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Few world leaders congratulated the “winner” of the recent fraudulent Iranian elections, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — and rightfully so. But there was a notable exception right here in our neighborhood: Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez.

No real surprise. He's the aspiring leader of this hemisphere's anti-American left and has close ties to Ahmadinejad.

So, not surprisingly, eyebrows peaked late last week when Washington announced it was returning its ambassador to Caracas after his unjustified expulsion by Chavez last year.

It was even more striking considering Colombian president Alvaro Uribe will visit the White House today, the leader of a country which has been a staunch U.S. ally as well as a...