Left I on the News

I've had the privilege in the past two weeks of attending premieres of two new political films. Both were extremely informative and well worth seeing.

Posada Carriles: Terrorism Made in USA

Two weeks ago, in El Paso for one of dozens of nationwide demonstrations against the dropping of charges against notorious terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, I watched the U.S. premiere of a new film by Venezuelan filmmaker Angel Palacios entitled "Posada Carriles: Terrorism Made in USA." It's a chilling portrait of the 45-year career of a man who has been called "the Osama bin Laden of the Western hemisphere," his associates (like the equally notorious Orlando Bosch), and the CIA who has been behind them every step of the way, condoning and protecting them when not actively guiding them.

The film covers things that are fairly well-known (at least in activist circles), like the 1976 Cubana plane bombing that took the lives of 73 people, and others that are less well-known (at least in the United States), like Posada's record as a torturer and murderer of Venezuelan political activists when working for the Venezuelan political police, the DISIP. Interviews with victims and relatives of victims, combined with evidence straight from the files of the U.S. government, make this a well-researched, information-packed documentary. It's also a very watchable film, very professionally made, with an interesting sound track, lots of catchy (but not gratuitous) graphics, and more. There are a number of showings scheduled around the country at this time (with undoubtedly many more to come) and the film should also be showing up in film festivals around the country during the coming year. It will also be available for purchase on DVD within the next week from the website of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five.

War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death

Last night, I was fortunate to be able to attend the West Coast premiere (the world premiere was last week in New York) of a new film based on Norman Solomon's essential book, "War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death" (some of my comments on the book from last year can be found here). As filmmaking, it's a fairly basic effort, intercutting an interview with the extremely knowledgeable and well-spoken Solomon with historical footage from wars, presidential speeches, TV "coverage" (a.k.a. "promotion") of wars, and so on, mixed in with some narration by Sean Penn. It won't win any awards for innovative filmmaking. But as an informative documentary, it's a must-see film. The book, as should be no surprise, has a lot more details (just to name one, the U.S. invasion of the Dominican Republic, one of the powerful examples from the book, isn't mentioned in the film). The book also has the virtue of being divided into chapters which Solomon uses to beautifully illustrate the 17 components which make up the "How" of the title of the book and film:

• America is a Fair and Noble Superpower
• Our Leaders Will Do Everything They Can to Avoid War
• Our Leaders Would Never Tell Us Outright Lies
• This Guy is a Modern-Day Hitler
• This is About Human Rights
• This Is Not at All about Oil or Corporate Profits
• They are the Aggressors, Not Us
• If This War is Wrong, Congress Will Stop It
• If This War is Wrong, the Media Will Tell Us
• Media Coverage Brings War into Our Living Rooms
• Opposing the War Means Siding with the Enemy
• This is a Necessary Battle in the War on Terrorism
• What the U.S. Government Needs Most is Better PR
• The Pentagon Fights Wars as Humanely as Possible
• Our Soldiers are Heroes, Theirs are Inhuman
• America Needs the Resolve the Kick the "Vietnam Syndrom"
• Withdrawal Would Cripple U.S. Credibility

The movie covers most (not all) of these points, but its organization is less linear, and the viewer doesn't leave the film with those points all clearly in mind. It sounds like I'm putting in a strong recommendation for the book. I am, and as I have in the past, I couldn't recommend the book more highly. But...but...the film is a film, and as such it has strengths that the book can't possibly match. For one thing, lots of people don't read! For another, the film can be shown in public venues, accompanied by a discussion which helps people organize their thoughts and organize themselves for action. But aside from those "logistical" questions, there's also what the film itself can do. It's one thing to read a series of quotes from Presidents, each saying something like "We want peace, not war" or "We're fighting this war for democracy." It's quite another to watch them say it on film, one after the other. Seeing or hearing the original source material simply has an impact that no printed word can match; it's why the Daily Show or Countdown has an impact that it's hard for a blog to match (readership/viewership numbers aside). And it's why the film is well worth seeing, even if you have read the book.

At the showing last night, the film was criticized for discussing the "How" but not the "Why" - why does the U.S. want to keep fighting these wars? The book (see point six in the list above) does discuss the issue, but not at length. Solomon answered that this was simply a question of scope, both for the film and the book as well. On the one hand he's certainly right. Dealing extensively and insightfully with the things he does deal with is certainly preferable to trying to deal with too much, and losing focus. On the other hand, there's a chicken-and-egg question. To use an example from the movie (but add my own spin), there's the famous Colin Powell at the U.N. presentation. The book and movie make clear that there were some people who saw right through the presentation, even while the corporate media (at least the U.S. corporate media) were falling all over themselves in praise. But take a look at those who did see through the talk. Did they do so simply because they were knowledgeable about how the U.S. government lies to start wars and the ways the media enhances those lies, or because they understood the motivations of the U.S. ruling class to fight wars and were therefore more motivated to look closely at what Powell was saying and see it for what it was? The two factors are intertwined, but I'd say it's more the latter than the former, and in that sense, it's more important to understand the "why" rather than the "how."

But that's a quibble, criticizing something for what it isn't. What it is is an incredibly powerful movie, taken from an even more powerful book, which teaches the viewer/reader with well-documented detail precisely how "Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death." And, although the title doesn't reflect it, Solomon is also one of the few who never forgets to remind his audience that it's not just "us" who are being spun to death, but millions of Iranians, Afghans, Serbs, Vietnamese, and more, as well.

See the film (you can order a copy now, it will be available in a couple weeks). Solomon is promoting the "Robert Greenwald" model, encouraging people to buy a copy of the movie and then set up a "house meeting" to show the movie to their friends. And don't forget to read the book as well.

Coincidentally, there's an article on the front page of the liberal British paper The Guardian today, whipping up the flames of war against Iran, about "Iran's secret plan for summer offensive to force US out of Iraq" (guess it's not much of a secret, eh?). Of course it's all based on the usual collection of "senior US officials," not a single actual fact in the article. Precisely the kind of thing that this film is all about.

Labels: Luis Posada Carriles

The Miami Herald reports that Luis Posada Carriles is now a completely free man, no longer even under house arrest. The New York Times, who is now out with their own article, adds an interesting detail:

Rhonda Anderson, a lawyer for Mr. Posada, ...said Mr. Posada and other members of the team were driving the 1,930 miles from El Paso to his family in Miami because he was on the federal government’s no-fly list.

So they won't declare him a terrorist, but they don't feel comfortable letting him fly, either. In-ter-est-ing.

Labels: Luis Posada Carriles

The judge has just dismissed the indictment against Luis Posada Carriles, the Osama bin Laden of the Western Hemisphere. Not that this was even a serious indictment, it was an indictment on immigration charges, not on terrorism.

Update: How much do the "powers that be" want this story to pass under the radar? On a day when a notorious terrorist has been set free, both the New York Times and the Washington Post feature only small AP stories on the release. For complete coverage, check the "Updates" section at the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, where you'll at least 18 different articles (some containing multiple articles) posted in the last two days.

For further insight into the U.S. government's attitude, consider this exchange today during a Dept. of State press conference:

QUESTION: Going back to the Posada Carriles case, what has happened with the Posada Corriles extradition request presented by Venezuelan on June 15, 2005? And also, what impacts will it have in other governments cooperating with the U.S. on the global war on terror?

MR. MCCORMACK: Right. Well, I don't think that there's any doubt about the U.S. commitment to fighting terrorism around the world. As for the extradition request, it's not something that's been acted on to this point. I know that we have done some due diligence with the Government of Venezuela. It was a process where there was a lot of back and forth requesting documentation. But it's not something, as of this point, that the U.S. Government has acted on.

QUESTION: Thank you.

"Thank you"?? McCormack casually mentions that an extradition request filed on June 15, 2005 has "not been acted on to this point" and that's all the follow-up we get from the reporter?

Send a letter today denouncing this outrage, and protest Friday. I certainly will.

Labels: Luis Posada Carriles

Tonight ABC News broadcast a segment from Havana about Luis Posada Carriles and the upcoming trial. If you didn't see it, you can watch it here; 3 1/2 minutes long. Other than the introduction (which is critiqued at the link), it's a pretty good piece, and well worth watching.

Longer, but perhaps of wider interest, was the Bill Moyers Journal broadcast on PBS a few days ago (and practically the only thing I watched on TV in the last week), entitled "Buying the War" (transcript and video here ). It's mostly about my favorite subject, media coverage of the run-up to the war, and features, among many interviews, the two Knight-Ridder reporters who "got it right," Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel. One of the most interesting (from a certain point of view) interchanges was this one:

WARREN STROBEL: How many times did I get invited on the talk-- how many times did you get invited on a talk show?

JONATHAN LANDAY: I think maybe on-

WARREN STROBEL: Yeah, not the big talk shows.

JONATHAN LANDAY: Actually-

WARREN STROBEL: Not the big Sunday shows-

JONATHAN LANDAY: You know what? I'll tell you who invited me on-- on a talk-- on a talk shows- C-Span.

A really powerful, hard-hitting 90-minute show, and all of it is online. Highly recommended.

Labels: Luis Posada Carriles

The Cuban Five - five Cubans who came to the United States to monitor right-wing terrorist groups in Miami and who have now spent more than eight years in U.S. prisons for their pains - had a curious proviso as part of their sentence. Once released (or if released in the cases of the ones with life sentences), they were specifically prohibited from visiting places in Miami frequented by terrorists. At once both a curious admission that there are terrorists (that's anti-Cuban terrorism, of course, not the U.S.-government acknowledged "Muslim" terrorism) in Miami, as well as a curious acknowledgment that the Five were actually associating with (and monitoring) those terrorists and not the U.S. government (or is it an absurd implication that they actually were terrorists? Cuban government "spies" planning acts of terrorism against Cuba? I think not).

Anyway, all this is prelude to the outrageous release of a real terrorist, Luis Posada Carriles, in advance of his equally outrageous immigration violation "trial" scheduled for May 11. This is a man who will be on trial for having snuck into the country. And who is he allowed to associate with in the meantime? Why, anyone he chooses, including the father of the man on whose boat Posada entered the country (and, presumably, on whose boat he could easily leave), men who are part of the notorious terrorist groups Alpha 66 and Commandos F-4, and others.

Imagine, say, the French government arresting and then trying Osama bin Laden on an immigration violation while refusing to extradite him to the U.S., and not only releasing him on bail while awaiting trial, but even allowing him to associate with known terrorists. The O'Reilly's and Hannity's of this world would probably be calling for nuking France. Really, it's hard to even imagine how big an outrage is being committed by the U.S. government.

On May 11, there will be demonstrations in El Paso and in cities across the country (and around the world) demanding the extradition of Posada to Venezuela to stand trial on 73 counts of murder, and denouncing the kid-glove handling of this terrorist by the U.S. government. I encourage readers to join me at one of those demonstrations.

Labels: Luis Posada Carriles

Imagine if France arrested Osama bin Laden, and refused to extradite him to the United States on the grounds he would be tortured. Then imagine they refused to charge him with terrorism, but only with an immigration violation, and released him on bail. Now you'll have some idea of the situation with Luis Posada Carriles, with one exception - the United States does torture its prisoners, while Venezuela does not.

Tell Bush and Congress - Extradite Posada Now!

Labels: Luis Posada Carriles

And the Bush administration put him there. Luis Posada Carriles, the Osama bin Laden of the Western Hemisphere, has been released on bail.

A selection of the 69 previous posts providing background on the developments in the case:

• 4/10/07 - coddling of terrorists
• 1/19/07 - more U.S. "justice"
• 11/15/06 - L.A. Times calls for justice for Posada...sort of
• 3/7/06 - terror, torture, and feticide
• 1/28/06 - the Chaffardet connection
• 10/4/05 - Terrorist and torturer
• 4/12/05 - Posada sneaks into the U.S.
• 4/20/04 - Posada convicted in Panama

Last but not least, a YouTube video showing Posada's most notorious act of terrorism:

Labels: Luis Posada Carriles

In the latest development in the case of Luis Posada Carriles, a judge has set bail to allow him to be freed in advance of his immigration trial in May. The U.S. continues to defy international law and various treaties it has signed, which obligate the U.S. to either extradite Posada to Venezuela, where he is wanted for the murder of 73 people in connection with the 1976 mid-air bombing of a Cubana airliner, or to try him themselves for that crime. It's worth remembering why they refuse to do so - because they claim Posada might be tortured in Venezuela. And why are they able to make that claim? Because at a preliminary hearing, Posada's lawyer and former partner (and fellow torturer) in the (old) Venezuelan secret police, Joaquin Chaffardet, testified that Posada might be tortured in Venezuela, and the U.S. government presented no testimony to counter that baseless claim, allowing it to stand unchallenged.

The news coverage of the latest development is infuriating. The Judge describes Posada as having ""a controversial past," and the Reuters reporter writes, "his past activities are viewed as terrorism by his opponents." Let's review, shall we? Posada is strongly implicated in the murder of 73 people in an airplane bombing. He admitted to a New York Times reporter that he was the mastermind behind a string of hotel bombings in Havana in the late 90's which killed one Italian tourist and injured many others. He was convicted of entering Panama in 2000 with 20 pounds of C-4 and a plan to blow up an auditorium where Fidel Castro was addressing hundreds of Panamanian students (and pardoned several months later by the outgoing Panamanian President who is now living, where else, in the United States). This is just part of the record of someone which Reuters thinks is "viewed as terrorism by his opponents," and the Judge thinks is "controversial." Do you really have to be an "opponent" of Luis Posada Carriles to think that blowing up an airplane in mid-flight is an act of terrorism? Is there really any "controversy" over how to characterize an attempt to blow up an auditorium full of people?

On May 11, Posada (if he hasn't fled the country by then or gone into hiding) will go on trial in El Paso. A demonstration demanding his extradition to stand trial in Venezuela will greet the trial - be there if you can.

Update And only this morning, this reminder blatant lie admission of guilt from George Bush:

"I vowed that if you harbor a terrorist you're equally as guilty as the terrorist."

Labels: Luis Posada Carriles