The New York Times goes on to say:
Mr. Posada's case could create tension between the politics of the global war on terrorism and the ghosts of the cold war on communism. If Mr. Posada has indeed illegally entered the United States, the Bush administration has three choices: granting him asylum; jailing him for illegal entry; or granting Venezuela's request for extradition.But wait a minute, if Posada is guilty of plotting the Letelier murder, isn't he guilty of terrorism on our soil? We're talking about a car bomb in DC aimed at an exiled foreign government minister that killed two. It's the sort of attack we worry about today. So there is a fourth option: try the bastard for terrorism here (and for a fifth or sixth option, extradite him to Chile or Italy and let them try him for killing their citizens). The Bush administration can treat this guy as a terrorist without handing him over to Cuba or Venezuela.
3 comments:
Well, far be it from me to defend Posada, but while he may have been at the meeting, nothing else has linked him to the Letelier/Moffitt assassination that I'm aware of.
BTW, President Bush's father overruled his own DOJ's recommendation on Orlando Bosch and let this terrorist stay here. I doubt if the son, not having to worry about reëlection will fall far from the tree.
I think that recent documents show he was somehow involved in the Letelier assassination and it's an avenue worth persuing in an investigation, especially being that he is in the country.
Agreed that Bush probably doesn't have the political will to try a Cuban terrorist.
I was particularly impressed by this paragraph from the NYT article describing the DOJ's recommendation:
The Justice Department called Mr. Bosch "a terrorist, unfettered by laws or human decency, threatening and inflicting violence without regard to the identity of his victims," in the words of Joe D. Whitley, then an associate United States attorney general. Mr. Whitley added: "The United States cannot tolerate the inherent inhumanity of terrorism as a way of settling disputes. Appeasement of those who would use force will only breed more terrorists. We must look on terrorism as a universal evil, even if it is directed toward those with whom we have no political sympathy."
And Bush 41 let him stay.
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