Colombia delayed telling U.S. of hostage rescue plan

Although the U.S. government was supposed to have final authority on any plan to rescue three American contractors held by guerrillas, it was kept in the dark by the Colombian military until a week before the July 2 operation to lessen the chances that the Bush administration would veto the effort, said a top official close to the operation.

"They wanted to wait long enough to make it difficult to say no," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was forbidden to discuss the topic for attribution.

Read the rest of The Times' report from Bogota here ...

-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles