Chavez threatens war for terror

Wall Street Journal Editorial:

...

The raid that killed FARC big Raúl Reyes shocked the terrorists because it happened in Ecuador -- about a mile across the border from Colombia. The guerrillas are used to operating inside Colombia, only to escape to safe havens in Ecuador and Venezuela when Colombia's military is in hot pursuit. This time Colombian officers kept going, and for legitimate reasons of self-defense. (We doubt the U.S. would stop its troops at the border if terrorists were bombing sites in Texas from havens in Mexico.)

Mr. Chávez rushed to insist that Ecuador's sovereignty had been violated, even before Ecuador did....

Such a conventional war isn't likely. Colombia today has a superior military force, thanks in part to Mr. Chávez's purge of his own officer corp as a way to minimize risks of a coup d'etat against him. The war bluster is especially phony because Mr. Chavez is already waging his own guerrilla campaign against Colombia through his support for the FARC. The FARC's "foreign minister," Rodrigo Granda, was nabbed three years ago by bounty hunters in Caracas, where he was living comfortably, and a former Venezuelan military officer told us years ago that the army was instructed not to pursue the FARC in the Venezuelan jungle.

What may really have upset Mr. Chávez is the capture of Reyes's laptop....

...

One of the ways you can tell how unprepared Chavez was for the events was his hasty order of 10 battalions to the border. It is pretty clear they were not sent there to stop the FARC rebels from using Venezuela as a sanctuary. The more likely reason they were sent is to protect the FARC who are already hiding in Venezuela. But that captured laptop is going to be a bigger problem for him at the OAS meeting. Chavez real concern should be whether Columbia issues an indictment naming him an accessory to murder and terrorist attacks.