The co-host of a recent top-dollar fundraiser for Sen. John McCain oversaw the payment of roughly $1.7 million to a Colombian paramilitary group that is today designated a terrorist organization by the United States.

Wait a minute. Colombian? I thought "terrorist" was a synonym for "Muslim" or "black Chicago preacher."

Carl H. Lindner Jr., the billionaire Cincinnati businessman, was CEO of Chiquita Brands International from 1984 to 2001, and remained on the company's board of directors until May 2002. Beginning under his tenure, Chiquita executives paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (known by the Spanish acronym AUC), which is described by George Washington University's National Security Archive as an "illegal right-wing anti-guerrilla group tied to many of the country's most notorious civilian massacres."

Hold on there, cowboy. "Right-wing"? "Anti-guerrilla"? That don't sound like terrorism to me. That sounds like just a bunch of plucky freedom fighters trying to rid the world of liberal, atheist communism.

Following a Justice Department indictment last year, Chiquita admitted to illegally funding the paramilitaries and agreed to pay a $25 million fine. Chiquita's payments to the AUC began in 1997 and lasted seven years; roughly half of the funds came after the group was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department in 2001.

Well, if that's how they're gonna define what terrorism is, then I don't see what the big deal is.

And I don't see any problem with Lindner fundraising for John McCain's terrorist organization.