By Simon Romero, Caracas *
Book casts harsh light on ex-hostage in Colombia

INGRID BETANCOURT, the aristocratic Colombian politician greeted as a heroine last year after enduring years as a hostage of Marxist guerrillas, is depicted as a selfish and haughty captivity mate in a memoir by three American military contractors who were held in jungle camps alongside her.

“I don’t want to attack her, but the truth is very savage,” said Keith Stansell, 44, an ex-Marine and one of the authors of the book, “Out of Captivity,” which was released Thursday. “We were infected enough with her behavior in the jungle,” he said in a telephone interview from New York. “Now I just want to get immunized.”

Indeed, Mr. Stansell and his co-authors, Thomas Howes and Marc Gonsalves, offer a far different portrait of Ms. Betancourt in the 457-page book than the generally accepted image of her outside Colombia as a long-suffering abduction victim who nobly resisted her captors since her kidnapping in 2002.

In a daring operation last July, Colombian commandos plucked Ms. Betancourt, the three Americans and 11 other captives from the arms of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) as CIA agents. For that reason, Mr. Stansell said he was told by the guerrilla, she requested that the Americans be separated from her captivity area.

But referring again to his claims about Ms. Betancourt’s behavior while in captivity, Mr. Stansell, who lives in Brandenton, Fla., and works again for Northrop Grumman, his employer at the time of his capture, said he stood by everything that appeared in the book.

Even on the day of their emotional rescue, Mr. Stansell summed up his view of her with bitter resignation. “I can get over just about anything, but I don’t know about Ingrid,” he wrote. “Forgive? Yes. Move on? Yes. Respect? No.”

* For The New York Times / February 27, 2008
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