Harboring a terrorist

Kevin Drum points us to the story at Opinio Juris of Luis Possada Carilles, a terrorist who is being protected by the Bush Administration:

President Bush has often insisted that “if you harbor a terrorist, you’re equally as guilty as the terrorists.” In that regard, it’s instructive to consider the ongoing extradition battle between Venezuela and the United States over Luis Posada Carriles, who is currently being held in federal detention in Texas. By any definition, Posada richly deserves the description “terrorist,” yet the Bush administration continues to protect him. Here are a few highlights of his long and varied career, most culled from declassified CIA documents:

• In October, 1976, Posada masterminded the bombing of an Air Cubana flight from Barbados to Cuba, killing all 73 people aboard. A few days before the bombing, a reliable CIA source heard Posada say, “[w]e are going to hit a Cuban airplane.”
  

• In 1998, Posada proudly told a New York Times reporter that he was responsible for a string of hotel bombings in Havana that killed an Italian businessman and wounded 11. “It is sad someone is dead,” he admitted. “But we can’t stop.”
  

• In 2000, Posada was convicted in Panama of conspiring to assassinate Fidel Castro (he had 34 pounds of C-4 in his possession when he was arrested). He was pardoned in 2004 by the outgoing Panamanian president, Mireya Moscoso.
  

Since he only terrorizes Castro, it seems that the Bushies love him. So much for principled government. After having said that, I'm laughing at the absurdity. Since when has this government ever been principled?