Hypocrisy and the war on terror - Political Fever

Comrade Joe · #1 (**permalink**) 12-19-2007, 12:13 AM

Quote:

The release of United 93 has brought renewed attention to the tragic events of 9/11. Yet Americans are less familiar with the story of another jet full of innocent people destroyed by terrorists, Cubana Flight 455. On October 6, 1976, it was scheduled to take off from Barbados to Kingston, Jamaica. Nine minutes after takeoff, a bomb in the aircraft's rear lavatory exploded. The captain radioed to the control tower: "We have an explosion aboard, we are descending immediately!" A second bomb exploded, causing the plane to crash into the water. All 73 people on board died, including all 24 members of the Cuban national fencing team, many of them teenagers.

Until 9/11, Cubana Flight 455 was the worst act of terrorism aboard a commercial airline in the Americas. One of the men responsible for the planning of this incident currently lives within the country, and is currently applying for citizenship. His name is Luis Posada Carriles.

A fanatical anti-Castro Cuban exile, Posada has left a bloody swath of terror and destruction across the Gulf of Mexico. By his own admission, the CIA-trained and Miami-funded Posada has planned bombings of Cuban hotels, cafes, and dancehalls. Although he has denied involvement, strong evidence exists that Posada was involved in the bombing of Cubana Flight 455. CIA and FBI documents unearthed by George Washington University's National Security Archive place Posada among the conspirators at two planning meetings for the bombing...........

In a November 2001 news conference, President George W. Bush declared that, in the "War on Terror", there is no room for neutrality: "A coalition partner must do more than just express sympathy, a coalition partner must perform?All nations?must do something?[It's] important for nations to know they will be held accountable for inactivity. ?[Y]ou're either with us or against us in the fight against terror." It sounded simple enough: Bush had thrown down the gauntlet, declaring that those nations who protected terrorists or did not do anything to expel or arrest terrorists inside their borders would face U.S. diplomatic, economic, and military consequences. He effectively eliminated the distinction between passive and active sponsors of terror. Georgetown Professor Daniel Byman says that a regime is "guilty of passive sponsorship if it knowingly allows a terrorist group to raise money, enjoy a sanctuary, recruit, or otherwise flourish but does not directly aid the group itself." Again, there is a refreshing simplicity in this definition. Those who harbor terrorists, for whatever reason, are just as guilty as the terrorists themselves. But why then, has the U.S harbored a vicious group of terrorists for over forty years?

Posada's case is by no means unique. Ever since the Bay of Pigs disaster, the United States government has ignored Cuban exile involvement in terrorist operations against Cuba, and Cuban interests as well as violence and intimidation directed against American citizens According to the Center for International Policy, "Militant hard-line exile activities in the late 70s and early 80s caused the FBI to designate Miami the 'terrorist capital' of the United States. The terrorist activities in Miami included death threats, beatings, mob attacks, vandalism, extortion, bombings and outright murder." The same article reports 68 acts of terror in Miami since 1968, including the bombings of:

The Continental National Bank, where Bernardo Benes, who was one of seventy-five Cuban exiles who met with Fidel Castro to negotiate the release of 3600 political prisoners in Cuba, was an executive (in 1983); the Cuban Museum of Art (in 1988 and again 1990); the home of Maria Cristina Herrera, the organizer of a conference on U.S.-Cuba relations (1988- the bomb was discovered in her garage before it went off); Marazul Tours, which arranges travel to Cuba (1989 and again in 1996): Little Havana's Centro Vasco, prior to the performance of Cuban singer Rosita Fornes (1996); the Amnesia nightclub before a performance by Cuban singer Manol��(1999)?
Actions abroad have included bombings and assassinations directed against Cuban interests in Venezuela, Guatemala, and other countries. Yet in many cases the CIA and FBI did little to prevent these actions or apprehend the perpetrators. The documents in the National Security Archive's cache demonstrate that US intelligence had advance knowledge of the bombing of Cubana

http://www.freezerbox.com/archive/article.php?id=445

I am a bit curious as to what Americans know about this incident. I would be surprised if the average person had much knowledge of it. I cant imagine US citizens being entirely comfortable about hiding mass murderers who blew up a plane of civillians. Of all crimes that surely must upset Americans that this man and Orlando Bosch are protected by their country.

Look at what happened to Afghanistan for harbouring terrorists, if that is justifiable then so would bombing Miami be. Now dont get me wrong i dont want to see that and obviously the US aren't going to bomb their own country. But it would be justifiable with Bush twisted logic.

And a final point is that it was Jeb Bush who actually pardoned one of the bombers: Orlando Bosch. Makes you think there is no real difference with regards to terror between the US government and the taliban.

leviathon435 · #2 (**permalink**) 12-19-2007, 06:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hugo Chavez

http://www.freezerbox.com/archive/article.php?id=445

I am a bit curious as to what Americans know about this incident. I would be surprised if the average person had much knowledge of it. I cant imagine US citizens being entirely comfortable about hiding mass murderers who blew up a plane of civillians. Of all crimes that surely must upset Americans that this man and Orlando Bosch are protected by their country.

Look at what happened to Afghanistan for harbouring terrorists, if that is justifiable then so would bombing Miami be. Now dont get me wrong i dont want to see that and obviously the US aren't going to bomb their own country. But it would be justifiable with Bush twisted logic.

And a final point is that it was Jeb Bush who actually pardoned one of the bombers: Orlando Bosch. Makes you think there is no real difference with regards to terror between the US government and the taliban.

Something which has been known by Brits since 2001.

Comrade Joe · #3 (**permalink**) 12-20-2007, 07:55 AM

So should i think the silence means you dont know about this incident, or that you do know but are just too embarrassed/ashamed ?

leviathon435 · #4 (**permalink**) 12-20-2007, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hugo Chavez

So should i think the silence means you dont know about this incident, or that you do know but are just too embarrassed/ashamed ?

Trying to get a rise out of Americans because their government supports terrorism? Great idea but doomed to failure I feel.

Comrade Joe · #5 (**permalink**) 12-20-2007, 10:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leviathon435

Trying to get a rise out of Americans because their government supports terrorism? Great idea but doomed to failure I feel.

I was genuinely curious as to the level of awareness people have of the issue. The lack of takers does make me think people would rather just sweep it under the carpet, ignore it and hope it goes away.

leviathon435 · #6 (**permalink**) 12-20-2007, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hugo Chavez

I was genuinely curious as to the level of awareness people have of the issue. The lack of takers does make me think people would rather just sweep it under the carpet, ignore it and hope it goes away.

If only the same wasn't also true with most Britains.

Comrade Joe · #7 (**permalink**) 12-20-2007, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leviathon435

If only the same wasn't also true with most Britains.

too true

#8 (**permalink**) 02-17-2008, 03:26 AM

I heard of this person only through comments made in discussion here. I intended to google but haven't.
Things like this make you hate how politics works.

Comrade Joe · #9 (**permalink**) 02-17-2008, 03:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Viv

I heard of this person only through comments made in discussion here. I intended to google but haven't.
Things like this make you hate how politics works.

The 'free' media dont like us to hear about these sorts of terrorists - they would rather we believed all terrorists were muslims and communists, not friends of the empire.

Comrade Joe · #10 (**permalink**) 05-13-2008, 07:12 PM

The families of the vitims of US backed terror demand justice.

Quote:

Declaration of the Committee of Relatives of the Victims of the Bombing of the Civilian Airliner in Barbados

On September 20th, 2001, when the generous and hard-working people of the United States were overcome with grief over the loss of thousands of their children following an abominable act of terrorism, during an address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American people, President George Bush declared: "Tonight we are a country awakened to danger..."

The people of Cuba, sensitive to the pain of the relatives of the innocent victims of September 11 shared, as no other people in the world, in the grief and the feelings that gripped all US citizens at the time. As a nation, Cuba has not had a moment’s rest in over half a century, shaken by the constant fear of enduring new acts of terrorism. Shockingly, the terrorists who have murdered over 3,478 Cubans walk the streets of Miami free of all care. One of them even boasts of his actions and declares that his crimes do not rob him of a wink of sleep.

This monster, responsible for the deaths of citizens in three different continents, is named Luis Posada Carriles. On May 8th, it will be a year since he was set free in the United States, a country that claims to be the leader of a crusade against terrorism.

The government of the United States fails to meet the treaties for the struggle against terrorism it has signed by failing to try Luis Posada Carriles as terrorist. The government of the United States violates the extradition treaty it signed with Venezuela in 1922 by ignoring the request of the sister nation of Venezuela to try this notorious terrorist and fugitive from justice in Venezuela.

There is no shortage of moral reasons to demand the trial of the monster who ended the lives of our relatives. We feel genuine pride at being the children of a revolution that has preached respect towards human life through example.

This past May 6th marked 10 years since our revolutionary government alerted the Clinton administration, through Nobel Prize laureate Gabrial Garcia Marquez, of terrorist plans targeting commercial airliners. This timely forewarning spared us the tears of new, orphaned children, children who would have cried, as we did, over the death of our parents.

It pains us to know that five anti-terrorist activists, responsible for this opportune and life-saving alert, are unjustly imprisoned in US jails.

It is absurd that the mastermind behind the worst crime against civil aviation ever to be perpetrated in the hemisphere should be free in Miami, while federal security organizations, conscious of the extreme danger he represents, have barred him from travelling in US commercial airliners.

Posada Carriles, a confessed murderer and active terrorist, is given the freedom denied the five Cuban anti-terrorist activists.

Today, before the international community, we affirm once again that we shall not rest a minute in our demand for justice and that this criminal, who shows no remorse over his terrorist past, be brought to justice.

We demand that the government of the United States, if it is unwilling to try the notorious terrorist, accept his extradition to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

We demand that, if it is unwilling to meet its international commitments, the government of the United States publicly recognize that Posada Carriles is a terrorist it is duty-bound to protect.

This past May 2nd, the Miami-based Cuban-American mafia feted the monster, whom they referred to, significantly, as the "Champion of Freedom".

Mr. Bush, put all hypocrisy aside and stop lying to your people. Acknowledge, once and for all, that Posada Carriles is your terrorist-for-hire, that you require his terrorist services. On September 20th, 2001, you stated that unchecked terror can not only tear down buildings but also threaten the stability of legitimate governments.

Mr. Bush, you should acknowledge, once and for all, that you need the type of terrorism your administration perpetrates against Cuba to go unchecked. We know the reasons behind this very well, you yourself admitted to them in a speech you delivered on October 24th last year, when you stated: "the key word in our future relations with Cuba is not ‘stability’ but ‘freedom’."

More than three decades have elapsed since the abominable mid-air bombing of the civilian plane was perpetrated. Many of the fathers who survived their murdered children are no longer with us, having passed away with great pain in the hearts over the loss of their beloved child and the impunity that has surrounded the crime.

We make our Commander in Chief’s recent declaration our own: "neither the living nor the dead" shall cease to demand that terrorist Luis Posada Carriles be brought to justice. Let no one harbor any doubts about this: humanity’s thirst for justice is on our side.

WE DEMAND JUSTICE!

granma.cu - Declaration of the Committee of Relatives of the Victims of the Bombing of the Civilian Airliner in Barbados

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