Stupid headline of the week award

Or maybe it's the most revealing headline of the week. From Monday's Boston Globe:

Militant's case poses dilemma for US
Tug between terror war, opposition to Castro

The "militant" in question is Luis Posada Carriles, a man who in any other circumstances would be labeled what he is: a terrorist.

This is someone who, as I noted just over two weeks ago, has been implicated in the destruction of a civilian airliner, who openly bragged about being responsible for blowing up a string of hotels, and who was convicted of a plot to kill Fidel Castro by blowing up a car full of explosives on a public street in Panama.

Even the CIA cut off relations with him because of evidence he was smuggling cocaine into Miami.

So what the hell is the "dilemma?" How could there even be a "dilemma?"

Unless - there is that little CIA thing. After escaping from prison in Venezuela during his trials over the airliner downing, he hooked up with the CIA and became a central figure in the US supply route for another gang of terrorists, the contras. Now, it seems, the CIA is afraid of "abandoning" him because, it's said, that will make other terrorists less willing to carry out murder and sabotage on behalf of the agency. Why this is a bad thing seems unclear.

And then I suppose there's that "votes in Florida" thing, too. After all, you can't expect the Bush gang to risk 25 electoral votes (not to mention getting people pissed at Jeb) just for the sake of something vaguely approaching decency and moral consistency, can you?

I'm serious. You can't, can you?