House Group: Ease Cuban Sanctions (Cuba Policy Foundation: Smith Bagley)*** "The embargo denies Americans the right to trade and travel and has not brought freedom and prosperity to Cuba," said Cowal in a statement. "For 40 years, the embargo has failed to lead to political and economic reform in Cuba. When a policy this old fails to produce the intended results, it is time for a new policy." The Cuba Working Group has 20 House Republicans and 20 House Democrats committed to lifting the travel ban, allowing normal exports of agriculture and medical products and improving human rights for Cuban citizens.
In the Senate, Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Pat Roberts, R-Kan., have led the charge for an easing of U.S. restrictions on trade and travel. The Cuba Policy Foundation, said spokesman Brian Alexander, "is a centrist organization that shares the U.S. goals of freedom and prosperity for the Cuban people. We just don't believe U.S. policy has served to advance those goals, and we do believe it has had a negative impact on the U.S. economy and does not prepare Cuba for a peaceful and stable transition" to a free society.*** [Mostly it's to help U.S. guaranteed loans to help subsidize trade with Castro and shore up his communist regime]
Jimmy Carter: America basher *** Until Tuesday, the media hype over Carter's visit was a bit silly because Carter, while doing yeoman work as a homebuilder for the American poor, is something of a joke as an international figure. So, what happened Tuesday? Oh, well, Carter called the United States a liar. Last week, Undersecretary of State John Bolton announced that the U.S. government has reason to believe Castro's Cuba is developing and exporting "dual use" technology - i.e. technology that can be used both for peaceful purposes as well as to develop weapons of mass-destruction.
So what did Carter do when he got to Cuba? He basically said that the United States was full of it. He explained that the U.S. government didn't tell him about these concerns before he left. Moreover, Carter asked Cuban scientists - in the presence of Castro - and Fidel himself whether they had anything to do with biological weapons or terrorism and they all said no. Heck, if Castro's word isn't good enough, whose is?***