Bush: Blind eye as terrorists entered US

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-20-2003
Bush: Blind eye as terrorists entered US
18
Mon, 09-13-2004 - 1:27am
Amid Cheers, Terrorists Have Landed in the U.S.

* To curry favor with Cuban Americans, Bush turns a blind eye.



By Julia E. Sweig and Peter Kornbluh, Julia E. Sweig is senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of "Inside the Cuban Revolution." Peter Kornbluh is the author of "Bay of Pigs Declassified."

WASHINGTON — A little-noticed but chilling scene at Opa-locka Airport outside Miami last month demonstrates that the Bush administration's commitment to fighting international terrorism can be overtaken by presidential politics — even if that means admitting known terrorists onto U.S. soil.

That's what happened when outgoing Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso inexplicably pardoned four Cuban exiles convicted of "endangering public safety" for their role in an assassination plot against Fidel Castro during a 2000 international summit in Panama.

After their release, three of the four immediately flew via private jet to Miami, where they were greeted with a cheering fiesta organized by the hard-line anti-Castro community. Federal officials briefly interviewed the pardoned men — all holders of U.S. passports — and then let them go their way.

The fourth man, Luis Posada Carriles, was the most notorious member of this anti-Castro cell. He is an escapee from a prison in Venezuela, where he was incarcerated for blowing up an Air Cubana passenger plane in 1976, killing 73. He also admitted plotting six hotel bombings in Havana that killed one tourist and injured 11 others in 1997. Posada has gone into hiding in Honduras while seeking a Central American country that will harbor him, prompting Honduran President Ricardo Maduro to demand an explanation from the Bush administration on how a renowned terrorist could enter his country using a false U.S. passport.

The terrorist backgrounds of Posada's three comrades-in-arms are as well documented as their leader's. Guillermo Novo once fired a bazooka at the U.N. building; in February 1979, he was convicted and sentenced to 40 years for conspiracy in the 1976 assassination of former Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier and his American colleague, Ronni Moffitt, in Washington. (His conviction was subsequently vacated on a legal technicality.) Gaspar Jimenez was convicted and imprisoned in Mexico in 1977 for murdering a Cuban consulate official; he was released by authorities in 1983. Pedro Remon received a 10-year sentence in 1986 for conspiring to kill Cuba's ambassador to the United Nations in 1980. These are violent men. Panamanian prosecutors said they had planned to detonate 33 pounds of explosives while Castro was speaking at a university in Panama. Had they not been intercepted by the authorities, the blast not only would have killed the Cuban president but quite possibly hundreds of others gathered to hear him speak during the inter-American summit.

For a small but powerful minority in the Cuban American community, the Posada gang are freedom fighters. But Sept. 11 taught the rest of us about the danger of political fanatics who seek to rationalize their violence. To uphold his oft-stated principle that no nation can be neutral in the war on terrorism, shouldn't President Bush have condemned Moscoso's decision to release these terrorists? To protect the sanctity of U.S. borders and the security of Americans, shouldn't the administration have taken all available steps to keep known terrorists out of the United States?

But Florida is crucial to Bush's reelection strategy. Currying favor with anti-Castro constituents in Miami appears to trump the president's anti-terrorism principles. So far, not a single White House, State Department or Homeland Security official has expressed outrage at Panama's decision to put terrorists back on the world's streets. The FBI appears to have no plans to lead a search for Posada so he can be returned to Venezuela, where he is a wanted fugitive. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which has rounded up and expelled hundreds of foreigners on the mere suspicion of a terrorist link, has indicated no intention to detain and deport Novo, Jimenez and Remon.

In June, the White House seemed to have maxed out on pandering to hard-line Cuban exiles when it virtually eliminated family visits and remittances to Cuba as part of a new initiative to undermine Castro's rule. But that policy has upset anti-Castro moderates in both parties because it criminalizes efforts to build family ties across the Straits of Florida, something a family-values president should support. In response, Bush's decision to accept the repatriation of the Cuban exile terrorists seems calculated to shore up support in the Cuban American community.

"I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world," Bush recently said in an interview.

But the decision to allow members of the Posada gang into this country, and the televised spectacle of Miamians applauding their return, sends a different and dangerous message: In a swing state, some terrorists are not only acceptable but welcome

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-sweig12sep12,1,2644811.story?coll=la-sunday-commentary

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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-12-2001
Mon, 09-13-2004 - 1:09pm
"I knew some of the republicans will make an assumption that dems will be unhappy if Bin laden is caught."

I can't speak for any of the Republicans because I am a Democrat. And as a Democrat, I will be ecstatic if bin Laden is caught, no matter who catches him. If it happens to be Bush, I'm not going to whine that it gives him an unfair political advantage, that's for sure.

Bev

girl in chair
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-20-2003
Mon, 09-13-2004 - 1:47pm
I am curious as to why you quoted from my post

"However, what appears to upset these people who sicken you is not the fact that the Bush Administration would find bin Laden, but that Bush would attempt to manipulate public opinion by hiding the fact bin Laden was captured until the time when it would maximize political benefit for his campaign."

Yet you didn't include the caveat I wrote immediately proceeding the paragraph you quoted.

"This is speculative to a large degree at this point."

You and I seem to be in agreement on the speculation involved on that subject.

Leaving speculation about bin Laden’s possible capture aside, would you care to answer any of the questions I posed to you?

>> I am astounded that some people actually consider their allegiance to a political party more important than the greater good. <<

What do you have to say about Bush turning a blind eye to terrorists entering Florida last month?

Did political interests trump Bush's rhetoric in the fight against terrorists?

"I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world”.

Does that type of crass partisan hypocrisy from the President sicken you as well?

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-12-2001
Mon, 09-13-2004 - 1:53pm
"Leaving speculation about bin Laden’s possible capture aside, would you care to answer any of the questions I posed to you?"

Not really, because I try to make a point of not responding to any of the stupid propagandist crap that is posted here, though admittedly there have been times when my reactive nature has overtaken my better judgment. But if you're asking about my own particular allegiance to a political party, I have none (though I am a registered Democrat).

Bev


Edited 9/13/2004 1:58 pm ET ET by bgs3

girl in chair
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2003
Mon, 09-13-2004 - 2:13pm
Okay,

Let me correct myself. Not republicans but Bush supporters will say that Kerry supporters will be unhappy if OBL is caught.
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-20-2003
Mon, 09-13-2004 - 3:35pm
IMO

Bush supporters tend to share a common trait with the object of their affection.

Tough questions and careful analysis are meant to be avoided.

It's comforting to see the world in black & white.

They are proud of his administration's 4.54% success rate in capturing the world's most wanted terrorists.

http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-elpoliticsto&msg=4031.1&ctx=128

Doubling that success rate to 9% by capturing bin Laden would send them over the moon.

I myself would be extremely happy to see bin Laden in chains.

It won't change my opinion of Bush and the neocons.

New terrorists are being created in Iraq everyday thanks to their misguided policies.
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-20-2003
Mon, 09-13-2004 - 3:41pm
I've noticed that no one in the Bush camp on the board seems to care that he allowed terrorists into the United States last month.

Is their rhetoric on this subject as hollow as his?
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2003
Mon, 09-13-2004 - 4:24pm
Thanks for your opinion and thanks for having an intelligent conversation with me.
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2003
Mon, 09-13-2004 - 4:27pm
It is sad, isn't it. Also ironic that most of them say they will support Bush because he is tough on terrorism(they do beleive it from the bottom of their heart) and fail to accept the facts when presented to them. Bush is defintely soft on terrorism.

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