You may have noted that the FBI has placed Assatu Shakur(the former Joanne Chesimard) on its "Most Wanted List"(one of thew few times a female has made it there BTW) for her alleged involvement in the murder of a New Jersey state trooper back in May 1973. Given that Shakur fled the US and was granted political asylum in Cuba where she still lives and that Cuba has refused US requests for her extradition, it is unlikely that barring the fall of Castro's regime or ms shakur's confirmed death the matter will be resolved.

My purpose is NOT to defend or condone what Ms Shakur did or is accused of doing but to note the wider hypocrisy and self-serving cant that often surrounds the whole issue of extradition( not just for terrorism but in general). Cuba points to the case of Luis Parriles who lives openly in Miami despite his admitted involvement in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airline which cost over seventy lives- the US refuses to extradite him to either Cuba or Venezuela where he faces similar charges claiming he cannot be guaranteed a fair trial in either jurisdiction, courts in both the US and the Republic of Ireland refused to turn over men and women wanted for terrorism charges by the UK authorities during the NI "Troubles" on the grounds of that said acts of violence were "politically motivated", the Russian Federation refused to turn over Andrei Lugovoi to the UK for his alleged role in the Litivinenko affair citing the fact that extradition was explicitly banned by its constitution and of course more recently the Bush Administration pressured countries to agree not to turn over Americans(esp military men) to the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges

It may be a cliche that "one society's terrorist is another's freedom fighter" but it is equally self evident that(as during WWII and the subsequent "Cold War" between the USSR, its satellites and the Western world) one society's hero is an another's villian!

Anybody else think as I do?

Terry