Faced with mounting international pressure, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe admitted that, at least, one of the rescuers who was on the hostage rescue mission that recently freed 15 people from the leftist FARC rebels wore an International Red Cross insignia.
"These heroes executed their heroic plan under my heroic authority and I take full responsibility," declared the President on Colombian TV that was viewed by several hundred natives, five drug dealers, and a host of farm animals.
Meanwhile, international legal experts are bobbing their heads on global TV stations and stating categorically that such a use of the Red Cross emblem is a "war crime" under the Geneva Conventions and could endanger humanitarian workers in the future.
In Geneva, the Supreme Commander of the International Red Cross, Sheik Nutheen Tou-Dou accepted Uribe's statement, but declared the problem won't be resolved until "we give the hostages back to the rebels and start all over again."
