MB Civic

WASHINGTON POST

Free Ride for a Likely Killer

By Eugene Robinson
Friday, May 11, 2007; A19

The Bush administration says that its zero
-tolerance policy against terrorism applies
to all suspected evildoers, not just Muslim
evildoers, and that its zero-tolerance policy
against Cuba is a principled position, not
just an exercise in pandering to the
implacable anti-Castro exiles in Miami. On
both counts, evidence suggests otherwise.

The fact is that Luis Posada Carriles, an
accused terrorist who entered the United
States illegally and was taken into custody,
is not being kept in solitary confinement
and dragged out for occasional
waterboarding. As of this writing, he is a
free man.

Posada, 79, has long been suspected of
opposing Fidel Castro’s regime with
violence. He was accused of masterminding
the 1976 midair bombing of a civilian
Cuban airliner, a terrorist act that killed 73
people. He is also suspected of involvement
in a series of bombings of Havana hotels
and nightclubs in 1997; several people
were injured and one, an Italian tourist,
was killed.

Terrorism, our government constantly
reminds us, is the scourge of our times. So
why is a man described by our government
as “an unrepentant criminal and admitted
mastermind of terrorist plots and attacks
on tourist sites” looking forward to a
hero’s welcome in Miami from his old Bay
of Pigs comrades?

Posada sneaked into the country in 2005
and had the temerity to advertise his
presence by giving a news conference.
After some dithering, Homeland Security
officials took him into custody. He was
indicted in January on federal charges of
immigration fraud, alleging that he lied
about how he entered the United States.

On Tuesday, in El Paso — where Posada
had been held — U.S. District Judge
Kathleen Cardone dismissed the indictment
against Posada, saying the government
had resorted to unconstitutional “trickery”
in gathering its evidence against him. It
was Cardone’s dismissal order that set
Posada free.

Cardone found that in Posada’s formal
immigration interview after the feds
whisked him away in 2005, the government
failed to provide adequate translation of
the questions and answers. What the
government contended were lies about
how Posada had made his way into the
United States looked more like
misunderstandings, Cardone concluded.

It’s worth pointing out that this isn’t the
first time Posada has used his allegedly
poor command of English as an excuse: He
claims he didn’t understand what he was
saying years ago when he boasted to a
reporter of his role in the Havana
bombings.

So was the judge snookered into letting a
hardened terrorist walk on a technicality?
Not really. It’s more the case that the judge
refused to play along.

Cardone’s point was that if the
government really wanted to keep Posada
behind bars because he was a career
terrorist, prosecutors should have
prosecuted him as a terrorist. Then, faster
than you can say “Patriot Act,” authorities
could have made him disappear into the
netherworld of indefinite detention where
terrorism suspects named Muhammad are
kept.

I’ll wager that the evidence against Posada,
which I find compelling, is more solid than
the secret evidence against most of the
detainees at Guantanamo. But Posada’s
alleged crimes were against the Castro
regime.

George W. Bush’s stance toward Cuba has
been even more hardheaded and
counterproductive than the policies of his
predecessors. This administration has
tightened the travel ban, increased
economic pressure and made a show of
planning for a post-Castro Cuba.

Meanwhile, Castro (apparently recovering
slowly from intestinal surgery) and his
brother, Ra?l, are as firmly in power as
ever. The administration’s hard-line tactics
have accomplished less than nothing — in
Cuba, at least.

The zero-tolerance policy toward the
Castro government has been popular,
however, among the most strident exiles in
Florida — the old men who will greet
Posada when he goes home to Miami and a
comfortable retirement.

A grand jury in New Jersey reportedly is
investigating Posada’s alleged involvement
in the Havana hotel bombings, and it’s
possible that he will someday face a new
indictment. Meanwhile, our government
has given Castro another cause celebre for
billboards and demonstrations.

The administration is about to increase
funding for its broadcasts into Cuba, even
though they are seen and heard by few
Cubans because Castro’s people have
gotten so good at jamming them. The
message is that the United States opposes
the Castro regime but offers a hand of
friendship to the Cuban people.

That’s a tough idea to sell when our
government won’t call a terrorist a
terrorist — and when a bitter old man who
probably killed scores of Cuban civilians is
allowed to walk free.

eugenerobinson@washpost.com