A Double Standard?
| "Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime." Those are the words of President George Bush in September 2001 in what I believe was the finest speech of his political career. This was when he laid out the rational that became our justification for attacking Afghanistan for harboring Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. Unfortunately sometimes the law of unexpected consequences kicks in. And that is what seems to have happened in the case of suspected or admitted (depending on your point of view) terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, pictured below.  For those of you do not know the story, Posada seems to have been involved in the mid air bombing of a Venezuelan jetliner in the 1970's. There is evidence to support the charges and Venezuela wants to put him on trial. Posada however is unavailable to Venezuela because he is walking around the United States as a free man. Now just how is that possible?Maybe it is because the evidence seems to implicate the United States in the bombing as well. Maybe it is because Posada was and remains dedicated to removing Fidel Castro from office in Cuba and the Cuban political lobby is very strong. Maybe it is because Posada was a former employee of the CIA. Whatever the reason, the fact remains that the Bush Administration is not moving to extradite Posada to Venezuela, despite recently declassified documents from the National Security Archive that point to his involvement in the bombing. 73 people died in that bombing. We are not moving to detain him as a known or suspected terrorist. And we are not pursuing any charges against him at all even though he is in the country illegally. In light of our President's own words of September 2001, why are we harboring this man? Is there one standard for the U.S. and one for other countries? You decide.   Labels: "Luis Posada", "National Security Archive", "War on Terror" |
posted by Dave Miller at 1:27 PM
Comments on "A Double Standard?"
-
Mr. Grey Ghost said ... (4:41 PM) :
-
Dave Miller said ... (7:34 PM) :
-
Anonymous said ... (6:30 AM) :
-
Dave Miller said ... (7:28 AM) :
-
Anonymous said ... (10:06 PM) :
-
Mike's America said ... (12:11 PM) :
-
Dave Miller said ... (7:54 AM) :
post a commentI agreed with going in Iraq because Saddam was a dictator taking out entire villages, he wasnt listening to the UN inspectors. he admitted to knowing about 9/11 before it happened and all intelligence pointed to him having weapons of mass destruction. Now, however, I'm just becoming more and more skeptical of this prolonged war. Granted I'm against Monday-morning quarterbacking, but the time for Iraq to be more accountable has long been here and news this seen here in your post makes me even more certain that we need to redeploy the troops, but not abandon Iraq completely.
So then the question becomes, how does someone express that in a constructive way, and not be labeled a "defeatocrat?"
That will be a big issue for the GOP moving forward as more and more politicians who will be up for election in 2008 begin to distance themselves from the current administration and their war plan.
So you are just now realizing that the United States is its own worst enemy? Pogo said it best.
Of course not Gordon, I just thought others might want to see the looking glass from the other side too.
Just kidding Dave. :-P
You think Posada would get a fair trial in Caracas?
The terrorists in Gitmo have more rights than a prisoner in Chavez's police state.
Fair is not the issue Mike. I am sure others don't think our treatment of people at Gitmo is particularly fair either. We all know he did it, in fact we probably helped. If we do not believe he will get a fair trial, then maybe we should try him instead of letting him roam freely around our country.
Is it not a double standard?
To quote a good friend, I expect more from another Miller!