Bush administration has set aside its principles for political expediency.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/21/opinion/21herrera.html?_r=1&th=&oref=slogin&emc=th&pagewanted=print
April 21, 2007
Op-Ed Contributor
A Terrorist Goes Free
By BERNARDO ÁLVAREZ HERRERA

Washington

AFTER the attacks of Sept. 11, President Bush forcefully argued that it was every country’s duty to fight international terrorism. He made the case that sponsoring terrorism or simply looking the other way when it happened were equivalent acts, and the United States would stand for neither. But holes have started appearing in that principle, courtesy of a single Venezuelan terrorist, released this week from a New Mexico prison on bail.

In early 2005, Luis Posada Carriles, a Venezuelan with a long history of violent attacks in Latin America, sneaked into the United States and was soon arrested. Mr. Posada had escaped from a Venezuelan prison while awaiting trial in the bombing of a Cuban airliner in 1976 that killed 73 people, including all 24 members of Cuba’s youth fencing team and several Guyanese medical students. This was the deadliest attack on a civilian airliner in the Western Hemisphere in history — until 9/11.

...........

Nor has Mr. Posada been charged with the 1976 attack, even though declassified Central Intelligence Agency documents indicate that his role has long been accepted as fact. Instead, he faces charges of immigration fraud, a travesty that could be equaled only by charging Osama bin Laden with entering and leaving Pakistan without a visa. Finally, Mr. Posada was released on bail on Thursday, even though he is an obvious flight risk and a violent terrorist.

Of course, Mr. Posada’s case isn’t the first instance related to Venezuela in which the Bush administration has set aside its principles for political expediency. Five years ago last week, the Bush administration gleefully welcomed a coup that overthrew President Chávez, replacing him with a junta that suspended the Constitution, dismissed the National Assembly and dissolved the Supreme Court. Thankfully, the Venezuelan people ensured that their democratically elected president was returned to power two days later.

Just as the Bush administration’s support for the Venezuelan junta undermined its pledge to uphold and promote democracy around the world, allowing Mr. Posada to avoid prosecution for a vicious attack he can credibly be accused of masterminding throws into doubt the sincerity of President Bush’s war on terrorism. Mr. Posada is a terrorist, regardless of the cause he fought for or the allies he might have. The Bush administration’s foot-dragging on his extradition and its failure to even classify him as a terrorist is unconscionable............

....for the presidency back in 2000, that is George Bush's MO!

:sarcasm:

:puke:

Perhaps their principles don't align with anyone else's in the world?

I think their principles, morals, and ethics are pretty much non-existent.

and do what they say they will do.

:eyes:

"Terrorist" entered the American lexicon thanks to Ronald Reagan's "Sandinistas are closing in on the Texas border" myth.

(DU discussion here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x503712#504746)

First of all a deconstruction--the Bush adminsitration just pretended to be principled for political expediency from the very inception.

Second, the use of the term "terrorist" is a fluid mechanism for labeling "political enemy" with a term that is less controvertible to its actual designation. This case clearly illustrates what underlies the designation, and whose political enemies are included in the designation by whom.

Third, lumping enemies of Bush's far-right-wing political agenda with enemies of a stable political world order does a disservice to reason and to the promulgation of stability and peace. The last thing we need is for those in other parts of the world who oppose the actions of this administration to equate Bush's agenda with the cherished hope of Americans and people everywhere for true stability in the world. The current instability in Iraq epitomizes this incongruity. Bush has given those who oppose American interventions in other parts of the world an excuse to participate in the destabilization.

"Terrorist" is little more than a cheap, rhetorical simplification and political tool. Naming names is a better means of dealing with reality. Actions are the product of individuals. Individuals decide to invade other countries, as did Saddam and Bush, and individuals act against civilized order and against occupations. There are individuals behind all acts of violence. Lumping them under a single, vehement rhetorical banner is a disservice to resolution of conflicts.

Fourth, there still are no Sandinistas "terrorists" invading the Texas border.