Posada again

Remember Luis Posada Carriles?

Here's a Miami Herald interview with the relaxed terrorist and former CIA operative in a luxury condo, published yesterday. ("At first I hid a lot. I thought the US government was looking for me. Now I hide a lot less.") Because of such talk, Posada has been taken into custody by Immigration officials.

I can't imagine they wanted to do this. Authorities would likely have been happy answering questions about Posada's whereabouts with an indefinite shrug. As recently as last week the official line stated they had no knowledge he had entered the country. But comfortable among the thugs, Posada overplayed his hand and embarrassed his old patron, the US government. And though he'd been a faithful servant, he was not such a player that he could get away with that.

He should have taken a cue from another bomber some pesky dark-skinned foreigners want extradited, CIA operative Michael Meiring. Posada should have told any inquisitive journalist at his doorstep something like Meiring told the single American reporter who bothered following his bloody trail from the Philippines, that "If this harms me in any way, you will find my power then, and you'll find out who I am." But then, maybe that wouldn't have saved him either, because Posada is not Meiring.

Posada can be given up, but Meiring can't. Meiring's crimes are fresh, and wave the false flag which is the "War on Terror." They happened in the Philippines which, like Pakistan, is an important and vulnerable node for the business which intelligence agencies and terrorist organizations conduct with each other. (Ask Terry Nichols about the Philippines.) The bombings implicated Muslims, and exacerbated regional tensions which the Bush regime and its friends wearing the brass in the Philippine military sought to exploit.

Posada's crimes, on the other hand, must seem like ancient history, especially to a people who don't know their history. And to those who don't even know their crimes, not even that.

But will Posada be given up? I doubt he will be extradited to Venezuela, which is the only way that question could be answered with a Yes. I expect it will be determined that, under "Strong Man" Hugo Chavez, Posada could not be guaranteed a fair trial. The hope may be that Posada can soon be offered to a post-Chavez Allawi-like puppet in Caracas. Whether such an offer were accepted or declined would make no difference; justice would not be served then. But Posada's nearly 80 years old, and the Venezuelan people will ensure that's a vain hope. So instead Posada may be held indefinitely, in comfortable custody. An embarrassment to the US still, just not as embarrassing as having the old killer strut about Miami, gloating in his freedom.

Meiring is more than an embarrassment. His case threatens the consensus fiction of the "War on Terror." So his name will remain unspoken.