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Ex-CIA Agent Praises ‘Heroic’ Anti-Communist Bombing Campaign

EL PASO, Texas (AP/The Blaze) – A New York Times reporter who interviewed an elderly ex-CIA agent about masterminding deadly bombings that rocked luxury hotels and other top tourist sites in Cuba in 1997 testified Wednesday that he sought out the newspaper to better explain the heroism of those attacks.

Ann Louise Bardach traveled to Aruba and spent 13 hours talking to anti-communist militant Luis Posada Carriles in 1998. She was compelled to testify at the 83-year-old Posada’s trial in Texas after resisting U.S. government subpoenas for years on the premise that her participation would set a bad precedent and discourage sources from speaking to journalists.

Bosch had engineered the bombing of the airline." (National Security Archive)"”] Ex CIA Agent Praises Heroic Anti Communist Bombing Campaign

Posada, who was born in Cuba, spent decades hatching schemes to topple communist governments in Latin America, primarily that of former President Fidel Castro in his native land. For much of that time, he had the backing of the U.S. government.

He sneaked into the U.S. in 2005 and underwent immigration hearings in El Paso, during which prosecutors allege he lied about how he made it into the country and about using a Guatemalan passport with a false name. They also say he failed to acknowledge planning the bombings in Cuba between April and September 1997 that tore through the lobbies and discos of hotels and a famous tourist restaurant in Havana, as well as a resort in the beach town of Varadero.

A 1976 Cubana flight which departed from Barbados to Cuba exploded in flight from two timebombs planted on the aircraft.  The plot killed all 73 people on board, including all 24 members of the 1975 national Cuban Fencing team returning from the Central American and Caribbean Championship.

Posada denied any involvement in the bombing, claiming his “only objective was to fight for Cuba’s freedom.”  But declassified FBI and CIA documents suggested he had played a role in engineering the airline bombing.

that the bombing of the Cubana Airlines DC-8 was planned, in part, in Caracas, Venezuela, at two meetings attended by Morales Navarrete, Luis Posada Carriles and Frank Castro."”]Ex CIA Agent Praises Heroic Anti Communist Bombing Campaign

Waves of other explosions took place.  An Italian tourist was killed and about a dozen others were injured.

Posada is not on trial for the bombings, only for lying about them, prompting charges he interfered with a U.S. terrorism investigation. He faces 11 counts of perjury, immigration fraud and obstruction of justice.

Bardach now works for the Daily Beast, but was a contract writer for the Times in 1998. She was hired for investigative projects, and conducted interviews in Cuba and with anti-Castro activists in Florida.

Posada made headlines in 2007 when he faced charges in the U.S. Cubans were outraged he would not be prosecuted for the bombings:

She put out the word she’d like to interview Posada, then recalled being at a gas station in June 1998, checking the messages on her home answering machine when she heard Posada.

“There was this incredibly unique, gravelly voice speaking in Spanish,” Bardach said. She said Posada identified himself as Ramon Medina, one of his many aliases.

Posada speaks with a deep slur, after being shot in the head during an assassination attempt in Guatemala in 1990.

Bardach said Posada agreed to an interview because “he didn’t feel he was getting his side of the story out“ and wanted ”to clarify, ‘I did this, but I didn’t do that.’”

He also was anxious to detail, “the heroic nature, in his view, of the campaign, the bombing campaign,” Bardach said.

Her answers were long and unfocused, drawing steady objections for the defense. “Please listen to the question and just answer the question,” U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone pleaded with Bardach several times.

“When we were doing these interviews, we never thought we’d end up in court like this,” Bardach said. She also agreed with the prosecution‘s characterization that she’s been “recalcitrant,” only meeting with U.S. attorneys once before taking the stand.

“I’m not a witness for or against anybody,” Bardach said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Reardon shot back, “that might be true to you … but legally it’s not.”

Bardach said it took a while to decide where she would meet Posada. He suggested Guatemala or El Salvador, before settling on Aruba.

“He pointed out that he was a fugitive, so there were certain countries he couldn’t go to,” Bardach said. After the defense objected, Cardone struck that from the record.

Bardach said Posada met her at Aruba’s airport, then drove her to a handsome home nearby and asked that she not identify the country where they spoke.

Bardach taped the interview, which stretched over parts of three days, but only got about half of what Posada actually told her since he would often wave his index finger back and forth to indicate he wanted her to turn her recorder off — or simply turn it off himself.

The white-haired Posada showed no emotion during Bardach’s testimony, his only visible response coming as he put on reading glasses to scrutinize Bardach’s resume when it was published into evidence and shown on an electronic screen.

Bardach co-wrote a series of 1998 stories for the Times with another reporter, Larry Rohter. In them, Posada is quoted as saying that the attacks were meant to hurt tourism in Cuba, but not kill anyone. He has since recanted that, however, saying the interviews were conducted in English, which he says he doesn’t really understand.

A CIA agent until 1976, Posada trained for the doomed Bay of Pigs invasion but didn’t reach Cuban beaches during the attack. He later served as head of the Venezuelan government’s intelligence service and was arrested for planning the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people, but escaped from prison while facing trial.

In 2000, he was imprisoned in Panama amid a plot to kill Castro during a summit there. Posada was pardoned in 2004 and turned up in the U.S. the following March. He was held in immigration detention for about two years, but released in 2007 and has been living in Miami.

Comments (5)

  • Beware of Romans
    Posted on March 17, 2011 at 10:50am

    FIGHT JESUIT CATHOLIC ‘NEW WORLD ORDER’

    “Between 1555 and 1931 the Society of Jesus [The Jesuit Order] was expelled from at least 83 countries, city states and cities, for engaging in political intrigue and subversion plots against the welfare of the State, according to the records of a Jesuit priest of repute. Practically every instance of expulsion was for political intrigue, political infiltration, political subversion, and inciting to political insurrection.” (1987) J.E.C. Shepherd (Canadian historian)

    500 YEAR OLD OATH REQUIRED TO BECOMING A NEW JESUIT CATHOLIC SECRET SOCIETY ‘FREEMASON’ MEMBER: Kneel before the Jesuit Superior General Adolpho Nicholas while he recites: “My son, heretofore you have been taught to act the dissembler: Among the Protestant Christian Reformers, to become a Protestant Christian Reformer; among the Huguenots, to become a Huguenot; and even to descend so low as to become a Jew among Jews, and obtaining their confidence, to seek & even to preach from their pulpits and synagogues, and to falsely portray & denounce their beliefs with all the vehemence in your nature our Holy Catholic Religion mission, that you might be enabled to gather together all information for the benefit of your Order as a faithful soldier of our Pope.”

    White House Jesuit Catholic Freemasons
    *American President Foreign Policy Advisor Catherine Pinkerton (St. Joseph. Long Association of Catholic Jesuits) Level 31 Freemason
    *American Vice President Joe Biden (Jesuit Catholic University of Scranton and Saint Joseph’s Jesuit Catholic University) Level 30 Freemason
    *(CIA) Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon E. Panetta (Santa Clara Jesuit Catholic University, 1960, BA) Level 27 Freemason
    *Department of Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates (Georgetown Jesuit Catholic University, 1974, PhD). Level 26 Freemason .

    American National Co-Chairs Jesuit Catholic Freemasons
    Senator Bob Casey Jesuit educated at Holy Cross-Level 25 Freemason
    Representative Patrick Murphy -Level 27 Freemason
    Former Congressman Tim Roemer, President of the Center for National Policy -Level 25 Freemason
    Governor Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas-Level 21 Freemason
    Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia was a Jesuit Volunteer in Honduras-Level 18 Freemason
    Tom Chabolla, a member of PICO, founded by a Jesuit -Level 29 Freemason
    Victoria Reggie Kennedy, Sen. Ted Kennedy’s second wife-Level 17 Freemason
    Sr. Jamie Phelps, O.P.-Level 18 Freemason
    Sr. Catherine Pinkerton, Congregation of St. Joseph. Long association with Jesuits-Level 14 Freemason

    American National Steering Committee Jesuit Catholic Freemasons
    Mary Jo Bane, Professor, Harvard Kennedy School -Level 29 Freemason
    Nicholas P. Cafardi, Jesuit educated at Georgian University in Rome and Media Relations for USCCB
    Lisa Cahill, Professor of Theology, at Jesuit Boston College -Level 24 Freemason
    M. Shawn Copeland, Associate Professor of Theology, Boston College -Level 27 Freemason
    Ron Cruz, Hispanic Affairs Director for USCCB -Level 26 Freemason
    Sharon Daly, Vice President for Social Policy at Catholic Charities USA-Level 24 Freemason
    Richard Gaillardetz, vocal advocate for women priests.-Level 16 Freemason
    Grant Gallicho, Associate Editor, Commonweal Magazine -Level 18reemason
    Sr. Margaret Gannon, IHM, A Sister Heart of Mary, Scranton, PA -Level 27 reemason
    Don Guter, Judge Advocate General of the Navy (2000-2002); Rear Admiral, Judge Advocate General’s Corps, U.S. Navy (Ret.), Pittsburgh, PA-Level 28Freemason
    Cathleen Kaveny, Professor of Law and Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame
    Jim Kesteloot, President at Chicago Lighthouse, Jesuit educated at Loyola University in Chicago
    Vincent Miller, Associate Professor of Theology,at Jesuit Georgetown University
    David O’Brien, Loyola Professor of Catholic Studies at the Jesuit College of the Holy Cross
    Peter Quaranto, Senior Researcher and Conflict Analyst, Resolve Uganda (Notre Dame Class of 2006)-Level 27Freemason
    Dave Robinson, Pax Cristi leadership, -Level 20Freemason
    Vincent Rougeau, Associate Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame, was a professor at Loyola University Chicago-Level 27Freemason
    Mary Wright, Inter-Faith Liaison, Louisville, KY-Level 28Freemason

    American National Leadership Committee Jesuit Catholic Freemasons
    Governor Jim Doyle of Wisconsin-Level 29Freemason
    Former Senator Majority Leader Tom Daschle , visiting professor at the Jesuit Georgetown University.
    Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois , a gradute of the Jesuit Georgetown University.
    Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts-Level 24Freemason
    Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts , the toast of the Jesuits “BC Law” and a graduate-Level 27Freemason
    Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont , a gradute of the Jesuit Georgetown University
    Representative Xavier Becerra of California-Level 28Freemason
    Representative Mike Capuano of Massachusetts , a gradute of the Jesuits “BC Law”
    Representative Lacy Clay of Missouri-Level 22 Freemason
    Representative Jerry Costello of Illinois -Level 21 Freemason
    Representative Bill Delahunt of Massachusetts , a gradute of the Jesuits “BC Law”
    Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut,-Level 23 Freemason
    Representative Anna Eshoo of California-Level 26 Freemason
    Representative Raul Grijalva of Arizona-Level 19 Freemason
    Representative Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island , Ted Kennedy’s son-Level 29 Freemason
    Representative John Larson of Connecticut-Level 25 Freemason
    Representative George Miller of California-Level 25 Freemason
    Representative James Oberstar of Minnesota , a student of the Jesuits Georgetown University.
    Representative Linda Sanchez of California -Level 18 Freemason
    Representative Carol Shea Porter of New Hampshire-Level 26 Freemason
    Representative Peter Welch of Vermont , a graduate of the Jesuit College of the Holy Cross

    “It is my opinion that if the liberties of this country – the United States of America – are destroyed, it will be by the subtlety of the Roman Catholic Jesuit priests, for they are the most crafty, dangerous enemies to civil and religious liberty. They have instigated MOST of the wars of Europe.” Marquis de LaFayette (1757-1834; French statesman and general. He served in the American Continental Army under the command of General George Washington during the American Revolutionary War.)

    “The war [i.e., the American Civil War of 1861-1865] would never have been possible without the sinister influence of the Jesuits.” Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865; 16th President of the United States)

    “My history of the Jesuits is not eloquently written, but it is supported by unquestionable authorities, [and] is very particular and very horrible. The Jesuit Order’s restoration in 1814 by Pope Pius VII is indeed a step toward darkness, cruelty, despotism, and death. … I do not like the appearance of the Jesuits. If ever there was a body of men who merited eternal damnation on earth and in hell, it is this Society of Ignatius de Loyola.” John Adams (1735-1826; 2nd President of the United States)

    “The public is practically unaware of the overwhelming responsibility carried by the Vatican and its Jesuits in the starting of the two world wars – a situation which may be explained in part by the gigantic finances at the disposition of the Vatican and its Jesuits, giving them power in so many spheres, especially since the last conflict.” Edmond Paris (Author of the book The Secret History of the Jesuits)

    “The Jesuits…are a secret society – a sort of Masonic order – with superadded features of revolting odiousness, and a thousand times more dangerous.” – Samuel Morse (1791-1872; American inventor of the telegraph; author of the book Foreign Conspiracy Against the Liberties of the United States)

    “The Jesuits are a MILITARY organization, not a religious order. Their chief is a general of an army, not the mere father abbot of a monastery. And the aim of this organization is power – power in its most despotic exercise – absolute power, universal power, power to control the world by the volition of a single man (i.e., The Black Pope, the Superior General of the Jesuits.) Jesuitism is the most absolute of despotisms– and at the same time the greatest and most enormous of abuses…” (Napoleon Bonaparte; 1769-1821; Emperor of the French)

    Report Post » Beware of Romans  
  • Arc
    Posted on March 17, 2011 at 3:37am

    I say let the same prosecutor that FAILED to bring many of the Weatherunderground to justice, be the same prosecutor for Posada. The many visits to Cuba, North Korea and North Viet Nam by members of that radical group, probably accounted for more innocent deaths than Posada could be charged for.

    Report Post » Arc  
  • Robert-CA
    Posted on March 17, 2011 at 12:18am

    Killing 73 innocent passengers that’s a terrorist act & he should pay for that .

    Report Post » Robert-CA  

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