Q Dana, can you talk -- you probably discussed in the gaggle a little bit -- but on camera, if you could talk a little bit about when the President was first informed that there was some intelligence that maybe would lead to this Colombian rescue mission. How early was he looped in? How involved was the President? Just kind of broadly speaking.

MS. PERINO: Sure. I think you just heard from the President -- I don't know if you've seen it yet, but he was able to make a couple of comments about the hostages being released from the FARC down in Colombia. The President got a call yesterday from President Uribe to let the President know that the operation had been successful. The United States had been working with the government of Colombia for the last several years, ever since the American hostages had been taken, in order to try to free them safely and successfully in a way that would not cause any harm to the individuals. And thankfully, that's what happened yesterday.

We were aware of the operation in its planning stages. We provided some specific support, which I'm not allowed to go into the details on, but President Bush was certainly supportive of it. But I will say that President Uribe and his government and his military really get the credit for successfully freeing these hostages, because they conceived of the operation and then they carried it through -- with some support from us, but it was largely a Colombian exercise. And the President congratulates President Uribe and the military.

seen at 09:00, 3 July in Whitehouse Press Briefings. Email this to a friend.
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