You're either with us, or...

The U.S. is apparently in no hurry to extradite the alleged terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, who is wanted in connection with the bringing down of a Cuban airlier in 1976, killing 73 passengers. Though he was twice acquitted of this crime in Venezuela, he was jailed, awaiting a prosecutor's appeal, when he escaped in 1985.

Now, the U.S. ambassador to the Venezuela is saying that Carriles is innocent until proven guilty, a standard that the U.S. does not abide by in its own gulags .

Maybe I missed something, but wasn't it Afghanistan's "refusal" to extradite Osama bin Laden for his alleged involvement with terrorist airliner attacks, that the U.S. used as a pretext in invade Afghanistan?

This case will bear close watching, as Venezuela prepares to offer more information and a formal request of extradition.

Of course, it's possible that Luis Posada Carriles is innocent. Then again, it's also possilble that the U.S. will be slow to pursue a character with as embarassing a past as his.