Director Rips Bush in Colombia Hostage Drama

Maverick Hollywood director Oliver Stone had a front-row seat on the scene of the failed hostage rescue mission in Colombia last month—and has returned blaming that nation's government and President Bush. "Shame on Bush,” Stone told the Guardian. Colombian rebels reneged on a deal to free two female politicians and a child, saying stepped up military operations in the area made release too dangerous.

Stone believes both the Colombian government and the US undermined the mission because they didn't want to be upstaged by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who headed the operation. Stone, who’s developing a documentary on US-Latin American relations, told the Guardian that the US treats Latin America like a backyard where it can “throw trash." He praised the controversial Chavez as an "honest man and a soldier." (More Colombia stories.)