Delahunt on Posada Carriles

I do want to add that the best non-US Attorney questioning today was William Delahunt's queries about Luis Posada Carriles, who you might know as the international terrorist that a judge set free yesterday because of the incompetence of the prosecution's case against him (which had nothing to do with terrorism, it was an immigration case). There is documented proof that Carriles helped blow up an airplane, bombed apartment complexes, and attempted to assassinate a foreign leader. The difference, of course, is that this terrorist was trying to bomb Havana and kill Fidel Castro, and that the CIA trained and supported him. The DoJ has never attempted to label him a terrorist for fear that they would anger anti-Castro Cubans. Emptywheel gives the rundown of Delahunt's excellent questioning:

As Delahunt pointed out to Gonzales, under the PATRIOT Act the Attorney General retains sole discretion for naming someone a terrorist. Gonzales has sole discretion whether we start treating Posada with the same seriousness with which we treat young men from New Jersey caught training with paint ball guns to attack Fort Dix. Delahunt went further, too, reading the disgust voiced by the judge who dismissed the charges:

In addition to engaging in fraud, deceit and trickery, this Court finds the Government's tactics in this case are so grossly shocking and so outrageous as to violate the universal sense of justice. As a result, this Court is left with no choice but to dismiss the indictment.

While he didn't say it specifically, Delahunt seemed to suggest deliberate negligence on the part of the government in drawing its case against Posada.

Delahunt used the oversight hearing as an opportunity to confront Gonzales about why he hadn't considered naming Posada a terrorist. Presumably, Gonzales will be forced to provide an answer to Delahunt in writing. But at least in that hearing, Gonzales made his typical evasions, refusing to commit because of factors that he wouldn't really describe.