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Not exactly, but it's another case that apparently puts the US in a smoewhat awkward position. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050519/ap_on_re_us/cuban_militantQuote:
Cuban Militant Gives U.S. Tough Choices
By CURT ANDERSON
Associated Press Writer Thu May 19,12:10 AM ET
MIAMI - Freedom fighter or terrorist? Illegal alien or persecuted Cuban refugee? The Bush administration faces a tough choice in deciding what to do with Luis Posada Carriles, wanted on suspicion of orchestrating the deadly 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner.
Posada, a 77-year-old Cuban exile, was being held Wednesday at an undisclosed location in the United States while U.S. immigration officials decided his fate. He was taken into custody Tuesday, two months after he slipped into the United States and asked for asylum.
The Bush administration has at least three choices: extradite Posada to Venezuela, where he is wanted in the airliner bombing that killed 73 people; send him to a third country willing to accept him; or let him stay in the United States.
Over the past 45 years, the U.S. government has condoned and even backed acts of sabotage against Fidel Castro's communist Cuba, and federal law specifically welcomes anti-Castro exiles. But the United States could find itself accused of a double standard on terrorism if it shelters Posada.
If Posada is allowed to stay, "it would diminish U.S. standing in the world and significantly undercut our credibility in terms of the war on terrorism," said Wayne Smith, a former U.S. envoy to Cuba who now heads the Cuba program at the Washington-based Center for International Policy. "It would be a serious blow to our war on terrorism."
Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said that this case "is going to be emblematic, really, to assess exactly what is the final position of the American government and particularly
President Bush with respect to terrorism."
"It seems that for some there is a good terrorism and a bad terrorism," he added.
A decision on whether Posada should be deported must be made under U.S. law by Thursday afternoon. The U.S. government has not said what it will do, but in a statement the Homeland Security Department said it generally does not deport people to Cuba or countries acting on Cuba's behalf.
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the president's brother, said Posada should not be sent back to Cuba or Venezuela. But he also said: "I'm not sure he's the symbol for the fight for freedom. There are people in political prison in Cuba simply because they've prayed to their God or they've expressed dissent."
Venezuela, whose president, Hugo Chavez, is a staunch U.S. critic who has a strained relationship with Washington, has an extradition treaty with the United States and has asked the United States to turn Posada over for a possible retrial in the airliner bombing.
Castro has repeatedly renounced Cuba's right to try Posada and has instead argued that he should be turned over to Venezuela or an international tribunal. The Cuban president has branded Posada a terrorist.
Venezuela's vice president gave assurances Wednesday that if the United States hands Posada over to Venezuela, he will not be turned over to Cuba.
Posada's attorney, Eduardo Soto, said that his client withdrew his request for asylum in the United States. But if the Bush administration moves to deport him, Posada will seek asylum again, based on claims of persecution by Venezuela and fear of reprisals by Cuba, the lawyer said.
"He was tried on two occasions and was not convicted," Soto said. "How many bites of the apple do they want?"
The United States could allow Posada to stay by invoking the Cuban Adjustment Act, which enables Cubans to become permanent U.S. residents after a year and a day in America.
Florida's vocal Cuban-American community is passionately anti-Castro. But Posada's case has not stirred outrage. Some Cuban exiles said they support his aim of toppling Castro but disagree with his alleged use of violence.
"People understand (his detention). This is a nation of laws," said Ninoska Perez-Castellon, head of the Miami-based Cuban Liberty Council. "They did what they had to do."
Others, however, questioned the U.S. government's timing, noting that Posada was taken into custody just as Castro was demanding his detention during a protest march in Havana with tens of thousands of people.
The Cuban airliner crashed off Barbados after taking off for Havana. Venezuelan authorities have said Posada helped plot the bombing from Caracas. Posada was awaiting a retrial after his second acquittal in the bombing when he escaped from a Venezuelan prison in 1985, disguised as a priest.
Posada has also been linked to a series of 1997 bombings in Cuba, one of which killed an Italian tourist. Last August, Posada and three others were pardoned by Panama's president for their role in an alleged assassination plot against Castro during a conference in Panama in 2000.
Twenty Democratic House members, led by Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, urged President Bush in a letter to hand Posada over to Venezuela, saying the people killed in the attacks were no different than those in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.
"It is not only inconceivable to imagine the possibility of granting this terrorist asylum, but also of denying justice to all of the victims of his crimes," said the letter, released Wednesday.
Posada's history as a former CIA operative, a participant in the U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961, and a veteran of the U.S. Army could tilt the scales in his favor.
Thoughts?
"Well when I talk to people I don't have to worry about spelling." - wannabuyamonkey
"If Schumacher’s last effort was the final nail in the coffin then Year One would’ve been the crazy guy who stormed the graveyard, dug up the coffin and put a bullet through the franchise’s corpse just to make sure." -- From a review of Darren Aronofsky & Frank Miller's "Batman: Year One" script
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The guy's a murderer and a terrorist.
Period.
..and Venezuela wants him too. I'm surprised that Italy isn't clamoring for his head either since his latest terrorist action resulted in the death of an Italian tourist who undoubtedly didn't give a toss about what crawled up the Cuban expatriate community in Miami's ass.
Politics aside, be it right wing, left wing, communist, socialist etc, 73 innocent people died aboard an airliner and 1 italian tourist died in a Cuban Hotel that this jackass thinks is justified because of his and his enemys politics. There is no justification for murder and there is no 'greater good' to come out of the slaughter of innocents. (again)
Period.
I'm amazed the so called "liberal" mass media hasn't mentioned Orlando Bosch who was also in on the airliner bombing and who was pardoned of it by George H.W. Bush, ex CIA director George H.W. Bush......
My take on Luis Posada Carriles resurfacing is that he assumed that now with pretty much one party rule in the U.S., that he'd receive similar treatment IE: pardon and acollades. The only wrench in the works is the air of hypocrisy it would present to the world in regards to the "War on Terror" if just that is done. But then public opinion doesn't seem to concern this government much anyways so it's 50/50 as to whether this guy will walk or be turned over to a foreign government for justice.
Luis Posada Boigraphy
The Bush dynasty and the Cuban criminals
Orlando Bosch’s terrorist curriculum vitae
I welcome the fair nonpartisan Captain Sammitch to read the Orlando Bosch link and start snidely referring to black helicopters.
Everything is funny as long as it is happening to somebody else. --Will Rogers
"I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees." - George W. Bush
I don't think anybody could have predicted that these people would .. try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile. - Condoleeza Rice
Barbara Bush: It's Good Enough for the Poor
To comfort the powerless and make the powerful uncomfortable.
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However, the article seems to say he was found not guilty of these things.
If so, and the way the article is written it isn't clear, I can see why there's an issue about sending him back.
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Do you think Gloria Estefan will show up for his deportation hearing, too?
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Quote:
"it would diminish U.S. standing in the world and significantly undercut our credibility in terms of the war on terrorism,"
  
Suuuuuure, JQ, suuuure...
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terrible podcaster 15000+ posts
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Quote:
unrestrained id said:
I welcome the fair nonpartisan Captain Sammitch to read the Orlando Bosch link and start snidely referring to black helicopters.
I'm sorry what? I couldn't hear you over the sound of the approaching neocon conspiracy. 
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C'mon guys, let's stick to the issue at hand, which is "is this guy a terrorist." We don't have much time before the NSA catches up to us.
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Quote:
the G-man said:
C'mon guys, let's stick to the issue at hand, which is "is this guy a terrorist."
We don't have much time before the NSA catches up to us.
He's not a terrorist! He's a Freedom Fighter!
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All joking aside, that is the pertinent question.
As noted above, the article is not clear. However, it almost appears as if this guy was charged and found not guilty. However, it also appears as if the charging governments now want to try him again, essentially creating "double jeopardy" for the same allegations.
If so, there is, in fact, a colorable claim that he is being persecuted and I can see why this is spurring so much debate.
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Timelord. Drunkard. 15000+ posts
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Quote:
the G-man said:
However, the article seems to say he was found not guilty of these things.
If so, and the way the article is written it isn't clear, I can see why there's an issue about sending him back.
A very good point. I would like to hear from some of the people around here their thoughts on the legal rights and due process? Since that seems to be a key factor here.
Personally, I say hand him over to the UN and force them to make the call.
whomod said: I generally don't like it when people decide to play by the rules against people who don't play by the rules. It tends to put you immediately at a disadvantage and IMO is a sign of true weakness. This is true both in politics and on the internet." Our Friendly Neighborhood Ray-man said: "no, the doctor's right. besides, he has seniority."
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Quote:
thedoctor said:
Quote:
the G-man said:
However, the article seems to say he was found not guilty of these things.
If so, and the way the article is written it isn't clear, I can see why there's an issue about sending him back.
A very good point. I would like to hear from some of the people around here their thoughts on the legal rights and due process? Since that seems to be a key factor here.
Personally, I say hand him over to the UN and force them to make the call.
I think handing him over to the Int. Court of Justice would be a good idea. If they decide to let him go, he'll be in Amsterdam, the best place in the world to party!
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