TERRORIST ON THE LOOSE. Luis Posada Carriles, the Osama Bin Laden of the Western hemisphere, is now a free man.
A federal judge dropped charges against former CIA operative and anti-Castro Cuban militant Luis Posada Carriles on Tuesday, blasting what she called government "fraud, deceit and trickery" in an interview with Posada that led to the charges. Posada, 79, was charged with seven counts of immigration fraud. He was arrested in Miami in May 2005 after entering the country illegally. U.S. district judge Kathleen Cardone ordered Posada's electronic bracelet cut off in the courtroom Tuesday and cleared the way for him to return to Miami a free man. Posada's attorney, Arturo Hernandez, told CNN the ruling was "an incredible legal victory."
Erik Loomis wonders whether the judge's decision was affected by political considerations; she was apparently nominated by Kay Bailey Hutchinson.. I don't know enough to say, but it sounds entirely plausible to me that the government case was weak. Because of his connections with both the CIA and various anti-Castro exile groups, the government has been deeply reluctant to allow Posada to stand trial for what he actually did, which was kill a bunch of innocent Cuban civilians. The trumped-up substitute charges probably were quite weak on their own merits. --Robert Farley
