U.S. accuses Cuba of germ weapons program

[Osolomia]

WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 — The United States, yet to find evidence to back its charge that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, issued a new accusation on Thursday that Cuba had a ''limited'' biological arms program.

Cuba has previously denied the accusation, repeated on Thursday by Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Roger Noriega at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Cuba.

Noriega was responding to a question from Sen. Christopher Dodd, a Democrat from Connecticut, who asked why Washington continued to enforce a four-decade sanctions regime against Havana.

Dodd quoted Secretary of State Colin Powell as having said Cuba did not constitute a military threat to the United States and asked: ''If it is no longer a threat, why would we maintain those restrictions?''

''We continue ... to believe that Cuba has at least a limited, developmental, offensive biological weapons research and development effort and is providing dual-use biotechnology to other rogue states,'' said Noriega, the top U.S. diplomat for Latin America.

More…
http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters10-02-162221.asp?reg=AMERICAS

Noriega is expected to announce Bush’s new Cuba policy this weekend while Mikhail Gorbachev will be the keynote speaker at a summit opposed to the embargo.

[Sal316]

1. Bolton said this same line of b.s.

..just before Carter went to Cuba.

Man, are they desparate or what?

[markses]

2. Laughable

Besides the fact that these imbeciles shot their whole load on a fairy-tale in Iraq, and have as close to -237 Celsius credibility on such claims, they are here probably using Cuba's pharmaceutical industry to make such claims.

They are clowns, and fiendish clowns to boot.

[ConcernedCanuk]

3. Hmmmm - ANOTHER pre-emptive strike in the near future ? Scary - -

.

[Nevernose]

4. Cuba's gotta get in line

Behind Iran, Syria, North Korea, and probably some others that I can't even remeber right now...

[w4rma]

5. I guess they figured that the WMD lie worked so well for Iraq

that they'd use it on more countries. :puke:

[Kitsune]

6. B*sh diplomacy: inspired by Counter-Strike n00bs

I keep expecting the next press release from the administration to say "OMG WTF CATSRO HAX BOOT HIM ADMIN!!1"

[CookieD]

7. We'd better invade Cuba ASAP ...

We don't want our first sign of trouble to be a mushroom cloud!
(Lol.)

[leesa]

9. Love that Pic...bless her heart!

[goforit]

8. This story is older than the cold war with Russia!!

Are they for real?

They just had a meeting with the Miami Cubans and....

whala........


They now have a retched Cuban policy!!!!

I am sick of the Miami Cubans deciding what policy
the rest of America should have.

My answer to them is to go home and have their own revolution,
but don't drag the rest of us through their family business.

[leesa]

10. The first sentance is telling though...no evidence in Iraq, but another

accusation. This from the mainstream media!

[Osolomia]

11. Context matters!

As noted in the first post, Bush is expected to announce his new Cuba policy this weekend as Mikhail Gorbachev speaks at a Summit on Cuba opposed to the embargo and a bipartisan majority in the Senate prepares to vote on lifting the travel ban despite Bush's threatened veto.

Where the 2004 Dem presidential candidates stand is anyone's guess, meanwhile life goes on as today's related news articles demonstrate:

Gorbachev: Cuba victim of super powers' Cold War confrontations
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=146022

Senate panel chairman says policy toward Cuba `has not worked'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=146052

State Department official defends U.S. travel restrictions against Cuba
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=146071

Rift with Bush is still open (Cuban-Americans & W's Re-Election)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php

[Voltaire99]

12. Yes

Washington's outburst about alleged germ weapons is no doubt a response to the growing sanity on the Cuba embargo.

If one is losing an argument today, "terrorism" is the ultimate trump card...

[Judi Lynn]

14. The first few words are out from Gorbachev's speech

Quite interesting!

(snip) Gorbachev: Cuba Victim of Super Powers' Cold War Confrontations
The Associated Press
Published: Oct 2, 2003




JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev came to the defense of Cuba on Thursday, saying it was a Third World nation that fell victim to confrontations between the two super powers during the Cold War.

"Now that we have ended the Cold War, it's time to lift the embargo," he said during a forum at the University of North Florida.

Gorbachev is also to meet with government officials in Miami late Saturday concerning U.S. trade sanctions that were imposed against the Communist nation more than 40 years ago.

"If you look at all the pluses and minuses, you will see that they are all the result of the unique situation, the difficult situation in which Cuba was caught," said Gorbachev. "Nevertheless, the Cubans are a healthy nation, an educated nation with good potential."
(snip/...)

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031002/APN/310021128


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gorbachev better watch his back during his stay in Miami. It hasn't been named the "terror capital" in it's years since the Cuban "exile" takeover for nada!

[Say_What]

28. Quite interesting indeed!!

Before I read this thread I posted that article to LBN. I can hear Radio Mambi now--hysteria like you can't believe. This weekend's conference should be interesting with Gorby. What other lies and fantasies Noriega and thugs will drag out to appease the one-issue-agenda fanatics in Batistaville is anybodys guess.

[BattyDem]

13. Yeah, we know ...

Cuba has WMDs ... Syria has WMDs ... Iran has WMDs ... North Korea has WMDs ... Iraq had WMDs but they exported them, which means ... Kuwait has WMDs.

All of these countries are supposedly a threat to world peace ... yet we're the only country dropping bombs.

[HEyHEY]

15. WHAT HAS CUBA EVER DONE TO ANYONE?????

I know they lent support to a few wars back in the day, but who didn't?
Jesus they just want to be left alone@!

[Matilda]

22. They dared to be different!

But the real point is Cuba would be a walkover - they have to do something to make themselves feel strong and tough again.

[joshcryer]

25. Cuba would *not* be a walkover.

The Cuban people have always historically rose up against unjust leaders. It just so happens that they feel the system they have is the least unjust of them all.

It would be very very bloody.

A crime against humanity.

[Mika]

26. No "walkover" mission in Cuba

"But the real point is Cuba would be a walkover - they have to do something to make themselves feel strong and tough again."


Then Cuba isn't the place to do that.

Do you think that the Cubans have forgotten the tyranny of US domination? Do you think that the Cubans are about to hand over the goods to the oligarchs they kicked out 40 years ago? Do you think that the Cubans would give up what they have successfully worked so hard to create - sovereignty, socialism, and freedom? Not on your life!

Cuba has a very well prepared civilian militia as well as an army. The US would kick initial ass, but in the long run.. no way. FYI, Cubans in Cuba do not hate Castro. Aside from a few thousand US paid "dissidents", he is respected if not revered nationwide. Fidel and Raul just about wrote the book on guerrilla warfare and "hearts and minds" campaign tactics. Plus, Cuba has just too many allies for this to happen without major international consequences.

It would be a BIG mistake.

[Say_What]

29. They threw Uncle Sam out and for that the vendetta continues

with unlimited amounts of $$$.

The Cubans and their leader are considered heros in the entire third world.

[Judi Lynn]

16. Gorbachev's words from his speech in Miami bear repeating

(snip) October 02. 2003 9:27PM
Gorbachev: Cuba victim of super powers' Cold War confrontations


The Associated Press


JACKSONVILLE, Fla.


Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev came to the defense of Cuba on Thursday, saying it was a Third World nation that fell victim to confrontations between the two super powers during the Cold War.

"Now that we have ended the Cold War, it's time to lift the embargo," he said during a forum at the University of North Florida.

Gorbachev is also to meet with government officials in Miami late Saturday concerning U.S. trade sanctions that were imposed against the Communist nation more than 40 years ago.

"If you look at all the pluses and minuses, you will see that they are all the result of the unique situation, the difficult situation in which Cuba was caught," said Gorbachev. "Nevertheless, the Cubans are a healthy nation, an educated nation with good potential."
(snip/...)

http://gainesvillesun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031002/APN/310021128&cachetime=5

How much clearer does it need to be for everyone to understand?

It would APPEAR that Gorachev's statement on Cuba's "unique situation," being caught between two giant powers is more valid than the duplicitous, fraudulent accusations getting flung from an administration like _Bush's.

[R Hickey]

17. We've dropped agricultural plagues on Cuba

For years, the CIA sponsored flights over Cuba which were piloted by Miami/Batista ex-Cubans. These 'Freedom Flights' dropped insects, molds, and germs on Cuba's crops.

The Cuban government documented when the flights occured, and when the resulting agricultural plagues took place. If the Cubans have any germ warfare program, it was developed to counteract the various blights our CIA, with the help of the Miami Cubans, dropped on the island.

[Judi Lynn]

19. You may remember hearing of the statement made during a murder trial

by a Cuban "exile" terrorist, Eduardo Arocena:

(snip) Biotechnology took off in Cuba in 1981 when Cuban scientists produced interferon in just six weeks during an epidemic of dengue fever that was killing dozens of people, many of them children. Here was an historic moment when biotechnology was able to respond to what many believe was U.S. bioterrorism. Suspicion that dengue was introduced into Cuba by the CIA was given added credence three years later by the testimony of the leader of one of the most murderous Cuban-American terrorist groups, Eduardo Arocena of Omega 7, during his trial on charges that included the murder of a Cuban diplomat in New York. As The New York Times reported at the time, "Mr. Arocena testified that he had visited Cuba in 1980 in connection with a mission to introduce `some germs' into the country." The New York Times did not report what Arocena said next: that whatever was carried to Cuba in that mission "produced results that were not what we had expected because we thought that it was going to be used against the Soviet forces, and it was used against our own people and with that we did not agree." This testimony is only one example of a body of considerable evidence that the United States government has carried out multiple chemical and biological attacks on Cuban people, animals, and plants during four decades. In 1982, two years after Arocena's mission, the U.S. State Department put Cuba on a list of terrorist nations, where it still remains. (snip/...)

http://newark.rutgers.edu/~hbf/j/health.htm

[lostnfound]

18. Is it "projection"? US used germ warfare on Cuba..

according to William Blum's books. I don't know whether it's true or not, but he describes US attempts to attack their crops, and also cases of diseases showing up Cuba that don't exist elsewhere in this part of the world, and also has reports from a guy that flew the planes.

[Judi Lynn]

21. You can find tons of references to biological warfare against Cuba

by quite a few different authors in any search, if you get some time to spend.

(snip) What undoubtedly was an even more sensitive venture was the use
of chemical and biological weapons against Cuba by the United States.
It is a remarkable record.

In August 1962, a British freighter under Soviet lease, having
damaged its propeller on a reef, crept into the harbor at San
Juan, Puerto Rico for repairs. It was bound for a Soviet port
with 80,000 bags of Cuban sugar. The ship was put into dry dock
and 14,135 sacks of sugar were unloaded to a warehouse to
facilitate the repairs. While in the warehouse, the sugar was
contaminated by CIA agents with a substance that was allegedly
harmless but unpalatable. When President Kennedy learned of the
operation he was furious because it had taken place in US
territory and if discovered could provide the Soviet Union with a
propaganda field-day and could set a terrible precedent for
chemical sabotage in the cold war. He directed that the sugar
not be returned to the Russians, although what explanation was
given to them is not publicly known.{19} Similar undertakings
were apparently not canceled. The CIA official who helped direct
worldwide sabotage efforts, referred to above, later revealed
that "There was lots of sugar being sent out from Cuba, and we
were putting a lot of contaminants in it."{20}

The same year, a Canadian agricultural technician working
as an adviser to the Cuban government was paid $5,000 by "an American
military intelligence agent" to infect Cuban turkeys with a virus which
would produce the fatal Newcastle disease. Subsequently, 8,000
turkeys died. The technician later claimed that although he had
been to the farm where the turkeys had died, he had not actually
administered the virus, but had instead pocketed the money, and
that the turkeys had died from neglect and other causes unrelated
to the virus. This may have been a self-serving statement. The
Washington Post reported that "According to U.S.
intelligence reports, the Cubans -- and some Americans -- believe
the turkeys died as the result of espionage."{21} Authors
Warren Hinckle and William Turner, citing a participant in the
project, have reported in their book on Cuba that:

During 1969 and 1970, the CIA deployed futuristic weather modification technology to
ravage Cuba's sugar crop and undermine the economy. Planes from the China Lake
Naval Weapons Center in the California desert, where hi tech was developed, overflew
the island, seeding rain clouds with crystals that precipitated torrential rains over
non-agricultural areas and left the cane fields arid (the downpours caused killer flash
floods in some areas).{22}
In 1971, also according to participants, the CIA turned over to Cuban
exiles a virus which causes African swine fever. Six weeks later, an
outbreak of the disease in Cuba forced the slaughter of 500,000 pigs to
prevent a nationwide animal epidemic. The outbreak, the first ever
in the Western hemisphere, was called the "most alarming event" of the
year by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization.{23}
(snip/....)

http://members.aol.com/bblum6/cuba.htm

[Judi Lynn]

20. The wild mix of opinions is astonishing

Note the opinion of this high-ranking U. S. officer:

(snip) retired Marine Gen. John Sheehan has just returned from a weeklong tour of the island—the highest-ranking U.S. officer to visit Cuba since the 1959 revolution—and is urging the Clinton administration to "regularize contacts'' between Cuban and American military chiefs. (snip)

George H. W. Bush's Defense official:
{snip) "We really don't have much of a rational dialogue on this,'' said Alberto R. Coll, principal deputy assistant secretary of defense in the Bush administration, who echoed Sheehan's views. "Anybody who admits there's a problem with existing policy is branded a pro-Castro apologist.'' (snip)

Yet another:

(snip) A senior Pentagon official appointed by President Reagan who considers himself an "anti-communist hard-liner'' said the context of relations has changed so completely that it is time to engage Cubans at all levels, even trade with them. (snip)

http://64.21.33.164/CNews/y98/mar98/30e6.htm

And THIS article was written March, 1998! Wow!

Now maybe it's time for people to recognize our "greatest minds" have been working on this problem for quite a while, and that it's all over but the screeching from the hard-right nutcases, the "exile" extremists, and the people who haven't taken the time to wake up and get informed on Cuba.






Ben Treuhaft, who created the Helms-Treuhaft Piano Bass String Factory in Cuba, in honor of Jesse Helms, who tried his damnedest
to leave his mark on Cuba via crushing embargo restrictions
http://www.sendapiana.com/sphbrig.htm

[Vogon_Glory]

23. More Bushwah and Misdirections

Noriega's allegations against Cuba fit the same old patterns this administration has shown time and time again. Use misdirection and innuendo to make claims with little or no relevancy to the facts. I give it the same credibility as I would about those so-called mobile chemical weapons laboratory trailers US forces found in the Iraqi desert that turned out to be for supporting weather balloons.

While I would actually agree that Castro DOES have the capacity for bio-warfare research, I just don't think he's stupid enough to actually implement such a program. The wily old man in Havana seems to be shrewd enough to know that such a program would bring real wrath on top of his head.

The real purpose of this allegation is three-fold. It's to bolster the failing rationales for continuing US travel restrictions to Cuba, it's to bolster the failing rationales for continuing the embargo of US goods to Cuba, it's to butter up the exiles in South Florida, and it's an attempt to damage Cuba's very real and promising biotech industry.

[Jack Rabbit]

24. This needs to be nipped in the bud

The same gang of thugs that told us what, where and how much about Saddam's biochemical arsenal is now telling us about Castro's. Does anybody believe them?

This kind of belligerent talk from the Bush junta should no longer be tolerated. They long ago forfeited the right to the benefit of any doubt. They have started one unjustified war with a pack of lies, they should not be able to start another. They are war criminals, rogues and international pariahs. They deserve no respect and should be given none.

[Say_What]

27. SMOKESCREEN: Same bullsh*t that they drag out every so often, but

based on Gorby saying that the embargo should be lifted and that Iraq was a mistake, the Bushies have to create some sort of diversion just as they did when Jimmy Carter went to Cuba and Bolton dragged out the same LIES. The last paragraph is interesting though, it basically says that Bushes credibility is in the toilet.

Fromt the article:

U.S. President George W. Bush accused Saddam Hussein of stockpiling chemical and biological weapons before invading Iraq in March. No sign of such weapons has yet been found in Iraq.