I may have missed something over the last few weeks, but it appears that President George Bush’s “war against terrorism” is over. That was my initial conclusion when I discovered that the U.S. may be shielding a convicted terrorist and is considering giving him asylum.
To the surprise of many people and governments, the Bush administration is failing to speak to, let alone account for, its willingness to consider political asylum for Luis Posada Carriles. Mr. Posada Carriles, a fanatical Right-wing opponent of the Cuban government, has been linked to the 1976 bombing of a Cuban civilian airliner in which all 73 passengers were killed. He was imprisoned in Venezuela. He was subsequently arrested in Panama in 2000 for a plot to murder Cuban President Fidel Castro, and was sentenced—along with his associates—to up to eight years in prison (only to have it commuted by the outgoing president of Panama).
Interestingly, when Mr. Posada Carriles was released from Panama, he flew to Miami, where he subsequently disappeared, only to recently surface and request asylum. I would have assumed that he would have been met at the airport by an armed guard and either sent immediately to the prison cages at Guantanamo Bay like other alleged terrorists, or would have been deported to either Cuba or Venezuela to face prosecution. This did not happen.
So, there are only two conclusions. One, that the “war against terrorism” has ended. If that is the case, I am not sure who won.
My second conclusion is that the “war against terrorism” is—as most of the world apparently believes (according to several opinion polls over the last 2-3 years)—a charade to cover for actions against those the Bush administration wishes to act against.
Admittedly, the Posada Carriles case presents some unsettling problems for the Bush administration. Mr. Posada Carriles also worked with the CIA and was involved in the Reagan/Bush administration’s 1980s terrorist war against the then-Sandinista government of Nicaragua. Thus, one does not know what dirty little secrets Mr. Posada Carriles may be holding as some sort of bargaining chip.
It is also the case that the Bush administration has never condemned terrorist activity against Cuba, and has refused to cooperate with the Cuban government in squelching terrorist assaults against Cuba.
So, perhaps the “war against terrorism” is not over after all. Perhaps, from the standpoint of the Bush administration, it is more akin to the adage: “Do what I say, not what I do.”
That may work with children, but something tells me that it runs roughshod over the relations among nations—not to mention morality.
(Bill Fletcher Jr. is president of TransAfrica Forum and co-chair of the anti-war coalition, United for Peace and Justice. He can be reached via email at
bfletcher@transafricaforum.org.)
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