*Achoo!* Excuse me, I'm allergic to irony.
May 8, 2007 8:22 PM   Subscribe

"Venezuela and Cuba have both asked that Posada be extradited, but an immigration judge in September 2005 ruled he could not be sent to either country out of concern he might face torture there." Luis Posada is a free man today. A graduate of the notorious School of the Americas, he is wanted for various acts of terrorism in a number of Latin American countries.
posted by mullingitover (38 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Do as I say, not as I do...say what?
posted by taosbat at 8:44 PM on May 8, 2007


Man - this really pisses me off. Why is this man and his buddy Orlando Bosch walking free in this country that is supposedly serious about the "war on terror" - will someone in the whitehouse press corps stand up and ask Tony Snow a real question about this hipocrisy?
posted by specialk420 at 8:52 PM on May 8, 2007


Terrorism: Political violence by non-state actors against the US or her allies.

Fixed. Next.
posted by pompomtom at 9:03 PM on May 8, 2007


Speaking of terrorism: 6 held on terror conspiracy charges in N.J.

Thankfully, they appear to be morons.
posted by homunculus at 9:10 PM on May 8, 2007


Proof, yet again, that the administration's motives have nothing whatsoever to do with fighting terrorism.
posted by Malor at 9:17 PM on May 8, 2007


I gave up on seeing anything happen to Bosch in my lifetime. Great job, journalist dudes!
posted by 2sheets at 9:19 PM on May 8, 2007


Careful, the unofficial Metafilter police will tell you that you shouldn't talk about this stuff.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:19 PM on May 8, 2007


he's hitting so well though...
posted by quarter waters and a bag of chips at 9:28 PM on May 8, 2007


well, they can't send him to guantamano ... he's cuban
posted by pyramid termite at 10:01 PM on May 8, 2007


The USA's reputation 'round the world is dying through "Death by a Thousand Cuts."
posted by five fresh fish at 11:02 PM on May 8, 2007


The USA's reputation 'round the world is dying through "Death by a Thousand Cuts."
posted by five fresh fish


Say what?
posted by taosbat at 11:09 PM on May 8, 2007


Hypocrisy is rife. Of course, we already know it.

The "War on Terror" is bullshit. Obviously the hypocrisy in both releasing a terror suspect for one, and then to claim it's due to fears of torture. Jesus fucking Christ.

The story in Homunculus' link bothers me as well. Not because there was a planned attack. Rather, that once again, this is called "terror". Yet, if we are truly in a war, then an attack on a military base is absolutely not terror. It is a legitimate target given our own damn wartime rules (which we so willingly violate anyways...)

Whatever an attack on a military base is, if there are no civvies killed, it's certainly not terror. But boy does we like that word when it suits us!
posted by symbioid at 11:58 PM on May 8, 2007 [3 favorites]


Ok, you folks do realize that the reason that an immigration judge ruled on the matter is that the dreaded "administration" was trying to deport him, right? So now you're proposing that they ignore a ruling by a judge?
posted by Dolukhanova at 12:32 AM on May 9, 2007


I used to work in a Voodoo shop in the French Quarter. The owner was a scary ass motherfucker (not a Voodoo practitioner that I know of, most of the ones I knew being sweethearts), and he was an ex-cop from Brazil.

Sketchy, sketchy place at times, but what sticks out to me is one of the items we sold to the drunk tourists: a "School of the Americas House Blessing." Made out of ceramic. No one else at the shop had heard of the SotA, but it sure scared the shit out of me.
posted by brundlefly at 12:34 AM on May 9, 2007


I love it. A software cracker (UK-born, Australian citizen) gets extradited to U.S. soil for crimes against software, but a Cuban-born, Venezuelan national can't be extradited to either Cuba or Venezuela for blowing up passenger airliners.

I just fucking love it.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 2:00 AM on May 9, 2007 [4 favorites]


Dolukhanova, you make the point that the US Government was supposedly trying to extradite him. However, given that the same government has shown great enthusiasm for extraordinary rendition, or kidnapping as it used to be known, it seems strange that they are willing to bow to the wisdom of an immigration judge on this. The US administration has shown no respect for the rule of law in the US or elsewhere, except when it suits them.
posted by Jakey at 2:06 AM on May 9, 2007 [1 favorite]


It shouldn't surprise anyone as This War on Terrorism is Bogus...
posted by msquare at 4:58 AM on May 9, 2007


"Twilight of the Assassins," from the November 2006 Atlantic, is an in-depth article on Posada. He wrote a letter to the person who wrote the article.

6 held on terror conspiracy charges in N.J.

Whoa. I thought we were fighting them over there so we wouldn't have to fight them over here, and that staying in Iraq (AKA the Central Front in the War on Terror) was preventing terrorists from following us home.

Also, we've been told time and again that terrorism is a military threat, not a law enforcement problem, but these guys were caught by law enforcement. It's all very confusing.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:35 AM on May 9, 2007


Dolukhanova:

The issue is that the US government has claimed, for 6 years running, nonstop, shrilly, backed with deadly force, that the problem is terrorism. Luis Posada Carilles – a known terrorist – was caught illegally entering the United States, and released through the judicial process. Posada's terrorism happens to be against a country where the United States has tried, for decades, to remove the government by any means possible. Had he bombed an American plane and not a Cuban plane, he would be in another country being tortured right now. (Not that I support that; I think he could be handled by a life sentence without parole in a high security prison.) Instead, he is going free. How can this be called anything but hypocrisy?
posted by graymouser at 6:52 AM on May 9, 2007


Actually, it sounds like Judge Cardone made the right call because the gov't used insanely unfair tactics to try to catch Posada during an immigration interview. The judge saw rightly saw the interview as a pretext for a criminal interrogation, and in that context Posada did not have his rights as a criminal suspect protected.

So, this actually seems to resemble everything else in the War on Terra: the US govt using unconstituitional tactics to get the terrarists. It's great that the judge forcefully rebuked the government, even if you don't like the particular terror suspect in this case.

The big question is, why did the US govt decide to go hard against Posada at this point?
posted by footnote at 7:45 AM on May 9, 2007


taosbat: the sum of the actions of the USA has become greater than the component parts.

World news and global opinion being what it is these days, every fuckup by the USA is bleeding its reputation. Any one fuckup would have neglible effect... but there are thousands of little cuts.

Unless radical change happens with the next election, it is going to be a long, long time before anyone trusts the USA again.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:10 AM on May 9, 2007


footnote - if Posada went to trial in the US he would totally blow the whistle on his criminal and murderous activities aided and abetted by US government funds and personnel.
posted by adamvasco at 8:13 AM on May 9, 2007


""Venezuela and Cuba have both asked that Posada be extradited, but an immigration judge in September 2005 ruled he could not be sent to either country out of concern he might face torture there.""

We know, because c'mon, even we torture people in Cuba.
posted by klangklangston at 8:47 AM on May 9, 2007


In Panama, he was convicted of plotting with three Cuban exiles to kill Castro while the leader was visiting Panama in 2000. He later received a presidential pardon

received a presidential pardon? that sounds really weird to me. why would cuba be so anxious to get him when they've already let him go? also kind of makes the argument that he'll make some statement against the u.s. a little less convincing. the guy's been in custody twice, in venezuela they couldn't convict. if he was gonna spill the beans, wouldn't he have already?
posted by andywolf at 8:54 AM on May 9, 2007


The USA's reputation 'round the world is dying through "Death by a Thousand Cuts."
posted by five fresh fish at 2:02 AM on May 9


how true and how sad. Lady Liberty is crying.
posted by caddis at 8:58 AM on May 9, 2007


five fresh fish, I was surprised by the thought that we have any reputation left to bleed.
posted by taosbat at 9:16 AM on May 9, 2007


Andywolf, I think the article means he got a presidential pardon from Panama, where he was convicted of plotting to kill Castro, not Cuba. The Venezuela thing is unclear to me - he wasn't convicted, but he spent 9 years in prison...and then he escaped.
posted by rtha at 10:11 AM on May 9, 2007




I rather agree with footnote in his analysis. This is not a matter of the US administration letting Posadas loose (this time). On the contrary, it seems that they actually went after him and monumentally blundered in the process.

As a rule, when shit happens, I usually find incompetence a more likely explanation than malevolence. And it isn't as if Homeland Security hadn't blundered before in the War on Terrah...
posted by Skeptic at 11:45 AM on May 9, 2007


specialk420: "Man - this really pisses me off. Why is this man and his buddy Orlando Bosch walking free in this country that is supposedly serious about the "war on terror" - will someone in the whitehouse press corps stand up and ask Tony Snow a real question about this hipocrisy?"

They can't be terrorist, they are not muslims.
posted by zouhair at 12:35 PM on May 9, 2007 [1 favorite]


symbioid: "Hypocrisy is rife. Of course, we already know it.

The "War on Terror" is bullshit. Obviously the hypocrisy in both releasing a terror suspect for one, and then to claim it's due to fears of torture. Jesus fucking Christ.

The story in Homunculus' link bothers me as well. Not because there was a planned attack. Rather, that once again, this is called "terror". Yet, if we are truly in a war, then an attack on a military base is absolutely not terror. It is a legitimate target given our own damn wartime rules (which we so willingly violate anyways...)

Whatever an attack on a military base is, if there are no civvies killed, it's certainly not terror. But boy does we like that word when it suits us!
"

The worse of this all, is that the people of America do not get any profit of all this bullshit
posted by zouhair at 12:39 PM on May 9, 2007




The story in Homunculus' link bothers me as well. Not because there was a planned attack. Rather, that once again, this is called "terror".

Meanwhile, the MSM mostly ignores the story of the Alabama Asshat Brigade.
posted by homunculus at 1:30 PM on May 9, 2007


Pretty much the only guns and ammo not under lock and key are the ones carried by the guards at the gate. Get past that and the whole fort is yours to shoot up, that is until they unlock the guns and stuff.
posted by caddis at 1:40 PM on May 9, 2007


five fresh fish, I was surprised by the thought that we have any reputation left to bleed.

Well, true, the account is overdrawn at the moment, but I suspect most of the world still figures that you can be rehabilitated and start working with us again. It's not like you're North Korea.

More like the Philippines.
posted by five fresh fish at 6:29 PM on May 9, 2007


It's not like you're North Korea.

Nope, we're way better fed.
posted by taosbat at 10:06 PM on May 9, 2007






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