Luis Posada Carriles

[Pangloss]

Interesting case. He was arrested yesterday here in Miami, which I think is a clear indication that he won't be granted asylum.

 

Some background here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Posada_Carriles

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/11672193.htm

 

In brief, he's an anti-Castro terrorist. Even if we take him at his word and ignore the Cuban conviction regarding the airplane hijacking that resulted in 73 deaths, he's admitted participating in hotel bombings in Havana in the late 1990s.

 

Unfortunately the fact that he can't get a fair trial in Cuba complicates matters. Our own laws prohibit us from extradicting him to Cuba for that reason.

 

I think what will likely happen is that we'll extradict him to another country (probably not Venezuela, though, for obvious reasons).

 

The real story here, though, is the impact on the Cuban community here in South Florida. A lot of them feel he's a patriot and should be protected. If he's deported, expect to see pictures of demonstrations on the news.

 

Just don't be fooled by the newscasts. IMO the majority down here think he's a terrorist.

[Pangloss]

Just to follow up on this, it looks like at week's end that the exile community has generally not embraced Carriles. No demonstrations on his behalf, no public outpouring of sympathy, no hue and cry at all really.

 

One local political commentator noted that this was in sharp contrast to what happened when Orlando Bosch, who was implicated in the same airliner bombing as Carriles, came to South Florida and was pardoned by the first President Bush. (Note that Bosch admitted participating in the hijacking, his famous quote being "All of Castro's planes are warplanes.") Bosch was welcomed warmly by the exiles.

 

The commentator went on to say that this would seem to be indicative of the changes that have taken place in this post-9/11 world. He would seem to have a point.

[RedAlert]

Just to follow up on this' date=' it looks like at week's end that the exile community has generally not embraced Carriles. No demonstrations on his behalf, no public outpouring of sympathy, no hue and cry at all really.

 

One local political commentator noted that this was in sharp contrast to what happened when Orlando Bosch, who was implicated in the same airliner bombing as Carriles, came to South Florida and was pardoned by the first President Bush. (Note that Bosch admitted participating in the hijacking, his famous quote being "All of Castro's planes are warplanes.") Bosch was welcomed warmly by the exiles.

 

The commentator went on to say that this would seem to be indicative of the changes that have taken place in this post-9/11 world. He would seem to have a point.[/quote']

 

He is anti-castro, shouldn't the US be supporting him?

[Pangloss]

Are you asking my opinion? If so, the answer to your question is "no". IMO that kind of thinking is why we're in Iraq today. The concept of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" is an inferior one. Something to be falled back upon only in the direst of need.

[husmusen]

In reply to red alert:

Osama Bin-laden was an anti-russian terrorist.

Was the U.S. decision to get the CIA train, support and supply him, a wise one?

 

3000+ people in NewYork would probably disagree not to mention all the rest

affected. Probably a few sailors wives from the USS Cole(I think).

 

Cheers.

[Pangloss]

Actually I don't have a problem with our support for the mujahadin in the 1980s in order to oppose the Soviets in Afghanistan. The difference there being that opposition to foreign invasion of an ally is very different from opposition to a foreign dictator who's not externally aggressive. We had some international support for our Afghanistan policy as well, and we could respectably defend that position on moral grounds in the UN. It wasn't a perfect situation (leading to our support for the Saudi regime, for example), but it was a tenable one.

 

The reason I feel that that kind of thinking is why we're in Iraq today is because of our support for Saddam Hussein just because he opposed Iran, which was not externally aggressive at the time (it was Iraq who attacked Iran in that war).

 

I don't like islamofascists any more than the next guy, but I think what we've learned from the Iraq situation is that invasion is not justified by internal differences (e.g. suppression of human rights). If we continue to take positions like that then we're making a unilateral moral decision that other countries have unworthy governments, and it's understandable that that would make people nervous. We should continue to diplomatically and economically oppose dictators, but military actions should come only with international support and general agreement (so long as those dictators stay within their borders and don't threaten us or our allies).

 

That is the mistake I feel we need to learn from, and it's what I feel that I have personally learned from Iraq.