This letter was published by the Wall Street Journal

In regard to the Sept. 6 Letter to the Editor from Rep. Jan Schakowsky, who was criticizing Mary O'Grady's Aug. 23 Americas column "Capitol Hill Leftists Side With Colombian Terrorists":

It seems that the honorable congresswoman from Illinois disapproves of due process when the Colombian military is involved. Arguing that she voted for aid to the Colombian judiciary, she claims the right to demand that the accused be convicted. She is passing judgment without bothering with a trial -- is McCarthy reborn?

A Colombian military court, with oversight by the civilian government's Inspector General's Office (Procuraduria) dismissed charges against Gen. Quinonez in the Barrancabermeja case in 1998. The official in the Inspector General's Office assigned to oversee the military tribunal concurred with the decision. In the parallel disciplinary process taking place in the Procuraduria's own administrative court, the responsible official recommended, but did not issue, a "severe reprimand." Higher officials in the Procuraduria took several years to study the case, and allowed it to lapse without further action.

Did fear cause this, as Rep. Schakowsky contends? No. The key witnesses had recanted and confessed they had been paid by a drug cartel to accuse the general, who had been most effective against it as head of naval intelligence. The investigation in the Chengue case by the inspector general for possible omission was only recently started. The case of Gen. Del Rio is still in its initial stages -- that is, under investigation. He has the right to due process, and the attorney general's office is more obligated than anybody to follow the law. The attorney general was right to fire officials who showed astonishing disdain of basic ethics and due process, to the point of suggesting the destruction of evidence.

The U.S. is asking (if not demanding) that Colombia and other countries around the world grant immunity beforehand to America's military personnel, so that they will not be subject to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The U.S. fears that the ICC may be politically manipulated in the future, thus recognizing that politically motivated judicial warfare is a very effective weapon in forcing the removal of senior officers from command. It's certainly proven so in Colombia, and has been used extensively against our most successful commanders.

The congresswoman is sadly misinformed about the roots of the matters of which she writes.

Miguel Posada

Center of Sociopolitical Analysis

Bogota, Colombia