A crushing blow against FARC

IBD:

Colombia's army blew away the field marshal of FARC's narco-terror war Wednesday, showing with a jolt that to win, it's terrorists who must "absorb" attacks, not innocents. Mexico and the U.S. have much to learn.

Seems the adage that Colombia is the only country where guerrillas die of old age isn't true anymore.

On Thursday, Colombia celebrated news of the demise of Jorge Briceno, military commander and second-highest chief of FARC. The 57-year-old terrorist went down in a hail of bombs and gunfire over three days in a jungle bunker near La Macarena.

The Colombian army suffered no deaths and left at least 20 guerrillas dead on the jungle floor. Briceno's demise marks the fourth knockout of FARC's seven-man "Politburo"since 2008.

"This is the most crushing blow against the FARC in its entire history," said Colombia's president, Juan Manuel Santos, speaking from the sidelines at the United Nations in New York.

To every other nation out there fighting a terror war, it's a lesson showing how it can be done.

First, it shows that in winning, history and continuity matter to the enemy. FARC, a Marxist terror group, has plagued Colombia since 1964. Briceno joined in 1975 and introduced cocaine trafficking to FARC's activities, extending the war.

He became a legend to many on the international left in the same way as FARC's original guerrilla mentor, Fidel Castro. Now that he's dead, there's no clear successor, leaving guerrillas to question what they fight for.

Briceno's demise also comes as the Colombian army has pounded the terror group in the south in a recent surge.

If this doesn't signal the end of Colombia's long-running guerrilla war, it's at least the beginning of the end — and its lessons should be heeded beyond Colombia's borders.

Colombia's war is in reality the southern flank of the same war that Mexico is fighting with its cartels — and that war is spilling over into the U.S. This is why Americans must pay attention.

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While Colombia has made progress against FARC since 2000, they have received significant counterinsurgency aid from the US under the Bush administration when the success started materializing. Bush showed with determination that insurgencies such as the one in Iraq could be defeated and Colombia was quick to learn the lessons.

We need to do more to help Mexico with counterinsurgency training in dealing with its criminal insurgency.