Of even greater interest, however, is the fact that the Associated Press reports that the federal immigration judge hearing Posada’s case “asked lawyers involved in the deportation case … to provide briefs on whether the Bay of Pigs invasion could be considered an act of terrorism.”

That’s right, U.S. prosecutors and Posada’s attorneys will now have to duke it out over whether the U.S. government engaged in an act of terrorism against the Cuban government in the early 1960s. And the irony is that it will be to the benefit of U.S. prosecutors to argue that it was terrorism, since it would seem to bolster the government’s case against granting Posada asylum.

A federal immigration judge on Monday ordered that the 77-year-old CIA asset remain in federal detention in El Paso, where he has been held since May after being taken into custody in Miami. He is charged with illegally entering the United States.

Posada claims he entered the “land of the free” through Mexico. Other facts seem to indicate he may well have landed in Florida via a trip on a covert shrimp boat. After granting an interview to a Miami newspaper announcing his whereabouts in the Cuban community in Miami, he was taken into custody by federal agents and shipped to El Paso.

From the AP story:

Judge William A. Abbott also denied bond for Luis Posada Carriles, 77, a former CIA operative accused of orchestrating the 1976 bombing of a Cuban jetliner while in Caracas, Venezuela.

… Among the factors Abbott said he would consider in Posada's case was whether he had ever provided material support for acts of terror.

Recently declassified CIA documents show that the spy agency trained Posada in Guatemala in 1961 to participate in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, including explosives and weapons training. Posada, who rose to the rank of second lieutenant, was in the U.S. Army from March 1963 to March 1964 in Fort Benning, Ga.

Abbott said the sponsor of terrorist activity didn't matter, even if it were the U.S. government. He didn't elaborate, except to say he would ask the lawyers to provide briefs on the matter.

So is the judge in the case actually going to stand up to the Bush Administration and pry open Posada’s terrorist past before pronouncing judgment? If so, how long will it be before the judge is jammed up by U.S. “national security interests” — and Posada’s case transferred to a more friendly court?

Those cards have yet to be play out. But Posada’s attorney seems to be interested in this game of Texas Hold‘em as well, according to the AP report:

"I look forward to reading the government's response," said Matthew J. Archambeault, one of Posada's Florida-based attorneys.

After all, if Posada’s work for the CIA is deemed “terrorist activity,” by extension that means the CIA is a sponsor of terrorism

It does appear the strain of it all, and maybe the bad prison food, are starting to get to Posada.

More from the AP report:

Posada was mostly silent during Monday's hearing, occasionally conferring in Spanish with one of his lawyers. Appearing in court in a red jail uniform, with the outline of a bulletproof vest visible on his back, Posada's right temple and jaw were heavily bandaged from recent skin cancer surgery.

Of course, Posada’s attorneys are denying that their client participated in the Bay of Pigs invasion -- well, in lawyer talk anyway. His attorney, Archambeault, said Posada “did not actually participate in the failed invasion,” according to the AP report. But such wording leaves plenty of wiggle room for Posada to avoid perjury charges down the road, when it comes to light that he did play a role in the planning and coordination of the invasion.

Posada’s attorneys also are denying that their client had any role in another terrorist act, the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner. However, it seems even his longtime employer, the CIA, can’t back up Posada on that one.

From the AP report:

According to a declassified CIA document released last month, Posada said shortly before the deadly bombing that he and others would "hit a Cuban airplane." Venezuelan officials have said Posada was in Caracas when he allegedly planned the attack, which killed 73 people when the plane crashed off the coast of Barbados.

Finally, Posada has dropped his claim that he is a U.S. resident. His attorney says his client “didn’t want to burden the court with an issue he couldn’t win,” the AP reports.

So it sounds like Posada’s attorneys are zero for three at the plate by my count. The judge now wants to explore Posada’s ties to the Bay of Pigs invasion; even CIA documents point to the fact that Posada’s denials concerning the Cuban airline bombing don’t carry water; and now Posada is giving up on what had all along seemed a dubious claim to U.S. residency –- given the fact that he hadn’t lived in the United States (prior to his illegal entry) in decades.

So where’s the beef in his case? What does he deserve asylum from –- the justice due for his terrorist past?

Posada’s last hope is the political might of the anti-Castro Cuban community it seems, or at least that might explain why, as AP reports, that his “lawyer did say Posada would renew his request that the case be moved to Miami and elsewhere in Florida, where Posada has friends and relatives.”

But will Bush actually take the international political heat on this one to appease elements of the anti-Castro Cuban community in Miami? Not likely –- particularly because those votes can always be “fixed” in other ways.

And the Bush Administration is certainly not going to allow Posada, a Venezuelan citizen, to be turned over to the Venezuelan government –- which is seeking his extradition so that he can stand trial on charges that he masterminded the Cuban airliner bombing.

Posada avoided standing trial on the same charges 20 years ago by escaping from a prison in that South American country. If Posada is brought back for a return engagement, he would have the eyes of the world upon him –- and a stage for uncloaking a sordid tale of covert treachery stretching back some 45 years.

The Bush White House already has to be worried about what Posada might say in a U.S. courtroom. He is already threatening to testify at his next hearing in El Paso, slated for Aug. 29, the AP reports.

Posada even appears willing to open up on questions about terrorism.

From a separate report by Reuters:

Posada will "work with the government in good faith" to answer the terrorism question, said (Posada’s attorney) Archambeault. "Mr. Posada doesn't want the U.S. government to jump through hoops."

That will be a case of the fox asking the snake what he did with the chicken eggs.

Stay tuned. This game of Texas Hold‘em still has a few wild cards in play.

And in the mean time, can someone make sure Posada gets a cell without a window. Too much sunshine could be bad for his skin cancer.