U.S. welcomes Cuban terrorist (E Robinson)

[struggle4progress]

WASHINGTON – An accused mass-murdering terrorist has sneaked into the U.S. illegally and is skulking around at large. He is suspected of blowing up a civilian airliner in flight, directing a string of hotel bombings and plotting to kill a head of state. He’s already escaped from prison once.

You’d expect the Bush administration to ramp up to Threat Level Red, set the whole Homeland Security Department’s hair on fire, rush Dick Cheney back to his lonely bunker, scour the countryside until the bad guy is found and then advise the warden at Guantanamo to expect a new guest.

But no, it turns out that this is the drill only when the suspect’s name is Mohammed. When his name is Luis Posada, and he’s Cuban, and his alleged terrorist career was aimed at toppling or killing Fidel Castro, the procedure is different. You do nothing but wait patiently for him to surface and apply for political asylum. Oh, and you try to gauge the impact on presidential brother Jeb Bush and the rest of the Republican Party in Florida.

Posada goes by the unlikely nickname of “Bambi.” His lawyer held a news conference Wednesday in Miami to confirm the rumors that Posada had sneaked across the Mexico-Texas border and was applying for asylum. <snip>

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/editorial/11418368.htm