Colombia court fines Brazil's Odebrecht $250 million for corruption

... long term strategy featuring classic Pentagon-style "mission creep," with the stated objective of ridding Colombia of communist guerrilla insurgencies and prosecuting the "war on drugs."  Since that time, the reported size of the FARC-EP has decreased from 16,000 to around 8,000.  Based on the $10 billion outlay, the old "winning hearts and minds" concept that was the sales pitch for escalating the Vietnam war nets out in Plan Colombia at about $1.25 million per heart and mind that has been "won".  Criticism of senior Pentagon officers and other senior officers operating in theatre who were obstinate in their costly commitment to "winning hearts and minds" ...