Thursday, April 13, 2006
More of the standard U.S. hypocrisy
A couple of years ago there were a number of bombings around Caracas. Fortunately there weren't really any injuries but there was property damage and it appeared that someone was trying to spread fear and create an atmosphere of political instability.
Government investigators have since traced at least two of the bombing, of the Spanish and Colombian embassy's, to military officers who promptly fled to, you guessed it, the United States.
Venezuela proceeded to ask for them to be deported back to Venezuela so they can be charged. Of course, one shouldn't get their hopes up too much regarding this as Posada Carriles, who blew up a civilian airliner, hasn't been sent back to Venezuela is spite of an extradition request. So much for the war on terror.
But given that the Cuban lobby has no reason to be involved in the case of the two officers, Jose Antonio Colina and German Varela, one could at least hope the U.S. would do the right thing and send them back. Alas, no such luck. According to their lawyer the U.S. has decided not to send them back.
While not surprising I have to say it is an outrageous decision. Why? Because of the reasons given. Apparently the judge read a U.S. State Department report that said a military officer in Venezuela had been psychologically tortured. So the judge refused to allow the deportation on the grounds that the U.S. doesn't deport people to where they might be tortured!?!?!?!?!?
So I guess we can only conclude this judge has had his head up his ass for the past few years and doesn't know what has been widely reported, that a) the U.S. carries out many "renditions" whereby people are intentionally flown by the CIA to countries that practice torture for the express purpose of having them tortured b) Guantanamo Bay isn't exactly a Club Med destination and what goes on there certainly fits any reasonable definition of torture (certainly psychological torture) c) the U.S. imposes the death penalty which most countries long ago rejected as inhuman yet the U.S. still insists that other countries deport people to the U.S. d) do the words Abu Ghraib ring a bell?
Maybe the honorable judge shouldn't rely so exclusively on State Department reports that are B.S. to begin with and actually read a newspaper once in a while.
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Government investigators have since traced at least two of the bombing, of the Spanish and Colombian embassy's, to military officers who promptly fled to, you guessed it, the United States.
Venezuela proceeded to ask for them to be deported back to Venezuela so they can be charged. Of course, one shouldn't get their hopes up too much regarding this as Posada Carriles, who blew up a civilian airliner, hasn't been sent back to Venezuela is spite of an extradition request. So much for the war on terror.
But given that the Cuban lobby has no reason to be involved in the case of the two officers, Jose Antonio Colina and German Varela, one could at least hope the U.S. would do the right thing and send them back. Alas, no such luck. According to their lawyer the U.S. has decided not to send them back.
While not surprising I have to say it is an outrageous decision. Why? Because of the reasons given. Apparently the judge read a U.S. State Department report that said a military officer in Venezuela had been psychologically tortured. So the judge refused to allow the deportation on the grounds that the U.S. doesn't deport people to where they might be tortured!?!?!?!?!?
So I guess we can only conclude this judge has had his head up his ass for the past few years and doesn't know what has been widely reported, that a) the U.S. carries out many "renditions" whereby people are intentionally flown by the CIA to countries that practice torture for the express purpose of having them tortured b) Guantanamo Bay isn't exactly a Club Med destination and what goes on there certainly fits any reasonable definition of torture (certainly psychological torture) c) the U.S. imposes the death penalty which most countries long ago rejected as inhuman yet the U.S. still insists that other countries deport people to the U.S. d) do the words Abu Ghraib ring a bell?
Maybe the honorable judge shouldn't rely so exclusively on State Department reports that are B.S. to begin with and actually read a newspaper once in a while.
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