[Carry_Okie]

I have seen unsubstantiated reports of Iraquis seeking to cooperate with Cuba to develop their bio-warfare capability. Supposedly, the Iraquis supplied the virus to the Cubans and birds were injected with the virus in Cuba and released. Cuba has one of the most advanced biowarfare and gene-manipulation operations in the world. That a third whirled country should devote so much of their energies to that one field should indeed be concerning.

The real problem with that (and a real tickler for conspiracy buffs) is that we hear so little about that Cuban Bio-warfare program. They didn't even make it into the "Axis of Evil" club.

I have given up on the CDC ever since they violated every known public health principle with regard to HIV by playing down its lethality and ignoring the use of quarantine. CDC effectively advanced the progress of the AIDS epidemic by decades.

[Dave S]

Cuba has one of the most advanced biowarfare and gene-manipulation operations in the world. That a third whirled country should devote so much of their energies to that one field should indeed be concerning.

And you know this how? Did the Reptillians from Alpha Centauri tell you or did you read it on your favorite web site?

[tall_tex]

You have a short memory. Seems like only a few weeks ago Jimmie Carter was in Cuba and personally did an inspection and reported that Cuba had no biological weapons. Ya sure..

[XBob]

The CDC, in my opinion, is pretty worthless. Not only are they not investigating ways to prevent mosquitos from biting people, they are not even intereted in finding out who is.

Well, I did check, and the answer is 'NOBODY' in the Federal Govt, all their massive 'concern', and billions invested, with the disease spreading like wildfire, now malaria discovered in the US, and there is not a single government agency is exploring ways to prevent mosquitoes from biting people.

[piasa]

Cuba already had the West Nile virus ... they certainly don't need a supply of it from Iraq.

Iraq obtained a sample of West Nile from US labs; Cuba probably obtained theirs long before since Cuba has long been involved in Africa in both warfare and in 'medicine.'

The interesting thing about Cuba is that it had a spy, Elena Montes, in our NSA for many years- since 1985; this spy was detected early in 2001 after the WASP spy network in Floida was tried and after another Cuban spy was found in the Miami INS office. Cuba's spy Montes was picked up after making some calls to her Cuban bosses from a DC payphone after September 11, 2001. The US also threw out some Cuban UN diplomats not over their fight with NY City policemen.

Recently the US threw two Iranian UN diplomats out of the country for espionage activities.

Another curiousity: two Afghans were caught in 1990 trying to deposit $2 million in a Cayman Islands bank after they had gotten off of a flight from Havana. These men are still stuck in the Caymans and are unable to leave because they have no real visas. They were detained by Cayman authorities for some time and the US interviewed them on Sept. 12, 2001.

Yet another curiousity: Libya has been making inroads in Caribbean nations, particularly Grenada, where not too long ago an Islamic group attempted a coup. One of those offenders has since been tangled up in a weapons smuggling ring in South Florida.

Also, Jamaat ul Fuqra and other Pakistani-related groups have operations in the Caribbean. The one group is tied directly to al Qaeda. It too has ties to Cuba.