There isn’t much doubt that former anti-Castro Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles is a terrorist. There also isn’t much doubt that Posada is privy to some of the dirtiest secrets of our intelligence community. Working with the CIA from the early 1960’s on, Posada has been a US intelligence asset until at least the late 1980’s when he apparently assisted Oliver North in running guns and supplies to the Contras in Nicaragua.

Posada’s most spectacular crime was blowing up a Cuban airliner in 1976 killing 73 people, including the teenage members of the Cuban National Fencing Team. Recently released documents from the FBI and elsewhere show that not only was Posada responsible for planning and executing the attack, but that the CIA had gotten wind of the plot and that an FBI agent in Caracas had met several times with one of the Venezuelan members of the conspiracy.

Did we know what Posada and his partner Orlando Bosch were up to and not warn the Cuban government of this imminent attack?

No wonder Castro is pissed.

After the attack on the airliner, Posada was arrested by Venezuelan security. Following two trials, both of which ended in his acquittal, Posada escaped custody in1985 by bribing his way out of Venezuela perhaps with American help. He immediately showed up in El Salvador where he went to work for Oliver North in the Contra supply operation. He apparently was also tangentially involved in organizing and training the Salvadoran “Death Squads” that wreaked havoc in that tiny country.

Mr. Carriles wasn’t finished. Posada admitted to a New York Times reporter, that he organized a wave of bombings in Cuba in 1997 that killed an Italian tourist and injured others. Then, in 2002 he was convicted in Panama of plotting to kill Castro. Outgoing Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso pardoned him. He has ties to the Cuban-American group CANF (Cuban-American National Foundation) members of which went on trial in the United States and were acquitted in 1999 of trying to kill Castro.

The 77 year old recently snuck into the United States and asked the government for asylum. When Fidel Castro and his stooge Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez got wind of this they were furious. Castro’s government organized “spontaneous” demonstrations against the US and blowhard Chavez went on Venezuelan TV and ranted for 4 hours about the US being hypocritical in fighting the war on terror.

He may have a point but 4 hours? I pity the Venezuelan people that they have to put up with this strutting, overblown peacock of a man who in a few short years has taken what was once one of the freest nations in the western hemisphere and turned it into a virtual prison.

Recently arrested on immigration charges, the Venezuelan government has asked that Posada be extradited so that he can stand trial a third time for blowing up the airliner. The initial request was rejected:

The Bush administration on Friday rejected Venezuela’s request for the arrest of Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles so he can be returned to the South American country for trial.

Posada, a foe of Cuban President Fidel Castro, is wanted by Venezuelan authorities for his alleged role in the bombing of a Cuban passenger plane in 1976 that killed 73 people. The United States and Venezuela have had a strained relationship recently, with disagreements including the U.S. war in Iraq and Venezuela’s decision to buy Russian assault rifles.

Earlier this month, Venezuela asked the United States to arrest Posada as an initial step toward his eventual extradition there. Days after the request was received, U.S. authorities detained Posada on their own and charged him with illegal entry into the United States

The request was evidently denied on technical grounds. But this gambit won’t work forever. Sooner or later, the Bush Administration will have a decision to make. And that decision could have far reaching consequences for not only our standing in Latin America but also profoundly affect the War on Terror.

There’s no doubt this is a lose-lose situation for the American government. There quite simply can be no good outcome to their dilemma. If we hand the old terrorist over to Chavez, his secret police will go to work on him and probably extract some extraordinarily damaging information about his unholy deeds done on behalf of the American government during the last 40 years. The resulting firestorm would ignite protests from Mexico City to Havana and severely damage our already tarnished image in Latin America.

But if we grant Posada asylum or worse, send him to another country that doesn’t have an extradition treaty with Venezuela, we’ll either be guilty of harboring a terrorist or facilitating the escape of one. Either way, our credibility and ability to fight terrorism will take a huge hit. And if we send him to a third country that does have an extradition agreement with the Venezuelans, we’ll still be seen as hypocrites.

In this case, I think the Bush Administration is going to have to bite the bullet and hand Posada over to Chavez. Better the strutting peacock than the thug in Havana. Before honoring any extradition treaty with regards to Posada however, the Administration should get an assurance from Chavez that the Venezuelans will not hand him over to Castro. That would truly be a disastrous turn of events and must be prevented.

The Venezuelan judiciary is still semi-independent and would at least give Posada a fair trial – something that only a moonbat would think he’d get in Castro’s gulag.

It may be that the government won’t take this option and instead speed Posada on his way to a third country, possibly Panama. The Panamanians have already tried Posada but would probably turn him over to Venezuela themselves. In which case, we’ll only look like hypocrites – not very pleasant but the government may figure its a better alternative than having our dirty laundry hanging out all over Latin America.

Any alternative will do us no good in the short term in either our relations with Latin American countries or in the War on Terror. And while turning Posada over to Venezuela may seem like the worst option, I think in the long run it may do us some good. It will prove that we’re dead serious about terrorism. It will signal an openness that may eventually resonate with the Latin American people once the initial hub-bub dies down. And it may even have a salutatory effect in the middle east with our efforts at peace making and democracy building.

This is definitely a put-up or shut-up moment for the Bush Administration in its War on Terror. What course we choose will determine our credibility on the issue for years to come.

Cross Posted at Blogger New Network