One of President Bush’s strengths is the unambiguous way he talks about terrorists and the countries that harbor them. He puts it plainly and succinctly: Hand over terrorists or share their fate.

The case of Luis Posada Carriles endangers that clarity. Posada is an admitted terrorist. According to The New York Times, he is the prime suspect in the bombing of a Cuban airliner in 1976. Seventy-three people were killed. He planned terror attacks in Havana, one of which killed an Italian visitor in 1997. He was convicted in Panama of a plot to kill Fidel Castro in 2000. And, most likely, he’s hiding in the United States and is seeking political asylum.

To complicate matters further, Posada worked for the Central Intelligence Agency in the 1960s.

The case against the 77-year-old Posada warrants his arrest and deportation for trial. The United States should not be in the business of harboring terrorists, even one who has acted against the country’s political opponents. Posada has targeted civilians and is implicated in the death of 73 people whose only crime was boarding a civilian airliner.

If the United States fails to act, the credibility of the war on terror will be strained even further, and the country will have even shakier grounds on which to demand that suspected terrorists be handed over for prosecution.

President Bush would certainly pay a heavy price among conservative Cuban-Americans, especially those in south Florida, who are staunchly anti-Castro. Venezuela is demanding that Posada be extradited to face trial, but giving in to those demands is difficult. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is a Castro ally and constant critic of Bush.

No doubt that, politically, the Posada case is tricky. Morally, it’s straightforward. The United States cannot provide sanctuary to a terrorist.