Administration backing off on Cuba's germ warfare ability

[Judi Lynn]

Administration backing off on Cuba's germ warfare ability
New intelligence report says bio-weapons program uncertain

Steven R. Weisman, New York Times
Saturday, September 18, 2004
Washington -- The Bush administration, using stringent standards adopted after the failure to find banned weapons in Iraq, has conducted a new assessment of Cuba's biological weapons capabilities and concluded that it is no longer clear that Cuba has an active, offensive bio-weapons program, according to administration officials.

The latest assessment contradicts a 1999 National Intelligence Estimate and past statements by top administration officials, some of whom have warned that Cuba may be sharing its weapons capability with "rogue states" or terrorists. It is the latest indication that in the wake of the Iraq intelligence failures, the CIA and other intelligence agencies are taking a closer look at earlier threat assessments and finding fault with some of the conclusions and the way the reports were prepared.
(snip)

In March 2002, John Bolton, undersecretary of state for nonproliferation, asserted that "the United States believed that Cuba had at least a limited offensive biological warfare research and development effort" and had also "provided dual-use biotechnology to other rogue states." A month later, he escalated his comments that Cuba remained a terrorist threat to the United States and that its biological weapons program should be seen in that light. Bolton declined to comment on the revised assessment Friday.

The new assessment was described by an intelligence official and a second government official. Both said they had been briefed on it. They spoke on condition that their names and agencies not be identified.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/09/18/MNGMF8R4R21.DTL

[Mika]

1. Doesn't "Castro" have some rape rooms or something we can attack for?

How about some mass graves?

Maybe Cuba.. er.. Castro has a weapons related research program?

Damn.

Colin Bowel will have to use a(nother) cartoon presentation at the UN I guess. :shrug:


:evilgrin:

[Judi Lynn]

2. Can't believe they are backing off on this charge.

It has been one of their favorite charges since _Bush took Al Gore's job. They do it twice a year, normally, rotating it with remarks about dissidents, and with the ever popular claim Cuba deals in human trafficking, white slavery, child prostitution, etc. among others.

Makes you wonder what they are REALLY up to, when they depart from their predictable routine. This follows on the heels of their stripping away the opportunity Cuban "exiles" have had to travel to Cuba at least once a year to visit relatives and friends, replacing it with the allowance of going once every three years, no matter if there's a family emergency or not, and making it retroactive, as well as slashing the amount of money they can take along to a bare minimum, to keep them from giving money to their relatives.

Do you think they are trying to calm fears in Miami that they will use one of their bogus charges to launch a holocaust against Cuba?

[Mika]

6. Cuba will kick our ass (If W put us there)

The "insurgents" have ground US forces down in Iraq - w has overstreched US forces. There would be no "coalition" for an attack on Cuba. NONE.

W would have to nuke Havana and level the Sierra Maestra mountains to "win". Otherwise, Cubans would kick our asses (again).


God forbid that such an attack ever were to happen. :nuke:

[Judi Lynn]

7. If any Americans are unsophisticated enough to imagine

Cuban citizens would see a U.S. invasion as being "liberating," they'd be horrendously surprised.

The only people there to throw flowers at their feet would be the same U.S.-supported and bought "dissidents" and "independent librarians" who've been on the dole for years, and for which Congress periodically allocates more funds, allowing them to live very comfortably while cranking out Grade A, U.S.-designed propaganda to keep the illusion in place.

Even Republicans are asking "Why not drop the travel ban and let Americans go there and expose them to democracy?" At some point they are going to start asking themselves WHY we haven't dropped the complete TRAVEL BAN to Cuba, when Cuba poses absolutely no threat to Americans.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives, only last week, under the leadership of this year's Flake amendment to drop the travel ban, Jeff Flake opted to drop the matter all together, to spare _{George Bush} the trouble of having to resort to his veto. I cannot imagine Flake would bend over for him this year, after introducing amendments time and again to get Americans permission to travel the 90 miles to Cuba!

I understand limited "exile" travel is still still getting batted around in the Senate, as they consider removing the new set of DEVASTATING restrictions _Bush placed upon Cuban-American travel to Cuba to visit relatives who live there.

[Mika]

8. Keeping Cuba sanctions on the table reaps campaign cash for R's and D's

Both parties are players in this 45 year old travesty.

I'm not too surprised that Flake dropped it. If he hadn't it still would have been killed in a markup committee. One way or another, by D or R, dropping the sanctions gets killed off annually.

Its all about corruption, power and greed.



Meanwhile..

Cuba still in the market for Texas ag products
http://www.thevictoriaadvocate.com/farm_and_ranch/farm/story/2217625p-2569279c.html

Cuba wants to buy Texas cotton, and efforts by two shipping lines to arrange for transport of the cotton to Cuba could mean dividends for Texas farmers, according to the Texas Cuba Trade Alliance president.

Cindy Thomas of Dallas said in a telephone interview that once these shipping lines can secure container vessels for the shipment of cotton, some transactions can be made.

"Beef is another product we anticipate shipping to Cuba in the next couple of months," Thomas said. "There is a strong demand for beef. Cuba had inspectors in Texas inspecting slaughter houses."

During her visit to Victoria last week for a town hall meeting, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs said it is her understanding that the Cuban inspectors are satisfied with what they found.

"I'm on record repeatedly saying don't use food as a sanction," she said, noting she's believes trade with Cuba will open up even more for ag producers.

"U.S. now is the largest source of ag products for Cuba," Thomas said. "So far this year, over $350 million of ag products has been sold to Cuba on cash basis. The fact that they pay cash up front is why it has grown so quickly. Right now, ADM is the largest supplier of produce to Cuba, but there are a lot of small vendors successfully selling product."

[Judi Lynn]

9. Some remarks from Democratic Senator Max Baucus, who has been to Cuba

and sponsored lotsa amendments to remove U.S. sanctions and lift the travel ban. I don't see how anyone could avoid noticing the logic in his statement:

Posted on Sat, Sep. 18, 2004




VERBATIM


U.S. should lift ban on travel to Cuba


Below are excerpts from a statement by U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., at a press conference in Washington, D.C., last Tuesday.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Earlier this summer, the Bush administration tightened -- yet again -- the rules that limit travel by Americans to Cuba. This time, the new rules were aimed at Cuban Americans. These new rules make it harder for these people to visit their relatives in Cuba and to send hard-earned financial support to their families who are still stuck in Castro's Cuba.

You might be asking, what does this have to do with the war on terrorism? The answer is simple: The Cuba travel ban is a drain on the same federal resources that we use to fight the war on terrorism.
As we all have learned in the past three years, al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations in the Middle East have a lot of money at their disposal. Without these funds, they would not have the means to organize and carry out their plots against U.S. interests, whether here at home or abroad. Thus, rooting out their sources of financial support and cutting them off is essential to winning the war on terrorism.

Unfortunately, the agency charged with rooting out the international sources of terrorist financing -- OFAC, or the Office of Foreign Assets Control -- is also assigned to manage the Cuba travel ban. Incredibly, at the direction of the State Department, OFAC has decided to divert more personnel resources to imposing the Cuba travel ban than to any other country or project-specific issue. According to their records, the equivalent of 21 full-time OFAC employees are allocated to the Cuba travel ban.

No credible threat

On the other hand, only 16 employees are allocated to the search for al Qaeda's financial sources of support. Less than 15 full-time employee resources are spent on the former Iraq regime and its insurgents and less than 14 are spent on Iran. Less than ten are allocated to Syria, Sudan and Libya combined. Afghanistan doesn't even merit one full-time employee -- it receives the attention of roughly two-thirds of one full-time OFAC employee. North Korea only gets one-third.
In other words, more OFAC personnel resources are spent on the effort to prevent Americans from vacationing in Cuba than are spent to track down and shut off the sources of funds used by al Qaeda to carry out terrorist activities. This is despite the fact that Cuba poses no credible threat to the United States.
This is appalling and only illustrates how our misguided Cuba policy undermines our larger, more-important foreign-policy goals. The time has come to end this ridiculous travel ban.
(snip/)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/9695161.htm
(Free registration required)

[saigon68]

3. They think Fidel is the Anti-Christ.

The CHIMPANZEE gets a HUGE ERECTION just thinking about how he will Kill Fidel.

[Judi Lynn]

4. It's doubtful he has the self-control and discipline needed

to "just say no," seeing as how the American taxpayers have paid the price to buy him all the fighters he can use, since he undoubtedly sees Fidel Castro (his dad was involved in the Bay of Pigs stupidity) as the brass ring to grab while riding the merry-go-round.

He's unable to resist this special treat. The "compassion" angle works when you realize he could have done it sooner, but denied himself, then!

[BlueHandDuo]

5. Castro is 78 years old. Bush can't just let him die...

...of natural causes. He's gotta make a martyr of him to further arouse worldwide hatred of the US.

[Mika]

12. Castro is near universally respected already (except here in America)

When Castro dies he will remembered and looked up to as a martyr - for spending nearly his entire life as an advocate of justice, peace, universal education, universal health care, unionism, personal and international social and environmental responsibility.

Especially by the good people of Cuba.



--

[Judi Lynn]

13. You can't say he hid out and goofed off while his people struggled

He was thrown in jail, had his friends tortured and murdered in some cases, and lived as a soldier among other soldiers. He surely didn't have a delusion that his father's wealth and position in his country entitled him to a charmed existance while others bled and died in their need to throw off their brutal, murderous, corrupted U.S.-supported dictator Fulgencio Batista, who controlled Cuba, as president and behind the scenes, behind puppet figures for over 30 years. He was wealthy, too, as a kid, but he didn't entertain any impression he was more important than his fellow man.

[Mika]

14. His father's family farm was nationalized, post '59

Fidel Castro gave up his own and his family's personal wealth to the people of & the nation of Cuba.


The Castro-Ruz family are almost polar opposites of the Bush family.



________

[Judi Lynn]

16. I read that his family's plantation was the first one to be nationalized.

He definitely put his money where his mouth is. I read his family's plantation was 32,000 acres, in Oriente province.

[Gregorian]

15. Wow. Thanks.

I learn something new every day. I knew he fought amongst his fellow people. But I didn't know he had been wealthy. I also didn't know the man he was fighting against was American backed. I'm beginning to really have a strong dislike for the US! No wonder things are going the way they are. Between a bad history, and a media that doesn't want us to know what's really happening, it all makes sense.

I'm not much of a history buff. I hated history and fought learning it, because it revolved around war, primarily. At least in college. A's in math, D's in history.

Anyways, thanks for that.

[lostnfound]

10. Cuba on receiving end of 'Biowarfare" according to William Blum

'Killing Hope' included sections about US biowarfare experiments, spraying stuff to wipe out Cuban crops etc.

[Judi Lynn]

11. William Blum's a terrific author. Very thorough.Not kidding around, is he?

Here's a short segment of the vicious things perpetrated against Cubans since their revolution. I stopped on the entry concerning Eduardo Arocena, as it's especially nasty. His testimony concerning his part in this terrorism against Cuba is on the record officially through his trial testimony:

Biowar History Time Line

Biological war waged by the US against Cuba

--1962 A US intelligence agent is known to have given several thousand dollars to a Canadian to introduce a disease infecting Cuban sea-turtles.

--1965 A plastic balloon descends on a farm in Santiago de las Vegas. When it hits the ground it expels a white dust that spreads to cane plantation which is later destroyed.

--1968 A foreign specialist working for an international agency is expelled after he is confirmed to have introduced a virus affecting coffee crops.

--1970 The US is caught seeding clouds over Cuba in an attempt to affect the sugar harvest. The project was part of a larger research plan called "The Cooling" which was intended to devise ways of manipulating the weather for political reasons.

--1971 African swine fever is introduced. The Cubans claim that the container transporting the virus came from Fort Gullick, a US military base in the Panama Canal Zone. Those involved in this attack have since testified to their part. The entire pig population of Cuba had to be slaughtered.

--1977 Cane smut is detected in Pilón, eastern Cuba. The disease had never been known in Cuba until this date.

--1978: A previously unknown variety Blue mould hits the sugar crops causing losses of approximately 344 million pesos.

--1978: Sugar cane rust affects a new variety of cane imported from Barbados. As a result 1.35 million tonnes of sugar are
lost.

--1979-80 Two different strains of African swine fever are discovered emanating from distinct areas of contamination. 300,00 pigs are slaughtered.

--1981 A previously unknown Bovine skin disease erupts affecting young cows and bullocks throughout the island.

--1981 A sudden outbreak of haemorrhagic dengue fever affects 350,000 people. 158 people, including children, die from the disease. The disease is later discovered to be exactly the same strain of the disease which caused an outbreak in New Guinea in 1924 but no others in the world except the Cuban case. The outbreak had three initial breeding grounds in Cienfuegos and Camagüey, all very close to international air corridors. Just prior to the outbreak it was discovered that the entire personnel at the Guantanamo naval base had been vaccinated against dengue. As a result there was not a single case of the disease in the base.

--1981 Haemorraghic conjunctivitis caused by the Enterovirus 70 strain spreads throughout the island. The Pan American Health Organisation is baffled because this strain had never been seen in the entire hemisphere before.

--1982 The US magazine Covert Action, August 6, 1982, suggests the dengue outbreak might have been a CIA plot.

--1984 Eduardo Arocena, a counter-revolutionary of Cuban origin and head of the Omega-7 terrorist organisation, stands trial in the US accused of the murder of Felix Garcia Rodriguez, a Cuban diplomat to the UN. Arocena confesses to having introduced 'germs' into Cuba as part of the US biological war against Cuba. He affirms that the dengue outbreak was introduced by terrorist groups into the island.
(snip/...)

http://www.newsmakingnews.com/biowarfarecrops4,2,00.htm

(The list ends at 1996, so actions taken after that wouldn't be noted.)