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The great Dana Priest, who has freedom at Wash Post to go deep and long on investigation, emerges with giant scoop on U.S. aid to Colombia--for the purpose of killing rebels.  Covert, of course.  Authorized by Bush, continued by Obama (you know how that song goes).

The 50-year-old Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), once considered the best-funded insurgency in the world, is at its smallest and most vulnerable state in decades, due in part to a CIA covert action program that has helped Colombian forces kill at least two dozen rebel leaders, according to interviews with more than 30 former and current U.S. and Colombian officials.

The secret assistance, which also includes substantial eavesdropping help from the National Security Agency, is funded through a multibillion-dollar black budget. It is not a part of the public $9 billion package of mostly U.S. military aid called Plan Colombia, which began in 2000.