Home > Programs
> Democracy
Now! > Tues., Oct 10, 2006
Democracy Now!
ATTN: ALL STATIONS
From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown 10-10-06
PRSS Channel: A67.7
Twilight of the Assassins: Why the U.S. Refuses to Prosecute
the Cuban Exiles Luis Posada Carriles & Orlando Bosch
For the 1976 Bombing of Cubana Airlines Flight 455
Sarah Chayes on Life in Afghanistan After the Taliban and
Why She Left NPR
Twilight of the Assassins: Why the U.S. Refuses to
Prosecute the Cuban Exiles Luis Posada Carriles & Orlando
Bosch For the 1976 Bombing of Cubana Airlines Flight 455
It was the first act of airline terrorism in the Americas:
thirty years ago on October 6, 1976, 73 died in the bombing
of a Cuban passenger plane. Now, one alleged mastermind lives
freely in Miami, while another is being held on immigration
charges in Texas. We speak to journalist Ann Louise Bardach.
[includes rush
transcript]
This past Friday marked the 30th anniversary of the bombing
of Cubana Airlines Flight 455. On October 6th, 1976, the airline
left Venezuela headed for Cuba. It would never reach its destination.
Just minutes into flight after a stopover in Barbados, the
plane exploded in mid-air. All 73 passengers were killed.
On Friday, relatives of the victims gathered at a cemetery
in Havana. In addition to remembering their loved ones, the
mourners also renewed calls for justice. The main suspect
is currently in US custody. But the Bush administration won’t
extradite him to Venezuela or Cuba to stand trial. The suspect’s
name is Luis Posada Carriles. He’s an anti-Castro Cuban
exile with extensive ties to the CIA. Posada was arrested
last year after he snuck back into the United States following
years of hiding in Latin America. He’s currently being
held in a Texas detention center. A federal judge recently
ruled that Posada should be freed pending deportation, but
U.S. immigration officials said Thursday he’ll remain
in custody. Cuba has accused the Bush administration of having
a double standard on prosecuting terrorists.
Well today we take a closer look with a reporter who’s
just written a major new piece about the Cubana bombing for
the Atlantic Monthly. Yesterday, I spoke with the veteran
author and journalist Ann Louise Bardach. She first interviewed
Luis Posada Carriles in 1998 for The New York Times in one
of his only in-depth interviews. Her latest article for The
Atlantic Monthly is called “Twilight of the Assassins.”
In addition to Luis Posada Carriles, Bardach also interviews
Orlando Bosch. He’s another long-time anti-Castro exile
who’s been implicated in the Cubana bombing among many
other international crimes. I began by asking Ann Louise Bardach
to talk about Posada and Bosch’s links to the bombing
of Cubana Flight 455 and who else they worked with at the
time.
- Ann Louise Bardach, investigative journalist and author
of the new article “Twilight
Of the Assassins” that appears in the Atlantic
Monthly.
Related Links:
- A
Note From Luis Posada, militant Cuban exile Luis Posada
discusses his actions, explains his motivations, and advises
Ann Louise Bardach on what to write.
- Life
With Luis Posada, Read a recent letter to Bardach from
Posada, along with his answers to her questions on everything
from his favorite singers to his thoughts on Cuba after
Castro.
Sarah Chayes on Life in Afghanistan After the Taliban
and Why She Left NPR
Chayes discusses her new book and the stories she couldn't
tell when she was at NPR. Chayes covered the US invasion of
Afghanistan for NPR but she left journalism in 2002 to run
an aid organization in Kandahar called Afghans for Civil Society.
She now runs the Arghand cooperative. [includes rush
transcript]
Over the weekend, two German journalists were killed on
their way to conduct research for a documentary in the Tala
Wa Barfak district of Baghlan province in Afghanistan. The
Afghanistan Independent Journalists” Association estimates
that there have been some 40 cases of violence against journalists
over the past nine months.
And as the security situation continues to deteriorate, NATO’s
top commander there has warned that the country is at a tipping
point. General David Richards said that the Taliban could
soon have the support of the majority of Afghans. He predicts
that if life doesn”t get better over the next six months,
70 percent of Afghans could switch sides and support the Taliban.
Richards comments come five years after the U.S. invaded the
country with the stated intention of dismantling the Taliban.
Suicide bombings are also up 600 percent this year while opium
and poppy cultivation are at record highs.
- Sarah Chayes, former NPR correspondent who covered the
US invasion of Afghanistan. She left journalism in 2002
to run an aid organization in Kandahar called Afghans for
Civil Society. Sarah’s new book is "The Punishment
of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban." She
now runs a cooperative called Arghand
that sells hand crafted products in Afghanistan.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
|
Listen
to the show
Help
whole
show
