Hypocrites 'R' Us

There are few things in this world that I hate more than hypocrisy. If you're going to be a politically-minded jackass, fine. I can accept that. But at least be consistent.

The latest bout of hypocrisy in the world of right wingnuttery is the case of Luis Posada Carriles, the man responsible for blowing up a plane full of 73 innocent Cuban civilians (and suspected of plenty of other things as well). First of all, I'm very happy that the U.S. government got off their asses and brought the guy in. They've known for years now where he was and what he was up to. Hell, you could probably look Posada's name, address and schedule up in the Miami yellow pages under "Gifts from God" because he's a local hero in the exile community and he made little effort himself to hide. Even Posada himself admitted casually of the FBI, "They know where I am and how to reach me" (Cuba Confidential by Ann Louise Bardach, pg. 207-- highly recommended book, by the way).

That right there is the first bit of hypocrisy. No Florida or U.S. presidential candidates wanted to risk losing the Cuban exile vote, so the government has done little to find, capture or prosecute any Cuban exile terrorists, of which there are many (in the late 1980's, Miami was nicknamed the "Capital of U.S. Terrorism" because of all the bombings and murders related to Cuban exile politics).

So how can we honestly tell other countries, "You better listen to us and fight this 'War on Terror'!" and shake our fingers in their faces when we won't even do that in our own country unless the perpetrators are Muslim or eco-terrorists? What right do we have to even fight a fucking "War on Terror" (if that is what it's about, which I highly doubt) when we let terrorists openly lounge about in front of our very eyes and don't do a damn thing about it?

But now they've taken Posada in, and hopefully they'll do the right thing and extradite him to Venezuela (where the bombing was planned), and hopefully they'll go after the other terrorists in the exile community.

But this is where we have the new bit of hypocrisy from the talking heads (and possibly from the government) of the right-wing. All of them are crying foul and saying, "Poor Posada, he'll be railroaded in Venezuela, he'll never get a fair trial and everyone deserves a fair trial, no matter what they've done. We absolutely cannot send him to Venezuela; he might get shot on the tarmac getting off the plane! That would be a terrible human rights violation!"

Now. Okay. I truly, deeply, wholeheartedly believe that everyone on this planet deserves a fair trial no matter what, so technically I agree with these crybabies (but it isn't very often that they're advocating fair trials for anyone unless it's Rush Limbaugh or someone in that ballpark. The rest of us can have the most corrupt trials in the world-- who gives a fuck?). What bothers me is that there are orders to shoot to kill Osama bin Laden and all his cohorts, with no chance of a fair trial, though some have mentioned things about heads being brought back to the U.S. in cardboard boxes (does that count as a fucking fair trial?). None of these talking heads are complaining about these shoot-to-kill orders for bin Laden, and when confronted about it, they say, "But he planned the murder of U.S. citizens! Why should he get a fair trial?" Okay, Posada planned and executed the murder of Cuban citizens, why do they think he deserves a fair trial but bin Laden does not? Why are these talking heads justifying the deaths of innocent Iraqi civilians as "collateral damage" and saying things like, "Well, the Iraqi people have to understand that freedom comes at a price. We Americans can see that, so they'll have to see it too."? Why are they casually dismissing these deaths while pining for the possible human rights violations of Luis Posada Carriles?

Like I said, I believe all human beings, even cretins like Posada and bin Laden, deserve fair trials and no one deserves to have their human rights violated. But don't you dare whine about how one murderer deserves a fair trial and special treatment, while you demand that another one be executed extrajudicially. And don't you dare dismiss the known human rights violations of one group of people (i.e. the Iraqi civilians) while you worry yourself to death about the possible human rights violation of another person. If you want to say that neither Posada nor bin Laden deserve fair trials, fine. That's consistent. I disagree with you, but you wouldn't be a hypocrite.

Otherwise, you're sending the message that innocent Cuban human beings are worth less than innocent American human beings, and that is just fucking wrong. Those 73 people deserve justice, and their families have been waiting almost 30 years for it. They didn't deserve to have some asshole terrorist living life as a king in Miami out in the open while the FBI and the President of the United States of America knew exactly where he lived and what he was doing for nearly every minute of every day, especially when this country is so sanctimonious about fighting "terror". Those 73 people deserve just as much justice as any American citizen deserves, and I hope Posada receives a fair trial in Venezuela, and I hope he spends the rest of his miserable life in jail there for being the ruthless and brutal murderer that he is.