‘Magic Laptop’ is Actually More of an Illusionist

Part of the
magic of the Magic Laptop [supposedly found with Colombia's FARC after its camp was destroyed – ed.] is that it seems to be revealing more and
more new information every day. But like with any dumb card trick
you’re not really seeing the whole thing, like the part where
“unidentified Colombian authorities” hold back most of the documents
from the public and short select the ones they want you to read. And
where they hand-pick who they release them to.

Rhetorical question: If you wanted to slow-leak de-contextualized
documents on a large-ish scale but didn’t want any pesky analysis, who
would you leak them too? Haha let’s see what Simon Romero has to say about them!

>>> After
a FARC murder of Venezuelan citizens along the border, one Venezuelan
official sent to deal with it expressed told the FARC that he hoped it
wasn’t them that did it, which is proof of “warm relations between
Venezuela’s government and the FARC.”

>>> Drug money was starting to dry up, so
the FARC discussed running cheap Venezuelan gas over the border and
selling it at a markup in Colombia. Which is a sign of something too
only I don’t know what.

>>> The FARC were hopeful that they could buy arms from the Venezuelan government only they never did.

>>> FARC leaders wanted to ask “Mr.
Chávez’s assistance for buying arms and obtaining a $250 million loan.”
Only they never did that either THE END.

You don’t even get to this “dirt” until halfway through the article.
The rest of it is a long justification over the maybe-authenticity of
the documents in the first place, encapsulated in this beaut of a
paragraph:

Both the United States and Colombia, Washington’s staunchest ally in
the region, have a strong interest in undercutting President Hugo
Chávez of Venezuela, who has sought to counter United States influence
by forming his own leftist bloc in the region. But the Colombian
officials who provided the computer files adamantly vouched for them.

So see? The documents are probably true because the Uribe administration promised they were. “Adamantly.”