Do not miss reading Peter Kornbluh's Nation article about the Bush administration's lack of moral calrity regarding Luis Posada Carriles. Here are some of the key points:
On September 11 a midlevel magistrate named Norbert Garney filed legal papers in an El Paso, Texas, court recommending that notorious Cuban-exile terrorist Luis Posada Carriles be set free. In response to a petition of habeas corpus filed by Posada's lawyers, Garney's twenty-three-page "Report and Recommendation" (R&R) concluded that the Bush Administration had failed to avail itself of basic legal procedures to keep Posada in jail. Posada "was never certified by the Attorney General as a terrorist or danger to the community" under the Patriot Act, according to the R&R, nor had the Justice Department presented evidence of "special circumstances" that would allow it to hold Posada for security or terrorism concerns. In light of those findings, the magistrate wrote, "the Court recommends that Petitioner's request for habeas relief be granted, and that [Posada] be released."
As Kornbluh notes, the Bush administration has not responded to Venezuela's request for extradition. Here's one very likely reason why:
(If the Administration denied the petition outright, it would be obligated under the 1973 Montreal Convention to put Posada on trial for that crime in the United States.)
Why would they not want to try Posada here? I'm only speculating, but I have little reason to doubt that it's because of the amount of dirt that Posada could bring out from his days working with the CIA.
For much, much more on Posada read this dossier from the National Security Archives.
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