Oil Wars

A few years ago following the attacks of September 11, 2001 George Bush gave a speech telling the world that they are either "with us, or against us" in the war on terrorism. That is, not only were people who backed terrorist groups the enemy of the U.S. but anyone who didn't actively fight against terrorism would be considered an enemy. Of course, most of us could always see through this, that the US would continue to look the other on terrorist groups that they supported. But still, it is fascinating to note their outright hypocracy on this issue.

Example number 1 - an article in in the Los Angeles Times on May 6th about a Cuban exile terrorist who has appearently sought refuge in the U.S.:

"CARACAS, Venezuela — Challenging the United States to make good on its pledge to hunt down terrorists, Venezuela on Thursday formally requested the extradition of a radical Cuban exile who is reportedly hiding in Florida and is wanted here in connection with an airline bombing that killed 73 people.

Accused bomber Luis Posada Carriles' April 13 petition for U.S. asylum has roiled Washington's already strained relations with Venezuela and sparked anger in Cuba, the target of the attacks blamed on him. The asylum request said Posada, 77, had managed to evade homeland security measures and slip into the U.S.

Posada is a Bay of Pigs veteran and collaborated with the Central Intelligence Agency in numerous attempts to depose Cuban President Fidel Castro. He is wanted in Venezuela in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner en route from Caracas to Havana. Many of the 73 victims were young Cubans returning from an athletics competition.
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Posada is also wanted by Cuba in connection with a 1997 series of hotel bombings in which an Italian tourist was killed and a dozen other foreigners injured.

In a 1998 interview with a freelance journalist while in hiding, Posada acknowledged involvement in those attacks. He retracted the statement after his November 2000 arrest on charges of plotting to assassinate Castro that month at an Ibero-American summit in Panama.
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One Cuban American familiar with Posada's asylum case said U.S. officials were encouraging the fugitive to leave before a formal response had to be given on his request for refuge or the Venezuelan extradition effort."

Lets look what we have here - a person who has quite possibly carried out multiple terrorist attackes killing scores of people. And does the U.S. immediately arrest him and extradite him to face trail for those attacks or at the very least jail him and get a known terrorist off the streets? Nope. Rather they encourage him to leave the U.S. before the the government has to respond to the extradition request!!!!!!

So what is it - are we with us, or against us in this war on terror?
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