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Time Honored GOP Saying:
When in Doubt, INVADE CUBA!!!


By Cheryl Seal


Here we are at that famous national game show: the Bush Wheel of Fortune! Solve the puzzle and decide who he's gonna declare war on next. Is that first letter a "C"? Yes, it is! Can I buy a vowel now, Pat? OK, give me a "U"!! Allright, Pat, I want to solve the puzzle now: is it....CUBA?! And the audience goes wild as Vannah reveals that the next country Bush plans to attack is indeed CUBA!!!!!

All joking aside, the G.lobal W.reckingball and his corporate cronies are DETERMINED to plunge the U.S. into war ASAP - before his approval ratings scrape the floor and before Congressional election day 2002 can dawn. His saber rattling at Iraq has taken him into such touchy territory that he is now looking for easier alternatives - like Cuba. What Bush is doing now reminds me of a half-wit bully on the playground who, seeing that the kid he's been picking on has some mean-looking pals, decides to go beat up the skinny little kid in the corner who doesn't have any big strong friends. So now we are supposed to believe that Cuba is plotting to unleash germ warfare on the world.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/07/international/americas/07WEAP.html Of course, no one in the administration will specify what type of "germs" we're talking about here! (Not to mention the fact that the term "germ warfare" is a out-dated relic left over from the 1950s - but then so is most everyone in the Bush adminstration). For all the details we're given in this latest vague threat, Castro could be planning to airmail soiled kleenex to Washington in an effort to infect key Congressmen with bad colds.

The biggest joke in this latest "vague call to terror and action" is that the information was presented not to the American press, to Congresspeople, or even to the Pentagon, which, contrary to what it may seem under Bush, has plenty of very savvy, peace-loving people who see through the current administration (to quote Bob Dylan's 'Masters of War') "like the water that runs down their drains." Nope, this announcement was made to the folks at the Heritage Foundation. This outfit, which calls itself a "think tank" (as in "think tank, guns, and bombs"!), is a front group for corporate interests, despite the slick disguise. This group is so determined to push public opinion to the right - way, way, way to the right - that they have launched a free program for "training" journalists in the "right way" to do research. SCARY!

So now we have Bush toady John R. Bolton, the under secretary (more like under-the-thumb secretary) for arms control holding forth to a bogus corporate front group on matters threaten the security of us all (of course, the threat I am talking about is not Cuba - I mean BUSH). Scarier still, the "New York Times" and "Washington Post" actually ran this moonshine as a bonafide "news story" on the International Page!! That's like running an infomercial for a new model of Ford in the business section as an "analysis." (Hey - CBS recently ran a 5-minute infomercial on a new sleep aid drug and called it a "news story on sleep" so why am I surprised?).

But Cuba is an attractive target to Bush & Co. for several reasons. First, it is an impoverished, isolated island that would make easy pickins (like Somalia, Afghanistan and all the other impoverished isolated places this administration likes to beat on). Next, Bush wants to mobilize the Hispanic voters behind the GOP and imagines that ALL Hispanics hate Castro (Bush sees all minorities as two-dimensional, easily-manipulated beings who all think alike). Third, Cuba has the cleanest, best preserved beaches in the Caribbean. How VERY attractive to Bush's army of developer pals. I bet they can just hear those casino wheels turning already! Last but not least, this administration has followed an unnerving pattern of imitating almost tit for tat, the same schemes and operations that previous rightwing administrations and agencies (notably the CIA) have engaged in. Thus we have the "evil axis" (mimicking Reagan's evil empire), a "shadow government" (Eisenhower), intrigues and paper manipulations to cover tracks (Nixon), and, very likely, staged terrorism attacks on a massive scale (the CIA and Pentagon during Kennedy's administration schemed to stage attacks on American ships and even cities to trump up interest in invading Cuba - Kennedy reportedly was appalled and said NO WAY!). The failed Venezuela coup is just one example of "mimicry" (remember the Nixon and Ford administration's engineered coups in various parts of the world?).

The trouble is, it is not the 1950s, 60s, 70s, or 80s. The world has moved on; unfortunately, the folks in the Bush administration have not. Instead of falling in step with the rest of the world and the 21st century, they want to drag the rest of the world back into the 1950s (actually, if Bush had his way, he'd drag them back even further - to an era before any social programs and worker protections were in place). It's time for the sane folk on Capitol Hill to shove the brake to the floor before the Big Bus plunges over the embankment. Towing her back out again would not be an easy task.

 


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