Welcoming Terrorists

September 13, 2004 7:40 AM

Terrorists Arrive in Miami!
A little-noticed but chilling scene at Opa-locka Airport outside Miami last month demonstrates that the Bush administration's commitment to fighting international terrorism can be overtaken by presidential politics — even if that means admitting known terrorists onto U.S. soil.
There are other terrorists that the US government welcomes. I challenge you to name them (hint: Cuban origins for one). What is that smell? Are we fighting terrorism or Islam?
posted by nofundy (16 comments total)

Why would we hunt down terrorists that contribute vast sums of money and numbers of votes to Republican candidates? That's just crazy talk...
posted by JollyWanker at 7:56 AM on September 13, 2004

Yeah. It's not a war on Islam. Not in the least; they're just convenient villain-types.

It's a power grab. That "with us or against us" war-drums speech George gives every so often isn't about America at all. It's about the Republican Party itself.

Is that cynical? Probably. But incidents like this one don't exactly prove that viewpoint wrong.
posted by chicobangs at 7:59 AM on September 13, 2004

Meanwhile, the Bush family have a history of aiding, abetting, and associating with known terrorists. (more on this, and more and more - "George W. Bush named Otto Reich as his assistant secretary of state for Western hemisphere affairs--despite Reich’s longstanding ties to anti-Castro terrorist Orlando Bosch")



Here is a Orlando Bosch’s terrorist curriculum vitae

- one of the most extensive terrorist resumes in the 20th Century. Something on the order of 100 separate terrorist bombings, and murders have been attributed to Bosch - including planting the bomb that blew up a Cuban airliner in 1976.



By George W. Bush's definition of terrorism, there are, in fact, terrorists within his own family !
posted by troutfishing at 8:21 AM on September 13, 2004

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THOSE TERRORISTS!
posted by brownpau at 8:31 AM on September 13, 2004

Who's a "freedom fighter" and who's a "terrorist" usually depends on the political sympathies of who's doing the describing. I say all zealots need to be mistrusted on general principles. Guys like this one are a good reaon why.
posted by jonmc at 8:32 AM on September 13, 2004

nofundy - We seem to be (or some of us USians anyway) fighting Islam, so I guess Mr. Bush mispoke then, all those countless times he's talked of terrorism and the War On Terror™.

He actually meant to say, all along, "Islamic Terrorism" and "The War On Islamic Terrorism".

: Because, Cuban-American terrorists with a track record miles and decades long and who have left trails of mangled, burned and exploded bodies in their wake are OK by Mr. Bush.

Those sorts can enter the US. They're OK.

But 77 year old Ibrahim Ferrer and five bandmates, nominated for Grammies, of "Buena Vista Social Club" fame are shit out of luck. [ mefi 31207 ] It just goes to show 'ya - it ain't who you are or what you do, it's who you know !

At least, that principle has always worked for George W.
posted by troutfishing at 8:34 AM on September 13, 2004

Oh, and - in the above comment - I was referring to the substantiating links I just posted, about Orlando Bosch and other Cuban-American terrorists with longstanding ties to the Bush family.
posted by troutfishing at 8:36 AM on September 13, 2004

Are we fighting terrorism or Islam?

I don’t think those are the only two options really.
posted by ed\26h at 8:41 AM on September 13, 2004

Please remember that there are no underlying ethics at work in the Bush junta.

It's all about partisanship, not principle.

Once you grasp that little fact, everything else they do makes perfect, terrifying sense.
posted by Blue Stone at 8:46 AM on September 13, 2004

Wasn't there an American-born white supremacist who recently got merely a few years' imprisonment (less than 10) for having planned and equipped himself for a large-scale cyanide attack in Texas? I don't recall that the Dept. of Justice took any actions against the judge.

It's hard to take Bush or his administration seriously at all on the subject of terrorism, especially when you consider the ties between his family and the Saudi government, which funds extremist Islamic institutions to the tune of billions a years.
posted by clevershark at 9:31 AM on September 13, 2004

clevershark - that would be William Krar, who got eleven years :

"-- The sodium cyanide device was fully functional and could have killed anyone "within a 30,000 square-foot facility."

-- Krar's stockpile contained more than 100 explosives, including 60 fully functional pipe bombs, as well as briefcase bombs, land mine components, detonation cord, trip wire and binary explosives; machine guns and other illegal weapons; hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition; and racist, anti-Semitic and antigovernment literature, including Hunter and The Turner Diaries.

-- Krar was/is a bona fide tax protestor who has never been indicted for his tax-related offenses. He is from New Hampshire and has numerous ties to white supremacist and militia groups.....

-- Technically, Krar (who pleaded guilty to possessing a dangerous chemical weapon) faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, but in all likelihood will get only 10-15 years -- mostly because they never uncovered the details of the plot (if any) to actually use the device; nor was anyone injured by it

.....unlike the numerous arrests of suspected Al Qaeda militants, Attorney General John Ashcroft said nothing about this case.....

Had there been a news conference in Washington, D.C., featuring the Attorney General and highlighting the discovery of chemical weapons in the home state of President George Bush, rest assured this would have been a major national news story. For reasons known only to John Ashcroft and the public-relations department at Justice, the decision was made to not give this case the same prominence as other terrorism related arrests. Somehow, I do believe that if suspected Al Qaeda operatives had been arrested with a fully functional sodium cyanide bomb in East Texas this would have been all over page one. Now that Krar has pleaded guilty, and more news is getting out, this case is rapidly becoming quite visible." [ NYT Op Ed by By Daniel Levitas, author of "The Terrorist Next Door: The Militia Movement and the Radical Right""
posted by troutfishing at 10:04 AM on September 13, 2004

11 years... at a day and age when one can get the death penalty for drug smuggling. My details were a bit off, but it's still a slap on the wrist.
posted by clevershark at 10:29 AM on September 13, 2004

Ay, it is - especially compared to sentences for selling pot.

Marijuana must be more dangerous than Weapons of Mass Destruction but - given that a lot of pot consumed in the US is now domestically produced - the invasion possibilities are substantially reduced.

Unless, of course, we invade ourselves. Hey~! *light bulb goes off in head* Maybe we've already done that !
posted by troutfishing at 10:44 AM on September 13, 2004

*non-subcription link*

"MIAMI - (KRT) - Three Miami Cuban exiles jailed after Fidel Castro claimed they were plotting to assassinate him came home amid cheers and tears at Opa-locka Airport on Thursday after they were pardoned by Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso." Tallahassee.com
posted by roboto at 11:50 AM on September 13, 2004

GEORGE W. BUSH'S LOGIC

By his own logic - from his proven associations with known terrorists, George W. Bush is duty bound to arrest himself and - indeed - much of his family as well (the twins are probably innocent, but Laura...who knows?).

1) : Those who associate with terrorists are like terrorists themselves (proposition advanced by George W. Bush in various speeches.)

2) : George W. Bush has associated with - and/or his administration has consciously allowed into the United States - known terrorists.

3) : George W. Bush, by his own logic, is thus like a terrorist and so is bound, by his vows to the United States and to the American People, to discharge the duties and obligations he has been entrusted with as President......

To arrest himself and to prosecute himself to the harshest extent of the law.

He probably should strip himself of all legal rights and place himself in Guantanamo, under protective surveillance, to make sure he doesn't repeat the offense - of associating with and enabling known terrorists and so endangering the American people. He probably should also torture himself a bit, to see what he knows, because his publicly known associations could be just the tip of the iceberg.

As he himself noted, anyone who would associate with terrorists who make it their business to blow up innocent men, women, and children is morally suspect, and so the need to protect the American people would supercede his individual rights.

This is really quite urgent : he has associated with known terrorists and also has access to nuclear devices. Mr. Bush needs to send a DELTA FORCE team in to bust his ass, pronto - we're all at risk.

"....tens of thousands of trained terrorists are still at large.  These enemies view the entire world as a battlefield, and we must pursue them wherever they are. (applause)  So long as training camps operate, so long as nations harbor terrorists, freedom is at risk.  And America and our allies must not, and will not, allow it.......My hope is that all nations will heed our call, and eliminate the terrorist parasites who threaten their countries and our own....But some governments will be timid in the face of terror.  And make no mistake about it:  If they do not act, America will.  (Applause.) " ( George W. Bush, 2002 State of The Union Address )
posted by troutfishing at 5:09 AM on September 23, 2004

Nofundy: hope you're miserable on November 3, 2004 (although, I suspect you already are...)
posted by ParisParamus at 6:45 AM on September 23, 2004