them from hundreds of their comrades in prison.

After supporting the FARC with economic, intelligence and military assistance, President Chavez of Venezuela wants Betancourt’s release to “lead to an end to the war in its western neighbor,” Colombia.

President Uribe has taken a strong stance against the FARC but he has also stated his willingness to discuss peace if and when they are ready to sit down and talk. However, like the Palestinian terrorist apparatus, it is incredibly difficult to make peace with those who have sought the destruction of the state for over half a century.

[The clip below is from Reuters]