CeeCee: Don't call her cynical, call her bright and observant

[Thanks to CeeCee for this insightful information]

Call me cynical,but there IS something rotten in the White House
Submitted by CeeCee on Sun, 03/02/2008 - 9:01pm.

Chavez sends tanks to Colombia borCder in dispute
Submitted by Alice on Sun, 03/02/2008 - 1:33pm.
Venezuela President Hugo Chavez ordered tank battalions to the Colombian border on Sunday after Colombian troops struck inside another of its neighbors, Ecuador, in an attack on rebels.

More on this story…
http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSN02283292._CH_.2400

Agence France-Presse | 8 December 2007
Bush wields Colombia trade deal to halt Venezuela

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush’s contention that a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Colombia is key to halting the influence of Venezuela’s leftist president in Latin America has convinced few in the US Congress.

Opposition Democrats that control Congress have refused to ratify the agreement — which Washington and Bogota signed in December 2006 — in part concerned over ties between President Alvaro Uribe’s government and a right-wing paramilitary group involved in human rights violations and drug trafficking on the US list of terrorist organizations.

To help get the agreement approved, Bush is now presenting the FTA as the main US policy tool to halt the influence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a firebrand leftist who famously described Bush as "the devil" at the United Nations.
http://www.bilaterals.org/article.php3?id_article=10626

Who opposes it and why
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/09/bloomberg/bxtrade.php

http://www.bilaterals.org/article.php3?id_article=11164

Who favors it and why
http://www.freetrade.org/node/839

Strategy offered to gain Congressional approval
http://www.latinbusinesschronicle.com/app/article.aspx?id=2033

News regarding U.S. - Columbia actions on Drug Policy and Human Rights
http://www.csdp.org/news/news/colombia.htm

...was Columbia's action meant to rile Chavez in order to pressure Congress to ratify the FTA?