House hearing focuses on Posada Carriles

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

House hearing focuses on Posada Carriles
Democratic lawmakers criticized how the Bush administration handled the case of exile Cuban militant Luis Posada Carilles.
Posted on Fri, Nov. 16, 2007
By PABLO BACHELET
[e-mail]

WASHINGTON --
attorney for Luis Posada Carriles

Members of Congress on Thursday panned the Bush administration's handling of the case of anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles, wanted by Cuba and Venezuela in the 1976 bombing of a Havana airliner that killed 73 passengers and crew.

The hearing brought together Posada's attorney, Arturo Hernández, as well as journalists and investigators who have looked into the activities of Posada, now free and living in Miami.

The hearing was convened by Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight, and one of the sharpest critics of the Bush administration's policy on Cuba and Venezuela.

Both countries often cite the Posada case as an example of the Bush administration's double standard -- demanding international cooperation on terrorism but seemingly reluctant to press terrorism charges against Posada, presumably to avoid upsetting some Cuban exiles who consider him a hero.

Delahunt said there was ''compelling evidence'' implicating Posada in the airplane bombing and that he was ''bewildered'' by the administration's reluctance to invoke the Patriot Act and arrest Posada as a terrorist.



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/story/309678.html

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[Demeter]

1. More Proof That The Wheels Have Come Off Dubya's Red Wagon

Whoo-hoo!

[Judi Lynn]

2. President Bush, does the name Luis Posada Carriles ring a bell as you lecture Cuba?

October 25, 2007 at 10:48:55

President Bush, does the name Luis Posada Carriles ring a bell as you lecture Cuba?

by Mary MacElveen Page 1 of 2 page(s)

It never ceases to amaze me how President Bush can lecture other nations as he just did with Cuba albeit to pander to the strong anti-Castro movement in Miami, Florida. Let me ask the President has he lectured China concerning their human rights abuses? Of course not since we do billions upon billions of dollars worth of trade with that country, only to be sent merchandise that does not meet with U.S. safety standards and a country we have borrowed from to fund the war in Iraq.
(snip)

What right does Bush have in addressing Cuba when we gave safe-harbor to one of the most unremitting terrorists in Luis Posada Carriles as he will live out the rest of his life safe within our own borders?

I believe the last article I wrote of this terrorist was back in April of this year in which I accused the Gonzales justice department of setting Carriles free. As you will read, he was set free on $350 thousand dollars bail. This is the same monster who took down Cabaña flight 455 back in October of 1976 killing 73 innocent people aboard and many of them were Cubans. As we scream for justice for our victims of terrorism, Cuba has not seen theirs. I have been writing of this terrorist for several years now, but to no avail. I have even contacted elected officials namely my own congressman, Tim Bishop and I have not heard anything back concerning this monster.

Just before that plane went down, this is what the pilot screamed out in his May-day call, “We have an explosion aboard, we are descending immediately! ... We have fire on board! We are requesting immediate landing! We have a total emergency.” Yet the terrorist responsible resides safely within Miami. These were the acts of the Gonzales justice department and ones that are far more reprehensible than anything I can think of coming from the United States congress as they grilled of him emails and the firings of prosecutors. Those are small potatoes considering Gonzales’s justice department set a terrorist free.

More:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_mary_mac_071025_president_bush_2c_does.htm

[Mika]

3. Of the 73 killed in the bombing of Cubana flight 455, most were young persons & children..

.. athletes on an olympic trials tour.



-

[Judi Lynn]

4. Posada Carriles partner in homicide, Orlando Bosch told the Miami New Times,

There were no innocents on board that plane."

Yeah, for sure, Orlando. Just keep telling yourself that, you murderous old scum.







I know the two bombers/mass murderers will be happy as clams, enjoying their celebrity among the hard-right, radical, violent faction of the original "exiles" in Miami.

[Mika]

6. To think that some here in Miami revere these terrorists.

They are like Al Queda to Cubans in Cuba.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Terrorism Case of Luis Posada Debated on Capitol Hill

NOVEMBER 15, 2007
3:31 PM

Terrorism Case of Luis Posada Debated on Capitol Hill
Archive Analyst Peter Kornbluh Shares Declassified CIA and FBI Intelligence Reports With House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee

WASHINGTON - November 15 - In the first Congressional hearing held on the controversial case of violent Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles, the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight invited National Security Archive Senior Analyst Peter Kornbluh to testify on formerly top secret CIA and FBI intelligence reports linking Posada to the October 6, 1976 bombing of a Cuban civilian airliner. In his testimony, Kornbluh argued that the declassified records demonstrated that Posada had concrete foreknowledge of the bombing; was in possession of a surveillance report on Cuban targets that included the doomed plane; received coded messages immediately after the plane went into the ocean from the men who placed the bombs; and was quickly identified by multiple FBI and CIA sources in Venezuela as one of two masterminds of the attack that claimed the lives of all 73 passengers and crew.

Kornbluh called Posada "one of the most prolific purveyors of political violence in recent history" and said that the evidence in the plane bombing was "more than sufficient" to have detained Posada for acts of international terrorism under the Patriot Act. Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales refused to designate Posada as a terrorist and a judge dismissed immigration fraud charges against him last spring. Posada now lives freely in Miami, as does Orlando Bosch, who the CIA and FBI both identify as a co-conspirator in the plane bombing. "The United States now finds itself in the frankly inexplicable position of having not one but both men who our own intelligence agencies identified as responsible for bringing down a civilian airliner living free and unfettered lives in Florida," Kornbluh told the Committee.

Kornbluh was joined at the hearing by Dr. Roseanne Persaud Nenninger, the sister of one of the Guyanese teenagers killed on the plane. In her testimony, Dr. Nenninger said she wanted to put a "human face" on the victims of the plane bombing by talking about her brother Raymond Persaud, a 19-year-old science student on his way to Havana with a full scholarship to study medicine. She called on the Subcommittee, chaired by Congressman William Delahunt, to investigate fully how the Bush administration had allowed Posada to go free, so that her family and those of all the other Cuban, Guyanese and Korean passengers could finally see justice done for their loved ones. Ann Louise Bardach, who interviewed Posada for The New York Times in 1998 on his involvement in a string of hotel bombings in Cuba, also testified on her extensive research into Posada's many violent activities.

Kornbluh's testimony and the five documents that he reviewed for the House Committee were posted today on the Archive's Web site.

http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/1115-10.htm