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Why Doesn't Bush Administration Detain Posada as a Terrorist?

By TChris, Section War on Terror
Posted on Sun Oct 08, 2006 at 08:38:16 AM EST
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by TChris

Even as the president assures us that Democrats can't be trusted to conduct the war against terror, his administration intends to do nothing to assure that Luis Posada Carriles is prosecuted for the role he allegedly played in causing an explosion that killed all 73 people aboard a Cubana Airlines flight in 1976. Posada was arrested last year for illegal entry into the United States, and is being held in an El Paso detention center. Venezuela and Cuba are seeking his extradition, but the Bush adminstration wants to deport him to a country that will likely set him free.

His case presents a quandary for the Bush administration, at least in part because Mr. Posada is a former C.I.A. operative and United States Army officer who directed his wrath at a government that Washington has long opposed.

In Bush's world, some accused terrorists deserve to be held without trial forever, while others enjoy a favored status. The sister of a passenger on the ill-fated Cubana Airlines flight wonders why the United States is following a double standard.

"If this were a plane full of Americans, it would have been a different story."

Posada's lawyer argues that Posada shouldn't be called a terrorist because he acted on behalf of the United States. While the lawyer invokes comparisons to Paul Revere and Patrick Henry, it's difficult to see how murdering the entire Cuban fencing team benefited America.

Of course, Posada could be innocent, but the administration has branded others as terrorists on scantier evidence. Government records suggest that Posada at least had knowledge of the bomb before it exploded. An immigration judge concluded that Posada would be tortured if extradited to Venezuela to stand trial for murder. Designating Posada as a suspected terrorist would allow the United States to hold him in custody while seeking an appropriate forum in which to bring him to trial. Absent that designation, a federal judge recommended Posada's release.

The adminstration hopes to deport Posada, but hasn't found a country that maintains an "adopt a terrorist" program. Maybe the administration should send Posada to Iraq.

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    Why Doesn't Bush Administration Detain Posada as a Terrorist? | 14 comments (14 topical)
    Re: Why Doesn't Bush Administration Detain Posada (none / 0) (#1)
    by Andreas on Sun Oct 08, 2006 at 09:48:53 AM EST
    "Outlaw regimes" and the harboring of terrorists: the case of Posada Carriles By Bill Van Auken, 23 September 2006 Posada Carriles to stay in US: Washington shields CIA terrorist from prosecution By Bill Van Auken, 29 September 2005 Venezuela demands US hand over CIA terrorist for trial By Bill Van Auken, 17 June 2005 Venezuela wants CIA terrorist extradited Bush administration forced to detain Posada Carriles By Bill Van Auken, 18 May 2005 State Department: "We don't know if top terrorist is in US" By Bill Van Auken, 5 May 2005 Bush silent as top terrorist seeks US asylum By Bill Van Auken, 14 April 2005

    Re: Why Doesn't Bush Administration Detain Posada (none / 0) (#3)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sun Oct 08, 2006 at 10:53:19 AM EST
    et al - From the post.
    for the role he allegedly played in causing an explosion that killed all 73 people aboard a Cubana Airlines flight in 1976
    Re: Why Doesn't Bush Administration Detain Posada (none / 0) (#4)
    by scarshapedstar on Sun Oct 08, 2006 at 11:24:43 AM EST
    Uh, okay, PPJ. I think the point of the post was that the trial ought to get underway, so that we can clear that matter up, no?

    Re: Why Doesn't Bush Administration Detain Posada (none / 0) (#2)
    by scarshapedstar on Sun Oct 08, 2006 at 12:07:05 PM EST
    it's difficult to see how murdering the entire Cuban fencing team benefitted America.
    Clearly, you're blinded by America-hatred. I'm sure our resident wingnuts can explain this oen perfectly.

    Re: Why Doesn't Bush Administration Detain Posada (none / 0) (#5)
    by Al on Sun Oct 08, 2006 at 01:59:46 PM EST
    Posada Carriles escaped from prison in Venezuela while on trial for the bombing. It is entirely appropriate that he be extradited back to Venezuela where his trial may resume. And even if he is not extradited but merely deported, he should be deported to Venezuela, because he is a naturalized citizen of that country. Or they could send him to Cuba, his country of birth. There is precedent for this: Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen, was arrested and deported to Syria, his country of birth.

    Re: Why Doesn't Bush Administration Detain Posada (none / 0) (#7)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sun Oct 08, 2006 at 03:10:58 PM EST
    Al - Can you seriously claim that he can get a fair trial?

    Re: Why Doesn't Bush Administration Detain Posada (none / 0) (#9)
    by Sailor on Sun Oct 08, 2006 at 06:19:09 PM EST
    Can you seriously claim that he can get a fair trial?
    ppj is right, those countries should kidnap him, send him to a secret prison outside of the legal jurasdiction and torture him till he confesses ... like America does.

    Re: Why Doesn't Bush Administration Detain Posada (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Oct 08, 2006 at 08:08:08 PM EST
    Can't laugh for crying. Plastic explosives in a toothpaste tube...how many years ago? And they knew it. ROFLMAO if it weren't so sad.

    Re: Why Doesn't Bush Administration Detain Posada (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Oct 08, 2006 at 08:08:08 PM EST
    PPJ: ...Can you seriously claim that he can get a fair trial? PPJ... concerned about fairness... of trial... for potential terrorist... khkh(crackle)khkhztkh... does not compute... does not compute... overload... circuits... overload overload... zzzzzss(burning smell)sstttt

    Re: Why Doesn't Bush Administration Detain Posada (none / 0) (#10)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Oct 09, 2006 at 05:25:40 AM EST
    Sailor - Well, they could try. yeah right - Please be accurate...I didn't say I was concerned, I just asked Al if he thought a fair trial was possible in Cuba.. I notice he hasn't answered.

    Re: Why Doesn't Bush Administration Detain Posada (none / 0) (#11)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Oct 09, 2006 at 05:28:45 AM EST
    Sailor - And then they must allow him to sue the government, have dozens of attorneys, make sure his diet is correct for his religion, a bible available....

    Re: Why Doesn't Bush Administration Detain Posada (none / 0) (#12)
    by kdog on Mon Oct 09, 2006 at 08:21:26 AM EST
    It's like the Wizard of Oz had good witches and bad witches...there are good terrorists and bad terrorists. Posada is our Glenda, the good witch of the north.

    Re: Why Doesn't Bush Administration Detain Posada (none / 0) (#13)
    by txpublicdefender on Mon Oct 09, 2006 at 06:04:15 PM EST
    This just points out why it is ridiculous to call this "The War on Terror." Our country is not against terror or terrorists, as long as they are targeting a government we don't like. We have funded terrorists in South and Central America for years. But, we called them "freedom fighters." The fact that they tortured, disappeared, and murdered civilians mattered not. We have long been, and continue to be, complete hypocrites on this issue.

    Re: Why Doesn't Bush Administration Detain Posada (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Oct 09, 2006 at 09:14:59 PM EST
    Game,set and match, PPJ An anti-Castro militant now in a Texas jail warned the CIA months before the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that fellow exiles were planning such an attack, according to a newly released U.S. government document.
    The document shows that Luis Posada Carriles - who had worked for the CIA but was cut off by the agency earlier that year - was secretly telling the CIA that his fellow far-right Cuban exiles opposed to Fidel Castro's communist government were plotting to bring down a commercial jet.
    In a report dated a month after the bombing, then FBI Director Clarence Kelly told Secretary of State Henry Kissinger that a confidential FBI source ascertained the bombing had been planned in Caracas by Posada, Venezuelan intelligence agency official Ricardo Morales Navarrete and Cuban exile Frank Castro, who is not related to the Cuban leader. Two Venezuelan employees of Posada's private security agency were arrested in Trinidad the day after the bombing, and one of them - who said he had worked for the CIA - admitted the two had planted the bomb, documents posted by the National Security Archive show.
    Why Doesn't Bush Administration Detain Posada as a Terrorist? | 14 comments (14 topical)