| -Caveat Lector-
In a message dated 9/3/2004 7:13:25 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om |
--- Begin Message ----Caveat Lector- Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit[Outstanding column in the Washington Post. First one I've seen by a leading writer in a mainstream publication pointing to the obvious inconsistency here. Bush spoke at his convention tonight about the very issue of harboring terrorists, which is exactly what his regime is doing in the case of the Panama terrorists, and which John Kerry as yet hasn't seen fit to speak up about, either. Should be circulated very widely. This could be on the back of any leaflet about any new meeting on the case of the Five. -WL] The Washington Post - September 2, 2004 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57117-2004Sep2.html Where Is the Consistency in the War on Terrorism? By Marcela Sanchez Special to washingtonpost.com WASHINGTON -- It would seem safe to assume that individuals who have fired a bazooka at the United Nations headquarters in New York, served time in connection with the first state-sponsored act of terrorism in the United States, or actively participated in secret groups that claimed responsibility for dozens of bombings in New York, New Jersey and Florida, would raise many red flags when coming into this country. Or maybe not. Just last week, Guillermo Novo, Pedro Remon and Gaspar Jimenez, the men behind those and other terrorist acts, received a hero's welcome in the United States. After a quick flight from Panama aboard a private jet, the men flashed victory signs and smiled to a swarm of cameras in a Miami airport while U.S. authorities looked on. Hours earlier, Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso pardoned the three men and another, Luis Posada Carriles, days before her term was up, ending their stint in a Panamanian prison for charges related to plotting to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro in 2000. According to a court ruling in April, if they explosives found in the case had been used, they could have destroyed an armored car and everything within 20 meters would have felt the impact. Moscoso issued the pardson fearing rightly that if extradited to Cuba, as Castro has been requesting, the men would be summarily executed. Posada, an international fugitive charged with the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people, did not join the rest in Miami because he does not hold a U.S. passport. Instead, according to Honduran press reports, the CIA-trained explosives expert was dropped off in Honduras with a false U.S. passport. Critics here and in Latin America jumped to conclude that Washington had pressured Moscoso to release the men, citing the Bush administration's obsession with Castro and the potential political gain for President Bush in Florida. U.S. officials, on the other hand, responded quickly by stating they "never lobbied the Panamanian government to pardon anyone." Such talk falls into the old trap of conspiracy and denial, and obscures the larger point: There is something terribly wrong when the United States, after 9/11, fails to condemn the pardoning of terrorists and instead allows them to walk freely on U.S. streets. "Moral clarity is a strategic asset" in the war on terrorism, said Pentagon policy chief, Douglas Feith, in a 2002 speech. If President Bush frequently labels terrorism as "evil," he continued, it is meant to steer the world toward an unquestionable rejection of terrorism, regardless of its goals. The four Cuban exiles have spent nearly four decades in a rabid pursuit to destroy Castro, his communist revolution and anyone who dared criticize their violent methods. Whether by the fortune of powerful supporters or the convenience of previous tolerance toward certain acts of terrorism, they have more often than not managed to roam free to plan their next move. They can now add Panamanian presidential clemency to a bizarre list of achievements that have included foreign prison escapes, dropped charges, and commuted life-sentences. Times are supposed to be different. In his 2002 speech, Feith acknowledged the "unpleasant fact" that for the last three decades the world, including the United States, tolerated terrorism. In the post 9/11 world, he added, "no one who aspires to respectability can tolerate, let alone support'' terrorists who in the past may have been seen as freedom fighters. Perhaps Feith should have exempted people who hate Castro. Judging by interviews this week, leaders in the Cuban-American community, including former U.S. officials, have not re-evaluated their tolerance of terrorism. Simon Ferro, former U.S. ambassador to Panama, downplayed the significance of Moscoso's pardon, incorrectly stating the men had only been found guilty of entering Panama illegally. (They were serving seven- to eight-year sentences for endangering public safety). Francisco "Pepe" Hernandez, president of the Cuban American National Foundation, said his organization does not advocate violence but "we do not condemn those who fight and risk their lives to try to liberate their people." The U.S. government appears to be doing little to make them think otherwise. Asked again to comment this week, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher simply denied once again any U.S. involvement. In an interview this week with a Panamanian journalist Secretary of State Colin L. Powell himself said this was "entirely and internal Panamanian matter and I will just leave it there." Days before her term as president ended, Moscoso pardoned the four conspirators on humanitarian grounds, There is no argument here that Castro's courts would be anything but ruthless to the men. But must the United States welcome terrorists as heroes to avert further injustice? There was room for moral consistency. Washington could always persuade Panama to deny extradition to Cuba without having to now look so conspicuously acquiescent with the pardon. That would have demonstrated Washington's intolerance for terrorists and allowed Panama to prove itself a strong and unquestionable ally in the larger war against terrorism. But U.S. officials made a decision altogether different. (c) 2004 Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive * Search the NYTr Archives at: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ To subscribe or unsubscribe or change your settings via the web, visit: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ================================================================= www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
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