Terror legislation (and Cuban exile terrorist Posada)

[Mika]

Terror legislation
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/15750...

Thank God the United States will not send Luis Posada Carriles to Cuba to stand trial for his alleged involvement in blowing up a Cuban airliner in 1976 in which more than 100 people were killed.

Since Fidel Castro views this freedom fighter as a terrorist, Posada would be subjected to a mockery of justice. He would be exempt from the Geneva protections for prisoners of war, which means Castro would define what treatment is torture. He also would be exempt from habeas corpus and could languish endlessly in jail.

If brought to trial he would not be tried in public by a jury of his peers, but tried by a secret tribunal. If the government felt like it, Posada could be barred from attending his own trial and examining the evidence against him. Confessions resulting from torture would be admitted, as would hearsay. Posada could not appeal the verdict or the sentence except to Castro.

Oops -- my bad! That's not Castro's system, that's the anti-terrorist bill the Congress just passed and President Bush signed into law. Never mind.

SAM FIELDS, Plantation