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Jewish World Review May 23, 2005 / 14 Iyar, 5765 Let's trade terrorists By Dick Morris
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
The federal government doesn't know what to do with Luis Posada Carriles, who is accused of helping to destroy a Cuban airliner off the coast of Barbados in 1976, killing 73 people.
Posada, who says he has been in hiding for 30 years, applied for asylum in the United States. His application was denied and he was arrested last Monday by immigration officials.
Fidel Castro wants him extradited to Cuba to stand trial — and has arranged for massive rallies to demand it — but some misguided members of the Cuban exile community in the United States see this terrorist as some kind of hero.
From Rick Hahn, a former FBI agent who is working on a book about the FALN (the Hispanic terrorist group) comes a great idea, one that would achieve justice, relieve President Bush (and his brother, for that matter) of a political headache and benefit the War on Terror. He proposes that we swap Posada for three wanted terrorists who are now hiding in Cuba: William Morales, Joanne Chesimard and Victor Manuel Gerena.
The three are a motley crew:
William Morales was the bomb-maker for the FALN, linked to several New York City bombings. In the summer of 1978, he blew himself up, sustaining severe wounds on his face and the loss of all his fingers on both hands. He was captured and convicted but escaped from a prison hospital. He narrowly escaped re-arrest when the FBI raided an FALN safe house in Chicago and fled to Mexico. When the Mexican police closed in, he killed a guard and was arrested and charged with being an accessory to murder. But, after several years in jail, the leftist Mexican government sent him to Cuba, where he now hangs out.
Victor Manuel Gerena worked for Wells Fargo in Connecticut and overpowered his two co-workers and took control of a truck loaded with cash. He made off with $7.3 million. Through surveillance, the FBI has found out that he is in Cuba, having given Castro $4 million in "rent" for the right to stay there.
These three lovelies are now hiding in Castro's haven. If he wants Posada, let him cough them up.
Neither nation should harbor terrorists, even if it agrees with their political orientation. The era of tolerating terrorism, even on behalf of a cause with which we are sympathetic, must end. Castro and Bush can join in a vivid demonstration of their commitment to this end.
Posada, thought to have been a CIA operative at one time, is an embarrassment to both President Bush and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
Part of the Cuban-American community is agitating on his behalf. By simply sending him to Cuba, we effectively invite his appearance before a firing squad (which he richly deserves). But the political situation will be too chancy unless he is exchanged for terrorists who we want to lock up.
And now that Bill Clinton is no longer president (and Hillary is not yet elected), perhaps they won't even be pardoned — as the other FALN terrorists were during the last administration.
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© 2005, Dick Morris
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Arnold Ahlert | |||||||||||
