The Terrorists Among US

This piece was co-written with Peter Kornbluh, who directs the Cuba Documentation Project at the National Security Archive, a non-profit research center in Washington D.C.

Think of how angry Americans would be if Pakistan's government let Osama bin Laden emerge from his cave of refuge and take up open residence in Islamabad?

A scene just like that is the reality here in the United States where Luis Posada Carriles, who ranks in the top ten list of the world's most prolific terrorists, is living freely in Florida--despite his known involvement in blowing up a civilian airliner and other bombings and assassination attempts over more than forty years. Since May, when a Federal judge tossed out the minor charges of immigration fraud leveled by Alberto Gonzales's Justice Department, Posada has been enjoying life in Miami's hard-line Cuban exile community. The U.S. media has all but forgotten about him. His victims, however, remain seared by this remarkable injustice and so should we.

Today, after all, marks the anniversary of the mid-air destruction of Cubana Airlines flight 455, which took the lives of 73 passengers and crew, including the Cuban Olympic Fencing team and a group of teenage Guyanese science students on their way to Cuba to go to medical school. Their families will commemorate this day of loss, as they have for 31 years, wondering whether Posada and his co-conspirator Orlando Bosch--who is also living freely in Miami--will ever be brought to justice.

But for those of us in the United States, the case of Luis Posada Carriles is not only about a long overdue legal reckoning for the victims of terrorism, it is about the hypocrisy of the purported leader in the global fight against international terrorism now harboring a renowned purveyor of terrorist violence. "The United States cannot tolerate the inherent inhumanity of terrorism as a way of settling disputes," declared a 1989 Justice Department ruling that Orlando Bosch should remain detained or deported after he illegally returned to the United States from Venezuela. "We must look on terrorism as a universal evil, even if it is directed toward those with whom we have no political sympathy."

That principle was ignored by the administration of George H.W. Bush which, urged on by politically powerful rightwing Cuban exiles in Florida, set Bosch free in 1990. Following in his father's footsteps, George W's administration has politicized the Posada case as well, allowing him to go free and flaunting the credibility of the U.S. war on terror in the process.

Make no mistake, this former CIA asset and demolition trainer is a resolute and unrepentant advocate of terror. As early as 1965, declassified CIA intelligence reports cite Posada's operations to blow up ships and other targets, financed by benefactors in Miami. Documents uncovered in his office in Caracas link Posada to a string of sabotage attacks on consulates and travel agencies that did business with Cuba in the summer of 1976. Those same records contained information on the route of Cubana flight 455.

Indeed, the part Posada played in the first atrocity of aviation terrorism in the Western Hemisphere is especially well corroborated. Declassified FBI reports place him in meetings in Caracas where the attack on the plane was planned. According to a secret CIA intelligence report, a high level informant overheard Posada declaring, "We are going to hit a Cuban airliner and Orlando has the details" only days before the plane exploded after take off from Barbados. Confessions by the two Venezuelans who brought the bomb on board--plastic explosives stuffed into a large tube of Colgate toothpaste--and who worked for Posada, noted that their first calls after the airliner plunged into the ocean were to Posada's office. "The bus has gone off the cliff and the dogs are dead," they reported.

Both Posada and Bosch were arrested in Caracas. Posada was held in Venezuela for nine years for the aircraft bombing but escaped from prison in 1985. (He then went to El Salvador to work on the Reagan administration's illicit contra resupply operation.) In the spring and summer of 1997, he orchestrated a bombing campaign against Havana hotels and discotheques that resulted in the death of an Italian businessman; "That Italian was sitting in the wrong place at the wrong time," Posada noted in an interview with the New York Times a year later in which he publicly took responsibility for the attacks. "I sleep like a baby."

Three years later, at age 73, he was caught in Panama with 34 pounds of C-4 explosives, which he planned to use to blow up an auditorium where Fidel Castro was scheduled to speak.

After serving only four years of a prison sentence, Posada and three co-conspirators were inexplicably pardoned and freed; still wanted in Caracas for the bombing of flight 455, Posada became a fugitive once again. But in March 2005, he illegally entered the United States and surfaced in Miami, sufficiently comfortable in the cradle of the anti-Castro exile community to announce his presence to the media and actually seek political asylum. If Orlando Bosch could live freely in Miami, why couldn't Luis Posada?

For two months, the Bush administration basically pretended that he was not there. But this is the post 9/11 world. Massive and embarrassing publicity finally forced Bush's hand. On May 17, 2005, DHS agents detained Posada on illegal entry charges, and then indicted for lying to immigration authorities on how he came to the United States.

Yes, you read that correctly: one of the world's most infamous terrorists charged as an illegal immigrant. Using the counter-terrorism provisions of the Patriot Act, the administration could have certified Posada as a terrorist danger and detained him indefinitely. But apparently the Justice Department viewed his brand of political violence is different than those other terrorism suspects with Middle Eastern names.

The Administration could have also accepted Venezuela's formal petition for Posada's extradition. After all, Posada is a naturalized Venezuelan citizen; the crime was planned in Caracas, and he is a fugitive from justice from Venezuela. But Bush has his priorities: it is more important to mollify rightwing Republican Cuban-American voters in Florida who would view Posada's extradition as a betrayal and as a victory for Chavez and Castro, than to turn over a terrorist to the country that has a legitimate claim to hold him accountable for the first act of airborne terror in the hemisphere, a devastating crime.

The charade of detaining Posada on immigration violations has not been lost on the U.S. courts. Indeed, last May a Federal Judge dismissed the entire illegal entry case against Posada, citing prosecutorial misconduct and incompetence. Without even a slap on the wrist, he returned to Miami a free man, limited only in his movements by the ironic DHS decision to place him on a government "no fly" list.

To date, Bush has made a mockery of his motto that no nation should harbor terrorists and all nations should take steps to bring those who commit acts of terrorism to justice. If his administration will not certify and detain Posada for the international criminal he is, if his administration will not extradite Posada to Venezuela because Bush doesn't like Chavez, the administration still has one option to redeem itself: the Justice Department can indict Posada for the hotel bombings in Havana ten years ago for which he has publicly claimed credit.

The known body of evidence in this case is strong: the FBI has an informant who witnessed Posada's meetings in Guatemala where the bombings were organized, and saw a bag of 23 tubes of plastic explosives in the offices Posada used. Couriers have told how they were recruited by Posada associates to transport the explosives in Prell shampoo bottles and in their shoes. Federal authorities are also in possession of an August 1997 fax, in Posada's own handwriting and signed "Solo"--one of his nom de guerres--stating that "if there is no publicity, the job is useless" and arranging for funds to be "sent by Western Union from New Jersey." Additional evidence was gathered during a rare FBI trip to Havana late last year and presumably turned over to a federal grand jury which as been impaneled in Newark to hear this case.

With a new attorney general designate soon to face confirmation hearings, the Senate Judiciary Committee has the opportunity to voice its concerns about the way the Justice Department has allowed a known terrorist to go free. Retired judge Michael Mukasey, who is known for being tough on terrorism, should be given every opportunity to disassociate himself from the political contamination of this case and to commit the Justice Department to finally holding Posada accountable for his acts of international violence.

Prosecuting Posada matters. It would put our country on the side of justice for a crime that took place in Cuba that was inspired politically to hurt the Castro regime. This, in turn, would send a signal to Cuba and the world that Washington is serious about deterring acts by terrorists using U.S. soil as their base of operations. It would end a dramatic and hypocritical inconsistency in our policy toward terrorism. Moreover, the families of Posada's many victims deserve their day in court.

And, who knows. If we take the man known as Latin America's Osama bin Laden off our own streets, someone might just help us take America's bin Laden off theirs.

Comments

[aahpat]

As a right-wing these two monsters cannot be guilty of anything. Being right-wing means you are always right no matter how immoral you are.

That is life in America. If your right-wing your right. Everyone else can shut up and sit down because, unless you are right-wing, you are not a human being. You have no rights. You have no say. Just STFU!

[villastrangiato]

Justice? What's that?

In this here country - all that matters is which side yur on - yur eether wit us, er agin us.......

It's all about the payola. If you're willing to be a playah - pay the right people, take your cut, and keep your mouth shut - everybody walks away smiling - except the victims, of course. It doesn't matter whether or not the ship is sinking and the bulk of passengers are headed for an icy cold death - as long as you and your buddies have a lifeboat and the needed weapons to fend off the drowning victims who would otherwise swamp your craft.

In the end, this country is no better than any third rate tinpot dictatorship. Justice, equality, and opportunity are nothing more than a carefully crafted illusion. The only real difference is, at the moment - we have more money to divide amongst the playahs than most of the other countries. But that is rapidly changing.

[RAMHaiti]

Dear Ms Stephens,
The blog is a good way to expose the situation you describe but if you want to take it a step further and create a "face off" then you need to put demonstrators on this guy's lawn.
You'll then end up with your people on one side of the street and Gloria Estephan's people on the other side. This will attract all the media attention you'll need.

Its how Haitians dealt with the Emmanuel "Toto" Constant issue. He was living in Queens, a former CIA informant. He was eventually arrested for crimes other than killing and raping people in Haiti, but arrested nevertheless.

I myself am more of a blogger than demonstrator but...just a thought
r.m.

[repearwo]

The "War on Terror" is as inane and ineffective as the "War on Drugs". What we as a people - we can not trust our government to do this - must do is renounce violence as a tool to accomplish an end. We can not support violence in our "friends" and renounce it in our enemies. The world is slowly begining to understand how dangerous it is to be the United States "friend". Both boogiemen of late were at one time the friend of the US. When we no longer needed them, well one was hung and the other is supposedly hunted down by us. Fighting Russians Osama was our guy. Fighting Iran, Saddam was our buddy.

We mouth the words "all men are created equal" but we have very different attitudes when it comes to the rest of the world.

In the US we live by the rule of law. (Or used to until recently our laws were bent and twisted to suit the political needs of a few ) That means that we agree to resolve our disagreements by peaceful means sset out in a code of Law.

The rest of the world deserves no less. It is our place to lead toward that goal, not start endless wars that serve narrow intetests and kill a lot of us.

More Americans have died in Iraq - a country that did not have anything to do with 911 - than died in the events of 911. We must formly and clearly denounce violence and a means of resolving disputes and extending power.

[TJS]

The South Florida Cuban-Americans have become a potent "one-issue" political lobby. The United States would have normalized relations with Cuba years ago, except that any candidate who even considers such action incurs the near-total wrath of the Miami Cuban lobby. In recent years, the Republicans have pandered to this group, but even Bill Clinton pulled back from his attempts at modest reapproachment with Cuba because of the political power of the Cuban-American lobby.

The Miami Cubans are essentially a "one-issue" minority. Regardless of where they stand on other points, they are almost universally united in their opposition to even the slightest normalization of relations with Castro's Cuba. In this way, they are like the Jewish-Americans, who are politically united in their unwavering support of Israel. In both cases, dogmatic one-sided political pressure, from highly cohesive and organized special interests, pressures the United States from taking a more even-handed approach to Cuba and the Middle East.

[Stevelagain]

Sarah, this is the problem when your analysis is designed to smear a party rather than address real issues.

It was the Democrat party and Kennedy that created this terrorist.

From Wikipeida: "By 1961 Posada had relocated to the United States where he was trained in sabotage and explosives at the CIA's School of the Americas for an invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.[15] Though his squadron failed to see action"

So you democrats (CIA run by Kennedy appointee right?) brought this guy in, trained him to be a terrorist, set him lose on a sovereign nation....­and now you want to blame Bush? It's a collective failure, Sarah....t­here is plenty of blame to go around, going all the way back to the democrats sitting in Kennedy's "Camelot"

Maybe we are giving him refuge in part just so he doesn't spill the beans on Kennedy and what Kennedy's people sent this guy out to do? The cold war was a dirty war and the democrats were in power when we brought this guy in and wound him up.

[newunderground]

You mean, CLinton didn't do it? I think it's funny,and sad, and PATHETIC that for every bad action you guys must blame a Democrat, even if you have to reach back almost 50 years!Good one!

[MajorKong]

True. The Bay of Pigs certainly wasn't Kennedy's best day.

However, since we've recently decided that "Country X harbors terrorists!" is reason enough to bomb and invade Country X it might be nice for us not to be harboring any terrorists.

[peterg76]

The US is also harbouring Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, and they make Luis Posada Carriles look like an amateur.

The US seems to have incredible trouble with the notion that their government is hypocritical, but it's common knowledge in the rest of the world.

[Drill]

We all need to bow down before Fidel and beg him for his forgiveness! We are as bad as the terrorists! This is horrible.

Indict Bush Now!

[Zapatista]

Hasta la Victoria Siempre

Long Live Che Guevara - who was killed by CIA trained goons 40 yrs ago tuesday ...



"History will absolve me" ~ Fidel Castro

[Camilo26]

For a Cuban, it is sad to confront that the American Left will follow the kind of adolescent thought process that will drive them to side with Castro for the sake of sticking it to George Bush.

How else can one characterize an article that mentions Posada Carriles crimes while ignoring a list of terrorist crimes to long to be mentioned here?

How about the terrorism of condemning Hubert Matos, a revolutionary ‘Comandante’ an anti-capitalist Social-Democrat to 30 years in jail for the crime of denouncing Stalinist infiltration into the Cuban Revolution?

Or, the terrorism of slandering Comandante Arnaldo Ochoa with the crime of drug trafficking then summarily executing him following a trial that would put Stalin to shame?

Or, how about the terrorist crime of sending some Cuban Migs to blow up out of the ski a civilian airplane, flying for a Cuban humanitarian organization, because it was placing the Castro regime in a bad light?

Or maybe, the terrorism of sending the Cuban Navy to sink the tugboat ‘13 de Marzo’ while carrying Cuban women and children trying to escape the island with free education and health care?

The American Left likes to portray Castro as a Nationalist who was thrown into the Soviet Union Stalinist embrace because of the American Imperialistic arrogance. But little has change since; the Cuban people can only find sympathy for its suffering among the Republicans because there is not one single difference between reading the opinions of the American “progressives” and the totalitarian rant of Castro’s official newspapers.

Like we Cubans like to say, it is stupid to allow the same dog to bite you twice.

[SamThornton]

This is an interesting argument. Essentially, it boils down to "somebody else did it first," therefore Posada Carriles should be excused.

We see the same sort of illogic quite often from the right. I doubt whether many who propound arguments like this really believe them; it seems like they're more a rhetorical hook on which to hang other preposterous claims.

[MajorKong]

I didn't realize that we were harboring the Cuban Navy and Air Force in the United States. We are, however, allowing Mr. Carriles to live here.

[Donald]

I find it interesting how you repeatedly refer to yourselves as "we Cubans" even after living in the United States for almost 50 years, or for many of you, for all of your lives.

Now, it is perfectly within your rights and prerogatives to pine for the glorious days of the 1950s when President Fulgencio Batista (who took power in a 1952 military coup) and elements of La Cosa Nostra held sway in Havana.

However, since so many of "[you] Cubans" still apparently wish to regard yourselves as Cubans first, rather than the "norteamericanos" so many of you have become after a half-century's residence in this country, perhaps then you should henceforth comport yourselves accordingly as our nation's perpetual house guests.

And as an American, I find it to be exceedingly ill-mannered for such guests to repeatedly belittle a substantial segment of the host citizenry, simply because those "guests" happen to disagree with their hosts' policy positions vis a vis Cuba and the rest of Latin America.

If you don't like it here in the United States, well, as many of my friends on the right would say, you're most certainly free to leave anytime for somewhere else.

[newunderground]

That's the same tired excuses you fascists give for torturing arab prisoners.­.. Well Al Queda does it to us, so we have to do it to them? Did you never learn 2 wrongs don't make a right?
Sick, Twisted illogic.

[realitytrumpsbull]

Well, for honorable mention, don't forget Pat 'the assinator' Robertson shaking his fist
at Venezuela.­..

[leftionthenews]

For more about the case of Luis Posada Carriles, visit the website of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five: www.freethefive.org

[PADDYWHACK]

You've made one big mistake in nomenclatu­re,terrori­sts only work for the other side.He was OUR guy and therefore a freedom fighter and a hero,so there.A Republican Medal of Honor guy in fact.

[Spookcatcher]

This hitman, goon, and cheap thug has always been an asset of the Bush/CIA association. as long as these guys keep their mouth shut about the "family jewels" they can live among us.

[politigal]

The Republicans always support the rich & corrupt- & that is exactly the position the now "Politically Powerful Rightwing Cuban Exhiles" held in Cuba before the Revolution- They were the oppressors & abusers!
It is sending a sad & dangerous message to the world. It says we truly have no integrity & will only pander to our selfishly motivated power bases (& there are many!).

[RobertPaul]

But....but­....Clinto­n....