I Like Beer
10-10-2007, 04:29 PM
Orlando Bosch is an interesting figure and his story sheds interesting light on the US definition and treatment of terrorists.
Orlando Bosch was born in Cuba. After the Bay of Pigs. Bosch ran an anti-Castro training camp for the Central Intelligence Agency in Homestead, Florida.
According to Marita Lorenz, Bosch became a member of Operation 40, a CIA assassination squad. One member, Frank Sturgis claimed: "this assassination group (Operation 40) would upon orders, naturally, assassinate either members of the military or the political parties of the foreign country that you were going to infiltrate, and if necessary some of your own members who were suspected of being foreign agents... We were concentrating strictly in Cuba at that particular time."
Here's info on Operation 40
Operation 40 was a CIA-sponsored undercover operation in the early 1960s, which was active in the Caribbean (including Cuba), Central America, and Mexico. Created by US President Eisenhower in March 1960 after the 1959 Cuban Revolution and presided by vice-president Richard M. Nixon, it included people such as Frank Sturgis (who would later become one of the Watergate burglars), Felix Rodriguez (a CIA officer who later hunted down Che Guevara), Luis Posada Carriles (now held in the US under illegal immigration charges, he is demanded by Venezuela for his key role in the execution of the 1976 Cubana Flight 455 bombing), Orlando Bosch (founder of the CORU counter-revolutionary organization, which organized Chilean former minister Orlando Letelier's murder in 1976)]
According to Cuban authorities Bosch was involved in 78 terrorist attacks on Spain, England, Japan, Mexico, Poland, and other countries that traded with Cuba.
In October, 1968, United States officials arrested Bosch for terrorist activities. Ricardo Morales Navarrete provided evidence against him and he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Bosch was freed in 1972. The following year he moved to Venezuela where he joined up with Guillermo Novo and Luis Posada.
In October, 1976, the midair explosion of Cubana Flight 455 flying out of Barbados killed all 73 people aboard. This included all 24 young athletes on Cuba's gold-medal fencing team. Police in Trinidad arrested two Venezuelans, Herman Ricardo and Freddy Lugo. Ricardo worked for Posada's security agency in Venezuela and admitted that he and Lugo had planted two bombs on the plane. Ricardo claimed the bombing had been organized by Bosch and Luis Posada. When Posada was arrested he was found with a map of Washington showing the daily route of to work of Orlando Letelier, the former Chilean Foreign Minister, who had been assassinated on 21st September, 1976.
Herman Ricardo and Freddy Lugo were both sentenced to twenty years imprisonment. In 1987 Bosch was freed with the help of Otto Reich, the White House's leading adviser on Latin America. Bosch entered the United States, where he was granted asylum. He was eventually pardoned by President George Bush on 18th July, 1990.
Bosch was interviewed by Dollan Cannell for his documentary, 638 Ways to Kill Fidel Castro (2006). He was asked if he and the CIA were involved in the bombing of Cubana Flight 455. Bosch replied that he was not allowed to talk about such matters. He was therefore not able to answer “yes” or “no”. He then pointed out that he had been accused of organizing the placing of bombs on three Cuban planes. He then went onto to justify this action by claiming that as far as he was concerned he was a soldier carrying out orders in a war against Castro.
former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh’s assessment of Bosch as an "unrepentant terrorist".
A Jan 23, 1989 report from the Associate Attorney General’s office (Exclusion Proceeding for Orlando Bosch Avila). He knew that a 1979 House Assassinations Committee document said that Bosch "approved" of the 1976 bombing of a Cuban commercial airliner in which 73 people died. Bosch called that terrorist exploit "a legitimate act of war". Bosch said: "you have to fight violence with violence. At times you cannot avoid hurting innocent people".
In the report, Acting Associate Attorney General Joe D. Whitley argued that, "the evidence leads me inescapably to the conclusion that Bosch would instigate, plan, and participate in terrorist actions in the United States if and when it served his purpose. I therefore conclude that he is a threat to the national security...the security of this nation is affected by its ability to urge credibly other nations to refuse aid and shelter to terrorists, whose target we too often become. We could not shelter Dr. Bosch and maintain our credibility in this respect".
The material that led Whitely to this conclusion referred to Bosch’s 1968 trial and conviction in Federal Court for firing a bazooka at a Polish freighter docked in Miami. It included "confidential" information linking him to "some 16 episodes involving bombings, attempted kidnappings, assassination and attempted assassinations in the United States, Spain, the Caribbean and South America".
The 1989 Justice Department document stated that one of its reasons to exclude Bosch was, "threats conveyed by Bosch to leaders of other countries to damage ships and planes". That same brief to deport Bosch also states "that in June, 1974 Bosch publicly admitted having sent package bombs to Cuban Embassies in Lima, Madrid, Ottawa and Buenos Aires". Two of the bombs resulted in injury to embassy employees and a Spanish postal employee.
The FBI had reported that in 1974 and 1976 "Bosch was in possession of bombs, explosive materials and an automatic weapon".
Can't we all agree Orlando Bosch is a terrorist of the worst kind? Is there any dispute?
The President said the following..."You are either with us, or you are with the terrorists". I believe that's the exact quote.
Is there a double standard in place here?
Oh, and at least one American was murdered in Bosch's attacks - Ronni Moffitt.
Here is her picture
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKtownleyM2.jpg
I guess her life isn't worth much, huh?
sources:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKbosch.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_40
http://www.tni.org/detail_page.phtml?page=archives_landau_jeb1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_pardoned_by_George_H._W._Bush
Orlando Bosch was born in Cuba. After the Bay of Pigs. Bosch ran an anti-Castro training camp for the Central Intelligence Agency in Homestead, Florida.
According to Marita Lorenz, Bosch became a member of Operation 40, a CIA assassination squad. One member, Frank Sturgis claimed: "this assassination group (Operation 40) would upon orders, naturally, assassinate either members of the military or the political parties of the foreign country that you were going to infiltrate, and if necessary some of your own members who were suspected of being foreign agents... We were concentrating strictly in Cuba at that particular time."
Here's info on Operation 40
Operation 40 was a CIA-sponsored undercover operation in the early 1960s, which was active in the Caribbean (including Cuba), Central America, and Mexico. Created by US President Eisenhower in March 1960 after the 1959 Cuban Revolution and presided by vice-president Richard M. Nixon, it included people such as Frank Sturgis (who would later become one of the Watergate burglars), Felix Rodriguez (a CIA officer who later hunted down Che Guevara), Luis Posada Carriles (now held in the US under illegal immigration charges, he is demanded by Venezuela for his key role in the execution of the 1976 Cubana Flight 455 bombing), Orlando Bosch (founder of the CORU counter-revolutionary organization, which organized Chilean former minister Orlando Letelier's murder in 1976)]
According to Cuban authorities Bosch was involved in 78 terrorist attacks on Spain, England, Japan, Mexico, Poland, and other countries that traded with Cuba.
In October, 1968, United States officials arrested Bosch for terrorist activities. Ricardo Morales Navarrete provided evidence against him and he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Bosch was freed in 1972. The following year he moved to Venezuela where he joined up with Guillermo Novo and Luis Posada.
In October, 1976, the midair explosion of Cubana Flight 455 flying out of Barbados killed all 73 people aboard. This included all 24 young athletes on Cuba's gold-medal fencing team. Police in Trinidad arrested two Venezuelans, Herman Ricardo and Freddy Lugo. Ricardo worked for Posada's security agency in Venezuela and admitted that he and Lugo had planted two bombs on the plane. Ricardo claimed the bombing had been organized by Bosch and Luis Posada. When Posada was arrested he was found with a map of Washington showing the daily route of to work of Orlando Letelier, the former Chilean Foreign Minister, who had been assassinated on 21st September, 1976.
Herman Ricardo and Freddy Lugo were both sentenced to twenty years imprisonment. In 1987 Bosch was freed with the help of Otto Reich, the White House's leading adviser on Latin America. Bosch entered the United States, where he was granted asylum. He was eventually pardoned by President George Bush on 18th July, 1990.
Bosch was interviewed by Dollan Cannell for his documentary, 638 Ways to Kill Fidel Castro (2006). He was asked if he and the CIA were involved in the bombing of Cubana Flight 455. Bosch replied that he was not allowed to talk about such matters. He was therefore not able to answer “yes” or “no”. He then pointed out that he had been accused of organizing the placing of bombs on three Cuban planes. He then went onto to justify this action by claiming that as far as he was concerned he was a soldier carrying out orders in a war against Castro.
former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh’s assessment of Bosch as an "unrepentant terrorist".
A Jan 23, 1989 report from the Associate Attorney General’s office (Exclusion Proceeding for Orlando Bosch Avila). He knew that a 1979 House Assassinations Committee document said that Bosch "approved" of the 1976 bombing of a Cuban commercial airliner in which 73 people died. Bosch called that terrorist exploit "a legitimate act of war". Bosch said: "you have to fight violence with violence. At times you cannot avoid hurting innocent people".
In the report, Acting Associate Attorney General Joe D. Whitley argued that, "the evidence leads me inescapably to the conclusion that Bosch would instigate, plan, and participate in terrorist actions in the United States if and when it served his purpose. I therefore conclude that he is a threat to the national security...the security of this nation is affected by its ability to urge credibly other nations to refuse aid and shelter to terrorists, whose target we too often become. We could not shelter Dr. Bosch and maintain our credibility in this respect".
The material that led Whitely to this conclusion referred to Bosch’s 1968 trial and conviction in Federal Court for firing a bazooka at a Polish freighter docked in Miami. It included "confidential" information linking him to "some 16 episodes involving bombings, attempted kidnappings, assassination and attempted assassinations in the United States, Spain, the Caribbean and South America".
The 1989 Justice Department document stated that one of its reasons to exclude Bosch was, "threats conveyed by Bosch to leaders of other countries to damage ships and planes". That same brief to deport Bosch also states "that in June, 1974 Bosch publicly admitted having sent package bombs to Cuban Embassies in Lima, Madrid, Ottawa and Buenos Aires". Two of the bombs resulted in injury to embassy employees and a Spanish postal employee.
The FBI had reported that in 1974 and 1976 "Bosch was in possession of bombs, explosive materials and an automatic weapon".
Can't we all agree Orlando Bosch is a terrorist of the worst kind? Is there any dispute?
The President said the following..."You are either with us, or you are with the terrorists". I believe that's the exact quote.
Is there a double standard in place here?
Oh, and at least one American was murdered in Bosch's attacks - Ronni Moffitt.
Here is her picture
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKtownleyM2.jpg
I guess her life isn't worth much, huh?
sources:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKbosch.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_40
http://www.tni.org/detail_page.phtml?page=archives_landau_jeb1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_pardoned_by_George_H._W._Bush