The same press release carefully notes, "The remit of [Interpol's] technical examination was not to evaluate the accuracy or the source of the exhibits' content." Still, the report and Interpol chief Ronald Noble insistently referred to the exhibits as "the FARC computers and hardware," in contradiction of the report's own stated scope of the investigation.

Such blind acceptance—towed subserviently by the media—was the same approach to intelligence that justified the U.S. case for war against Iraq in 2002 and 2003. What's more, the Interpol report did not (nor aimed to) verify whether the documents made public by the Colombian government—including those leaked by anonymous sources—matched the documents on the eight computer exhibits.

Unfortunately, much of the international media has represented Interpol's findings as confirmation of Colombia's allegations—an interpretation that the police agency specifically rejected. A Fox News blog was headlined "Interpol: Chavez Supports Terrorists." Madrid's El País led their article with, "According to the police agency, Chavez financed the FARC." Interpol said no such thing. Reuters, however, accurately qualified the report, noting Interpol "could not verify the computer contents."