Senator Lugar: Embargo has not worked

Miami Herald ^ | September 3, 2003 | RICHARD BRAND rbrand@herald.com with Frank Davies

[Cincinatus' Wife]

WASHINGTON - The chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar, R-Ind., criticized U.S. policy toward Cuba during a hearing Thursday, saying the 43-year-old trade embargo on the communist island nation ``has not worked.''

Lugar, who has usually maintained a low profile on Cuban policy, also signaled for the first time that he could support ending the travel ban ``at an appropriate time.''

But Roger Noriega, the recently confirmed assistant secretary of state for hemispheric affairs, said after he addressed the committee that President Bush ``will veto any measure to change the current restrictions.''

Lugar's cautious statement calling for a reexamination of U.S. policy appeared to reflect pressure from some farm-state Republican senators who would like to end the embargo altogether.

The Senate may vote this fall on a proposal, which passed the House last month, to ease the U.S. ban on travel to Cuba.

Several previous congressional attempts at easing the travel restrictions to Cuba have failed.

Lugar said that ''current Cuba strategy has not worked'' and said the United States must do a better job of working with European and Latin American nations to support change in Cuba.

''We must think beyond our fruitless war of attrition that has only served to make Castro a folk hero in some parts of the world,'' said the senator, adding that Cuba was a distraction from other Latin issues ``of equal or greater importance.''

The hearing was the first time Noriega appeared to testify before lawmakers since being sworn in to his new post on Sept. 9.

In his remarks, which were limited almost entirely to Cuba, Noriega said any easing of travel restrictions would be ``a risky proposition, the price for which the Cuban people would pay.''

''Now is not the time to be experimenting with perhaps well-meaning but fundamentally misguided new tactics in Cuba which we believe would strengthen the regime, not move forward the day of fundamental reform,'' Noriega said.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Not In Our Name and the World Wide Terrorism Web: The "Peace" Movement's Trojan Horse.***……NION: Castro and Islamist Terror

The Interreligous Foundation for Community Organization is a pro-Castro proxy group. Members of their staff such as Lucius Walker (Executive Director), Marilyn Clement (Treasurer) and Ellen Bernstein (Grants Administrator) are all Castrophiles In Havana in November 2000, Lucius Walker proclaimed, "Long live the creative example of the Cuban Revolution! Long live the wisdom and heartfelt concern for the poor of the world by Fidel Castro!" This was a follow-up to his pro-Castro speech in 1996, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Communist Party USA. Marilyn Clement is a co-organizer of the WILPF's Sister-to-Sister Cuba project. The WILPF also issued a condemnation of Clinton's Cuba policy in 1998. Bernstein was also quoted as saying she believes Cuba is the paradigm of democracy.

IFCO does not limit its activity to pro-Castro factions, though. Its management maintains relationships with extremist Islamist groups as well. Walker travels frequently to Iraq, usually alongside Ramsey Clark. IFCO is a member of ANSWER Steering Committee.) Bernstein is a member of the American Muslim Council's campaign against the use of secret evidence. Clement met with Palestinians during a WILPF "solidarity" conference in May 2002. IFCO is also a fiscal sponsor of the National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom (NCPPF). The co-founder of NCPPF was the recently indicted terrorist financier Sami Al-Arian.

However, NION's links with Muslim terrorists are not just indirect, through IFCO. NION invited both Sami Al-Arian and Lynne Stewart to address their October 6, 2002 rally in Central Park. Stewart was indicted for passing messages on behalf of her terrorist client Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman.

One of the members of NION's Advisory Board, Abdeen Jabara, is a member of the legal advisory board for the American Muslim Council. He is a past president of the Arab-American Ant-Discrimination Committee, a board member of William Kunstler's Center for Constitutional Rights, and a co-counsel with Lynne Stewart for Sheik Rahman, the terrorist convicted for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

The American Muslim Council is one of the current members of Al-Arian's NCPPF (the same group to which IFCO's Bernstein belongs). Leaders of the AMC have been quoted as praising Hamas and Hezbollah. Jabara's AMC advisory board colleagues include Fakhri Al-Barzinji. Al-Barzinji is involved in Mar-Jac Poultry, which was raided last year by the FBI for links to Sami Al-Arian.

Bashir Ahmad is another of Jabara's AMC advisory board colleagues. Ahmad is a member of the SAMAD Group (a financial operation) and Justice Taqi Usmani works for the SAMAD Group. Taqi Usmani is a suspected major player in the Muslim Brotherhood International money laundering network of Dallah Al-Baraka, Al-Taqwa, Al-Rahji Investment and Development Corp. Taqi Usmani operates the Al-Balagh.net, which has a online bookstore in California selling books written by individuals who are on the U.S. and UN terrorist lists.

Jabara is a member of the legal advisory board for the Council for Palestinian Restitution and Repatriation (CPRR) as well. The non-profit CPRR exists to "provide legal assistance to Palestinian refugees and their heirs and to educate the public about the legitimate rights of Palestinians."

Two members of the CPRR, Ishaq Farhan and Abdulateef Arabiyat, are members of the Islamic Action Front (IAF)-an Islamist party affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.

Abdeen Jabara also works closely with another IFCO project called the Coalition Against the "Counter Terror" Act. He distributes its flyers and has appeared in a video for the group, which may be purchased for $15 a copy - from IFCO.

Apparently someone is buying. According to a New York Post report, "the most recent IRS records available for IFCO, from the year 2000, show that the foundation took in $1,119,564 in contributions. A Not In Our Name statement report that they have taken in more than $400,000 in recent months for the purpose of publishing their statement."***

Sen. Coleman Pays Cuba Human Rights Call - Reverses call for unrestricted trade ***HAVANA - Sen. Norm Coleman, visiting Cuba on Sunday, backed away from earlier calls to end sanctions on the communist country, saying that lifting the restrictions now would send the wrong message. Coleman cited the Cuban government's crackdown on the opposition in March, when 75 dissidents were rounded up and sentenced to prison terms of between six and 28 years. "I think about the folks in prison and what message that gives them," the Minnesota Republican said. …………….. Coleman in the past has said he believes that eliminating the trade and travel restrictions could help nurture democracy and human rights in the Caribbean nation. But after meeting Saturday with dissidents and the relatives of jailed opponents, he said the timing is wrong. ***

Fidel Castro - Cuba

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