Luis Posada Carriles, the Cuban-born terrorist who worked for the CIA, went on trial this week in a Texas court for lying to immigration authorities.
While he is wanted in both Venezuela and Cuba for his role as the principal organizer of a September 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed all 73 people aboard, the federal prosecutor made it clear that the Obama administration has no intention of holding Posada Carriles responsible for that and other heinous acts of terrorism.
Posada Carriles “can do anything he wants to the Cuban regime,” assistant US Attorney Timothy Reardon declared in his opening remarks Wednesday. The only issue, he said, was that he lied under oath during an immigration interview conducted in El Paso, Texas in 2005.
He is charged in an 11-count indictment with perjury, obstruction and naturalization fraud.
Posada’s defense attorney, Arturo Hernandez, insisted that his client has “always been on the side of our country” and that while he may have told some lies while seeking US citizenship, he “substantially told the truth”. He charged that the only reason Posadas is on trial is because he has become “a political hot potato for the government.”
The remark made by the prosecutor―who is a leading figure in the Justice Department’s counterterrorism unit―is breathtaking.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/jan2011/posa-j13.shtml