Rice Urges International Pressure on Cuba

[kskiska]

CHICAGO, Oct. 13 -- Branding Fidel Castro a tyrant, White House national security adviser Condoleezza Rice called Monday for renewed international pressure against the Cuban leader.

Speaking days after President Bush said he would begin tight enforcement of a ban on travel by U.S. citizens to Cuba, Rice said Castro's crackdown on dissidents has brought him worldwide condemnation.

"This needs to be an international effort," she told a meeting of the Inter American Press Association in Chicago. "It is unacceptable that Cuba remain in the state that it does in this hemisphere at a time when democracy and freedom and prosperity are within grasp. . . . It should not be that the Cuban people are forgotten."

Cuba rejected the renewed pressure from Washington for reforms and said Bush was "dreaming" of a post-Castro transition.

A Cuban Foreign Ministry statement in Havana said steps announced by Bush to hasten political change on the island were aimed at securing the votes of the Cuban exile community in Florida, the pivotal state in his controversial 2000 election.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21494-2003Oct13.html

[Kool Kitty]

1. I don't get this.

Why all the emphasis on Cuba all of a sudden? Or did I miss something?

[MuseRider]

2. Votes baby!

That and another chance to fight with someone who really can't fight back. Man we are strong.

[Bozita]

7. That's right. We can kick Fidel's ass. Look at Cuba, not Iraq.

Castro has WMD.

Have I told you that he gassed his own people?

unfuckingbelievable

[NMLobo]

16. Don't forget

that time Castro tried to buy uraniun from Africa.

Can't these bastards finish at least one war before they start another???

[Say_What]

45. Amnesty International's letter to Bush

<clips>

(New York) – Today President Bush announced several new initiatives intended to hasten the arrival of a free and democratic Cuba. While Amnesty International is the first to decry the oppression that haunts Cuba, we are concerned that the President's latest recommendations are far from forward-looking policies that would positively affect its people. At a time when the U.S. should put effective human rights strategies at the core of its Cuba policy, it may well have succeeded in doing the opposite.

Amnesty International wrote to President Bush last May requesting a reevaluation of the economic embargo, which for 40 years has failed to improve the human rights of the Cuban people, and in some cases has helped undermine these rights. Experts overwhelmingly find the embargo's negative effects are not felt by the decision makers and authorities, but by the weakest and most vulnerable members of the population. The embargo only fuels the climate in which freedom of association, expression and assembly are routinely denied and by providing the Cuban government with a "justification" for repression.

Amnesty International agrees that measures must be taken to increase the safety of refugees attempting to reach America's shores, and welcomes any U.S. initiative in line with international laws and standards designed to protect refugees. However, the broadening of this policy should not be limited to Cubans alone; these efforts should be undertaken for all in need of safe haven.

While Amnesty International would welcome any measures that would improve the rights of the Cuban people, it remains to be seen whether the commission mandated to "plan the transition to a free and open society and find ways to hasten that day," will do so. Amnesty International opposes any proposals that would contribute to a worsening of humanitarian conditions in Cuba and are primarily aimed at destabilizing the country. It is critical that, as it proceeds with its new initiatives, the U.S. government does not confuse its aim of affecting positive change for the Cuban people with pursuing punitive policies.

<http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/cuba/document.do?id=ED24DA8E3CC78A5885256DBB00634097>

[joeybee12]

3. It's because Condo-liar is a worthless skank

She's got nothing better to do. Guess it wasn't her job to protect us from such things as say, oh 9-11.

[madmax]

4. Didn't you get the memo?

:evilgrin: :hi: Kitty

[Kool Kitty]

13. Hey, bay-beeee!!!!

It must be around here somewhere, I keep everything. Now, where is that memo? This bunch is priceless. ;-)

[saigon68]

30. More Rantings of the Condominium LapDog

This is so funny. You can even travel to Cambodia and Viet-Nam, Iran and North Korea. But Cuba? She is truly an imbecile.

[Say_What]

37. How about that Cuban Adjustment Act and the privileges

accorded to Cuban immigrants that no other immigrant group enjoys? The Cuban Adjustment Act (CAA) states that if Cubans step one foot onto dry land they get a green card--they get caught at sea they are supposed to get repatriated back to Cuba, but the Repuke pols in FL--both Cuban- Americans who run unopposed--often step in and use political clout to twist the governments arm to do otherwise. This article from the Federation for American Immigration Reform points to an example:

<clips>

..The Coast Guard regularly intercepts Cubans at sea and returns them to their homeland under an ‘orderly migration’ agreement reached with the Cuban government after the 1994 rafter exodus that brought thousands to the U.S. But when a small plane with ten people aboard fleeing Cuba crashed in the Florida Straits in September, a Navy doctor working with the Coast Guard made the decision to send the survivors to a U.S. hospital for medical attention. Once on shore, the Cuban exercised their right under the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act (CAA) to request asylum. Under the CAA’s so-called ‘wet foot/dry foot’ policy, those who reach land instead of being interdicted at sea are permitted to remain in the U.S. for one year, at which point they receive asylum.

The crash came during Cuba’s annual negotiation with the U.S. on the orderly migration agreement, a delicate affair that had already stalled once before the crash. The timing of the incident has heightened awareness of the U.S.’s odd CAA policy that favors Cubans over other asylum applicants.

Experts attribute attempts to make it to the U.S. to the ‘pull’ of the CAA more than the ‘push’ of conditions in Cuba. Wayne Smith, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and former head of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, noted, “The reasons Cubans continue to come here -- and let’s face it, the Cubans are not nearly so desperate as the Haitians -- is because they know that if they make it to the beach, chances are that they’ll be allowed to stay.”

Administration officials have denied accusations that the refugees, whose plane was originally thought to have been hijacked and therefore made the national headlines, were brought to the U.S. to curry favor with the Cuban-American community. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) spokeswoman Maria Cardona insisted that the INS was not pressured into accepting the Cubans and that “politics played absolutely no part in this.”

<http://www.fairus.org/Research/Research.cfm?ID=1894&c=54&Type=s&insearch=cuba>

[stevedeshazer]

5. DANGER DANGER

We all know Castro tried to get WMD from the Soviets. TERRA ALERT! RUN!! HIDE!!

Okay, isn't there some statute of limitation on this stuff?

Not to worry if you're Fidel, however. Bush so far has lost:

Sammy Sosa
Osama bin Laden
the Anthrax killer
Saddam Hussein
the Valerie Plame leaker
Dick Cheney
Eighteen months of military service
the 2000 election

He can't find shit. I wouldn't be too worried for Castro.

[Spazito]

6. I suspect she will be as successful in this rant to the international..

community as she has been on all her others. It ain't gonna happen!

[La_Serpiente]

9. she won't get anywhere

Nobody is going to put pressure on Cuba. The EU lifted sanctions a long time ago and Brazil just signed a 200 million dollar trade pact with them. Cuba and the world community has the upper hand here.

[Say_What]

24. Meanwhile on the island Cuba, Argentina restore full ties, discuss debt

<clips>

HAVANA, Oct. 13 — Argentina restored full diplomatic relations with Communist-run Cuba on Monday, two and half years after pulling out its ambassador due to Cuban criticism that its then government was ''licking the boots'' of the United States.

Argentine Foreign Minister Rafael Bielsa, installing a new envoy in Havana, said Argentina's left-leaning President Nestor Kirchner planned to visit Cuba in February to cement the new chapter in their ties.

Bielsa made progress in discussing cash-strapped Cuba's $1.9 billion debt to Argentina dating back decades, part of which will be paid in medical treatment in Havana for poor Argentines.

Ties between Argentina and Cuba sank in February 2001 when Cuban leader Fidel Castro accused former Argentine president Fernando de la Rua of ''licking the boots of the Yankees'' for aligning Argentina with Washington in a United Nations vote against Cuba's human rights record.

The page was turned with Kirchner's election this year and Castro attended his presidential inauguration in May.

http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters10-13-170349.asp?reg=AMERICAS

[Bozita]

25. Good post...This may be a reason for recent verbal attacks on Cuba.

getting more interesting.

[Judi Lynn]

31. Argentina, right after Brazil. Big S.A. countries linking up with Cuba.

This was interesting in your article:

(snip) ''Latin American countries are beginning to act more independently. New winds of integration are blowing in Latin America,'' Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said.

''There is growing solidarity against the U.S. blockade, the attempt to isolate Cuba and President (George W.) Bush's attempts to overthrow the Cuban revolution,'' Perez Roque said. (snip)

[saigon68]

29. The Canadians & Europeans won't be impressed

They are too busy sunning themselves on Cuba's beaches and drinking Pina Coladas.

[Say_What]

38. Non US companies doing business with Cuba

Canada, Spain, and Venezuela are Cuba's largest trade partners and the list is growing as witnessed by Brazil and yesterday Argentina. Add to that a long list of other countries doing business with the island. Meanwhile, our farmers and ag folks are saying f*ck you to politics as usual in Washington and are stepping up trade with Cuba as well (see second article).

<clips>

A small sampling of some of the companies cited in the international media as currently having commercial activities, or having had some commercial activities, or discussing some commercial activities, with enterprises within the Republic of Cuba. There are currently an estimated 4,500 companies from more than 100 countries that "do business in the Republic of Cuba" within such categories as importing to, exporting from, providing services to, or having investments within the Republic of Cuba.

http://www.cubatrade.org/nonus.html

---

<clips>

Cuba is now among top 20 buyers of US Corn

Cuba ranked 16th among overseas destinations of US corn in the marketing year that just ended, says a representative of the Iowa Corn Promotion Board and Iowa Corn Growers who visited that nation on a trade mission in late September.

In the last year Cuba bought 11 million bushels of US corn and on the most recent trade mission, Iowa-based FCStone sold $8 million worth of corn and soybeans, says Don Mason of the Iowa Corn Growers. The US share of Cuba's food imports has grown from nothing in 2000 to 25% last year.

"This market shows signs of being much better yet," Mason said Wednesday.

<http://www.agriculture.com/default.sph/AgNews.class?FNC=DetailNews__Asearch_listAgNews_html___50709>

[Judi Lynn]

48. Very intersting learning how many companies have been in Cuba

for years!

This quote, from your second link, from a REPUBLICAN, eek, is also worth noting:

(snip) In spite of the mini-Cold War chill, Iowa State Senator Nancy Boettger, a Republican, said she and other legislators will push to pass a resolution urging the Bush administration to normalize relations.

"I think it's time to lift the embargo," she said Wednesday. "Personally, I don't think it has served the Cuban people well, or our farmers." (snip)

Now THAT'S interesting. A LOT of Republicans are simply having to work around the pResident, a FELLOW REPUBLICAN, because he's IN THE ROAD, and they simply don't agree with him. Yaaay.

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

Thought you might find this worth snickering over:

(snip) The Miami Herald
February 12, 1981


Cuban envoy expelled for luring illicit trade

By Tom Fiedler
And R.A. Zaldivar
Herald Staff Writers

WASHINGTON - The State Department Wednesday expelled the second-ranking Cuban diplomat in the United States for engaging in "intelligence-gathering activities" and conspiring with American businessmen to violate the embargo on U.S. trade with Cuba.

Ricardo Escartin, first secretary in the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, was given a week to leave the country. He is the first Cuban diplomat to be expelled from the United States since 1970, when two members of the Cuban mission at the United Nations were forced to leave.

Escartin, according to State Department spokesman William Dyess, had traveled extensively in the United States in the past two years, making contacts with American businessmen interested in trading with Cuba despite the 20-year-old trade embargo.

It is believed that at least some of the businesses involved are based in South Florida.

In fact, the U.S. attorney's office in Miami said Wednesday that it, too, is investigating numerous individuals and businesses in South Florida for possible violations of the "Trading With the Enemy Act."

At this point, there is no direct link between the Washington and Miami investigations except that both involve allegations of illegal commerce between American businesses and Cuba.

One source close to the Miami investigation said, "Beyond a doubt, it is going on right now. People in the Cuban government are using their connections here to get a generator or tires or whatever." (snip/...)

http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/espionage/escartin.htm

Interesting to note the s-l-o-w progress we have made, but it's progress, nonetheless.

[madrchsod]

8. no one in the world

believes anything she says. no one cares what the bushies say,most of the civilized world just find ways to work around the bush policies or just ignore them. no one gives a shit condi...

[morebunk]

10. This is so sick!!!

This administration hasn't been successful at anything except invading a defenseless, battered Arab nation run by a delusional maniac. Cuba is minding her own business, trying to survive the sanctimonious, immoral embargo placed on them by the US. To villify Cuba when our men and women are being killed in Iraq on the orders of entire delusional manical administration is more than anyone should put up with.

[cosmicdot]

11. what a waste of time and money

just another distraction

we export millions in agriculture products to Cuba ... is Bush going to cut that off?

I'm sure Bush's uncle isn't slowing down his efforts in establishing business foothold in communist China.

Cuba trades with Venezuela, Spain, Russia, China, Canada ... many many countries ...

where's the international coalition going to come from Condi?

[KoKo]

12. I thought all her time was supposed to be devoted to Iraq and the New Plan

Oops.....forgot. Nothing is ever what it seems with these folks.

[Mel]

14. okay

Speaking days after President Bush said he would begin tight enforcement of a ban on travel by U.S. citizens to Cuba


This is BS, Americans are suppose to be free yet we aren't allowed to travel to Cuba?

Hey Condi, the rest of the world ought to flip you off and tell you to stick it where the sun doesn't shine.

This WH of all WH's in my lifetime has no right to try to dictate this sort of policy.

Let us not take our eyes off the fact that these are the same people who have allowed 'enemy combatants' to be held in Guantanamo Bay without due process.

Condi you speak with a forked tongue!

[PartyPooper]

15. Condi, like you're speaking from a "real" democracy! Ha Ha!

And, like we don't have a tyrant of our very own!

I can only hope that Castro bans all American Imperialistic 'tourism'...and, he prohibits all attempts by the U.S. to commercialize and exploit his country. So there, Condi!

:evilgrin:

[Say_What]

40. What Cubans think of the multinationals

[Judi Lynn]

49. That photo's priceless!

Had to copy it to my own files. Too, too cool.

[leesa]

17. She mustn't have gotten the memo that the US is no longer a world leader

Pathetic!

[Faygo Kid]

18. Distract attention from Iraq.

That's reason number one. Two: Look "statesmanlike" by calling for "international effort." Three: Florida vote in 2004. Smokescreen. Garbage. Flailing about. Finally, set up possible military strike if Bush is in trouble in 2004.

[Bozita]

20. Which way did he go, which way did he go?

He went for...

on edit: Sorry, this is a regional joke.

[Say_What]

19. STATEMENT FROM THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Cuba)

<clips>

Dignity and steadfastness in the face of imperialism’s growing hostility and arrogance

SINCE he arrived at the White House, the U.S. president, George W. Bush, has given unequivocal signs of his commitment to an extravagant and aggressive policy toward Cuba, with the aim of satisfying the criminal demands of the terrorist Miami mafia. In this way the White House is paying for that mafia’s fraud and scandalous trickery in the 2000 presidential elections, which denied the vote to tens of thousands of African-Americans and managed to stop a recount in two counties of the state of Florida.

Through certain anti-Cuban decisions, the Bush administration has inflicted a grave deterioration in bilateral links between the two countries, already seriously affected by 44 years of hostility and aggression. These include:

- An intensification of the criminal economic, financial and commercial blockade of Cuba; increased subversive activity in the U.S. Interests Section in Havana; and renewed support for counterrevolutionary groups, including the assignation of more than $30 million approved by USAID to these ends.

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2003/octubre03/lun13/41digni.html

[ConcernedCanuk]

21. "___want to enrich the tyrannical government ___"

. . . ORIGONAL TEXT . . .

...We know there are a lot of people who are using the travel opportunities to go to Cuba in ways that wind up enriching the Cuban government, because the Cubans are able to take the money in hard currency to then pay the workers in pesos and to pocket the difference. . . . It is simply unacceptable," she said.

She added: "We do not want to enrich the tyrannical government of Fidel Castro. We do not want to allow him to use these monies to fund his tyranny, his crackdown on dissidents."


IT SHOULD READ

We know there are a lot of people who are using the opportunities to go to War in ways that wind up enriching the BFEE and his gang of thugs, because the War Machine is able to take the money out of the taxpayers pocket then pay the warriors a pittance and to pocket the difference. . . . It is simply unacceptable," she said.



National security adviser Condoleezza Rice

She added: "We do not want to enrich the tyrannical government of King George II.
We do not want to allow him to use these monies to fund his tyranny, his crackdown on dissidents."

[SodoffBush]

22. Proof positive that she is nuts, too.

Doesn't Condi have better things to do than obsess over commies? Just shows how desperate the Bushies are, having to play the pinko card in the middle of a war with Iraq to keep the public under control.

[Say_What]

23. Condosleeza is a f*ck'n

D-bag. Her *speech* was written by someone off Calle Ocho. They can't even be creative when they lie. Same old lies. F*ck'n imbeciles.

Meanwhile, November is coming up and the UN General Assembly will probably vote to condemn the Cuban embargo for the 12th straight year. Last year the vote was 176 to condemn, 3 opposed. Israel has voted every year with the US and every few years the US twists a countries arm to vote with them--for US aid no doubt--last year it was the Marshall Islands.

Condosleeza --what a f*ck'n D-BAG.

[Bozita]

26. mods: please delete

[Judi Lynn]

27. The island stands up for itself

Shame on shabby _{Bush & cronies,} trying to misdirect our attention away from their greed, cruelty, and bad Presidency skills.

Cuba: Bush remarks pandering

By Vanessa Bauzá
HAVANA BUREAU
Posted October 14 2003

HAVANA · Cuba's government on Monday accused the Bush administration of pandering to Cuban-American voters and blasted new initiatives aimed at spurring a post-Castro transition as little more than political schemes to secure a Florida election victory.

"This is how the White House repays this mafia for the fraud and scandalous tricks of the 2000 presidential elections," read a Foreign Ministry statement published in Cuba's government-run daily. "We would not be surprised if new aggressions are sown against our country as we approach Nov. 2004."

In addition to creating a presidential commission "to plan for Cuba's transition from Stalinist rule to a free and open society," Bush announced several other initiatives at a Rose Garden ceremony on Friday. The White House will crack down on unlicensed travelers to Cuba, including boaters and those who travel through third countries, and increase the number of visas for Cubans seeking to immigrate legally to the United States, Bush said.

On Monday, Fidel Castro's government retorted: "The transition dreamed of by Bush and his acolytes in the Miami mafia will never occur in Cuba. Our country is in transition, yes, but it is a transition toward more revolution, toward a more just society."


http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/caribbean/sfl-acuba14oct14,0,5577709.story?coll=sfla-news-caribbean

[opihimoimoi]

28. How EXPIDIENT of BushCo to initiate this action.

Can't they see this has great odds it will backfire???

Are they that arrogant?

And will the InterNational Community respond as they wish? I think NOT.

In fact, I think other Nations are ROTFLTAO. Bush/Rice/etc have become a joke as they squirm for votes for 04.

ITS NOT WHATS BEST FOR THIS NATION/WORLD!! ITS WHATS BEST FOR THEM.!!

Truly sad

[Say_What]

41. No Happy Talk From Bush, Just Favors

Everyone sees this for exactly what it is...PANDERING

<clips>

As George W. Bush prepares for the presidential election, he is stripping federal policy and parting it out.

To keep the Florida Cubans in line, Bush will tighten the economic boycott of Castro's island fiefdom. The sanctions, a Cold War relic, have done nothing to hurry democracy along in Cuba and blocking Americans from traveling to Cuba through third countries actually will undermine the Cuban citizens pressing for political reforms despite serious personal risk.

And in one of the thousands of small ways that this administration is changing policies that have had the support of both Republican and Democratic presidents, the administration has decided to let circuses, hunters and the pet industry import endangered species.

The administration argues that the selling countries can then use the profits to protect the remaining animals. Sure they will.

<http://www.theday.com/eng/web/newstand/re.aspx?reIDx=F8C08989-76E2-4BA5-8A21-4EB1AB0C5CF1>

[Manix]

32. No one in the world gives a shit what BushCo says anymore....

I think most will just wait them out, hoping the American voters
will throw the goofs out!

[Polemonium]

33. Davis tried a similar ploy to buy votes

it back-fired. I hope this does too. But it's not just about votes. I mean how many coca-cola drinkers live on that island, or potential avon customers, SH$% I bet we could buy land cheap and grow some bannas or something. Not to mention another square taken on our strategic chess board of unreality (doomed to bite us in the as& again some day).

[0007]

34. This all boils down to Castro's

relationship with Venezuela and the free oil Hugo Chavez gives to Cuba.

The United States want to control both Venezuela and Cuba now is that hard to figure out?

[Judi Lynn]

46. I read something about Venezuelan oil prices for Cuba the other day

which surprised me, as I had been thinking for years that only Cuba had a special arrangement with Venezuela to obtain reduced rates. Whatever it was I read was the first time I heard that both Venezuela and Mexico offer reduced oil prices to not only Cuba, but other Caribbean islands.

Since I can't recall where I saw that article, I did a quick check in google and saw the agreement concerning this relationship was the "San Jose Accord:"

(snip) In 1980 Venezuela and Mexico had signed the San José Accord to provide oil at subsidized rates and other economic assistance to designated beneficiary states in the Caribbean Basin (see Foreign Assistance , ch. 3). Their purpose was to cushion the impact of oil price increases on the small oil-importing countries of the basin. Their motivations, however, were as much political and strategic as altruistic. Given the already precarious economic condition of most of these countries, the added burden of oil price increases in 1973 and 1979 had threatened to push many of them from stagnant poverty into widespread social unrest. Although the accord became less economically sustainable for Venezuela and Mexico as oil prices dropped throughout the 1980s, both countries continued to uphold its provisions and expand the number of beneficiaries throughout the decade, mainly because of the perceived political benefits and the potential adverse impact on the importing countries of an oil cutoff. (snip/)

http://www.1upinfo.com/country-guide-study/venezuela/venezuela83.html

Incidently, from the more complete material I've read concerning the oil payment agreement between Cuba and Venezuela, I've learned Cuba also includes medical treatment resources as part of the transaction. I'm sure you easily recall the presence of Cuban doctors in Venezuelan barrios, treating the very poor Venezuelan doctors won't touch. It's nice SOMEONE actually gives a flip, isn't it?

[bushisanidiot]

35. Hey Rice, Why Don't You Try To Fix Iraq and Afghanistan First??

can't you just screw up one country at a time???

[Osolomia]

36. What would Gore and Lieberman have done about Cuba policy?

What will the 2004 Democratic presidential candidates do?

Rather hypocritical to be bashing the Bushistas when Dems have nothing better to offer imho, not even an iota of a clue what’s happening and why. What a pathetic shame!

[Judi Lynn]

47. I felt sick the very moment I heard Al Gore coming forward

to maintain Elián should be sent through the American court system, rather than simply going home to his family. That was so, so awful. I'm sure he was advised to do this, as it sounded totally phoney the minute it happened.

I think Lieberman's a lost cause. He always staggers back down to Miami to throw himself at the feet of the very same people who organized their troops to demonstrate outside the 2000 Presidential Election vote recount offices, waving their "Sore-Loserman" signs. My God, how collapsed can one man get?

[Minstrel Boy]

39. For my part, I urge international pressure on Rice.

"This needs to be an international effort. It is unacceptable that the United States remain in the state that it does in this hemisphere at a time when democracy and freedom and prosperity are within grasp.... It should not be that the American people are forgotten."

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

42. I want to buy a Cuban domain name

You know what .cu means in Portuguese? There's a BIG market for Cuba domains here!!!

Imagine: http://bush.vaitomarno.cu

Translation: up.your.@$$.bush

I want one. I really do.

[Judi Lynn]

50. Not bad!

Welcome to D.U., JCCyC! :bounce: :bounce: :hi:

[Say_What]

43. Mother Jones: Squeezing Cuba

<clips>

Last week in the Rose Garden President Bush announced to an appreciative audience of Cuban Americans that he's getting tougher on Castro's Cuba. By tightening the U.S. embargo on the island, dishing out more American visas to Cubans looking to leave, and beefing up restrictions on U.S. citizens going there, Bush hopes to succeed where past presidents have failed, finishing off Fidel Castro once and for all. Optimistically, he also created the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, a group of feds tasked with planning for a post-Fidel Cuba. (Why didn't they try that in Iraq?)

The Bush administration is operating on the assumption that greater economic pressure is the way to bring down Castro. To hear Bush tell it, his new initiatives will "hasten the arrival of a new, free, democratic Cuba." Once the tourist dollars dry up, and the pro-democracy groups receive more help, regime change will follow. Experience suggests the opposite, says Amnesty International:

"Amnesty International wrote to President Bush last May requesting a reevaluation of the economic embargo, which for 40 years has failed to improve the human rights of the Cuban people, and in some cases has helped undermine these rights. Experts overwhelmingly find the embargo's negative effects are not felt by the decision makers and authorities, but by the weakest and most vulnerable members of the population. The embargo only fuels the climate in which freedom of association, expression and assembly are routinely denied and by providing the Cuban government with a 'justification' for repression."

Even leaders in Bush's own party question the logic of the embargo. Richard Lugar, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote earlier this month:

"I believe that our current Cuba strategy has not worked. More than 40 years of diplomatic isolation and economic embargo have not toppled Castro, brought democracy to the island, or improved the daily lives of average Cubans. The Helms-Burton law, passed in 1996, has failed to deter third countries from investing in Cuba. Too often our Cuba policies have isolated us from our European and Latin American allies and reinforced Castro's efforts to convince many of his people that the U.S. holds a grudge against them."

http://www.motherjones.com/news/dailymojo/2003/42/we_591_02c.html

[LoneStarLiberal]

44. My Modest Proposal For What To Do With This Bunch

This really convinces me these people and all who think like them need to walk in the shoes of those who pay the price for their jackassed policies.

Irrespective of who wins, when a Democrat sits in the Oval Office in 2004, the first thing he or she (props to Braun!) needs to do is force all major cabinet level officers to do some hard time through service:

President Bush will walk point on patrol in Tikrit...with no body armor just like most of our men and women in Iraq...until the last American troops come home.

Vice President Cheney will walk point for our armed forays around the Pakistan/Afghanistan border. Sans body armor. We'll see how that reconstructed ticker of his handles humping ruck in some of the toughest mountains in the world!

Dr. Rice will personally go door-to-door without a military escort in Tikrit knocking politely and asking if Saddam can come out and talk. That ought to last quite a while.

Secretary Rumsfeld will squint his way through building schools in the Sunni Triangle of Iraq with all those no-show or late-show contractors he gifted with no-bid responsibility for these tasks.

Assistant Secretary Wolfowitz will be sent to the West Bank to personally dismantle Israeli Zionist squatter settlements built on Palestinian lands.