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WORLD IN BRIEF
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Captive Americans Tried to Send Letters
A newly freed hostage said Thursday that leftist rebels confiscated letters written by three U.S. military contractors asking for help from President Bush and other leading American politicians.
Former senator Luis Eladio P¿rez also said the three Americans, with whom he shared his last six months of jungle captivity, still suffer from injuries suffered in the plane crash five years ago that landed them in guerrilla hands. The three were captured when their surveillance plane went down in rebel territory in southern Colombia on Feb. 13, 2003.
Before P¿rez parted ways on Feb. 4 with the Americans -- Thomas Howes, Marc Gonsalves and Keith Stansell -- they gave him letters they had written to Bush, key Democrats in Congress and the front-runners in the presidential race.
But rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, took the letters away in a search before freeing P¿rez and three other Colombian politicians Wednesday.
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USS Cole Dispatched to Coast of Lebanon
The Bush administration has sent the warship USS Cole to operate off the coast of Lebanon in a show of support during the country's political crisis, U.S. officials said. The administration blames political deadlock in Lebanon on Syrian meddling. In October 2000, the Cole was bombed in Yemen in an attack linked to al-Qaeda, and 17 U.S. sailors were killed.
From News Services
