Inconsistencies in the War on Terror:
Why Extradite Hamdi Isaac and Not Posada Carriles?
By JOSÉ PERTIERRA
Counterpunch
August 3, 2005
The day after his detention in Rome, the Ethiopian Hamdi Isaac received the
news that he would be extradited to London. He was told in no uncertain
terms that he had no recourses available: no right to a bond, no immigration
hearing to attend, no administrative proceedings to delay his extradition.
It was enough for Italian authorities that he was wanted by London for the
terrorist attacks this past July 21. According to the Italian news agency,
ANSA, Hamdi´s extradition will be expedited.
Why are things so different in the United States? In what legal limbo can a
terrorist who is accused of 73 counts of premeditated murder find shelter?
What is the status of Venezuela's request for the extradition of Luis Posada
Carriles?
The inconsistency in this so-called war against terrorism is glaring.
Whereas Hamdi´s extradition to London will take place in a matter of days,
Luis Posada Carriles´case languishes, and after a more than a month and a
half the United States has yet to even name a prosecutor to handle the
extradition case in court.
The United States instead stubbornly insists on plodding along with an
immigration case, premised on the inconsequential charge of Posada´s visa
violations. The authorities want to hypnotize us with the immigration case
in El Paso, so that we forget the extradition matter pending in Washington.
They want to show us the undocumented immigrant detained in El Paso since
May, so that we do not discover the terrorist that they sheltered for more
than four decades.
A storm, however, may be brewing in El Paso. Washington didn't count on the
legal audacity and courage of a previously unknown administrative judge in
El Paso. A few days ago, Judge William Abbott told one of Posada´s lawyers
that it doesn't matter if it was the United States that organized and
planned his client's actions. According to news reports, the attorney was
astonished to hear Judge Abbott tell him that under U.S. immigration laws
there is no such thing as good terrorism and bad terrorism. Terrorism is
terrorism, period.
Posada Carriles´ asylum application is a Pandora's Box. From it spring, as
hidden demons from a bottle, the secret intelligence agencies and sacred
cows of American political institutions who, alongside local dictators,
unleashed a campaign of terror in Latin America for decades.
Despite the distasteful consequences to some, immigration law is quite
clear. To stand a chance of winning, an asylum applicant must testify and
tell the truth under penalty of perjury. To have Posada Carriles under oath,
answering questions about his life as a CIA agent, is his superiors´ worst
nightmare.
Posada has never been a loose cannon. He was a disciplined and key agent in
Washington's dirty war in Latin America. Will he explain on the stand under
whose orders he acted?
Will Judge Abbott be given as evidence the admissions that Posada made to
the New York Times in 1998, claiming credit for masterminding the string of
bombs that exploded in several Cuban hotels and restaurants the previous
year, resulting in the death of an Italian tourist. He is already examining
Posada´s record of conviction in Panama for the attempted murder of Fidel
Castro with C-4 explosives in a university auditorium crowded with students.
Posada´s testimony about these terrorist acts will be riveting and fraught
with danger for his accomplices and superiors.
It is evident that Judge Abbott wants to get to the heart of the immigration
case at bar, and we applaud the efficient way he goes about his job. But the
Immigration Court in El Paso is the wrong forum to hear about the crimes of
Luis Posada Carriles. It's an administrative forum within the executive
branch of the government. The maximum sanction it can impose on Posada is to
deny him asylum and recommend he be expelled from the country. It can
neither convict nor punish.
The Italians know it, and they instead promise to expedite Hamdi´s
extradition to London. The United States knows it as well, yet thus far it
refuses to begin Pos ada´sextraditionproceedings.Why
There is an arrest warrant for Luis Posada Carriles in Caracas for 73 counts
of first degree murder. Posada escaped from a Venezuelan jail in 1985 in the
midst of his criminal trial. The case against him is still pending.
The children, widows and loved ones of those who perished in a ball of fire
in that passenger plane above a sun drenched beach on October 6, 1976 have a
right to see him prosecuted for homicide. To try him in the United States
for immigration violations makes a mockery of their pain and is an affront
against the war on terrorism.
José Pertierra is an attorney. He represents the government of Venezuela in
Washington