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"They fought like tigers," writes the CIA officer who helped train the Cubans who splashed ashore at the Bay of Pigs 51 years ago today. "But their fight was doomed before the first man hit the beach." That CIA man, Grayston Lynch, knew something about fighting - and about long odds. He carried scars from Omaha Beach, The Battle of the Bulge and Korea's Heartbreak Ridge. But in those battles Lynch and his band of brothers counted on the support of their Commander in Chief. At the Bay of Pigs, Grayston Lynch (an American) and his band of brothers (Cubans)...

I am listening to tnis moron as he mentions (Today, 3:42 pm ET) referring to the 'Bay of Pigs' as the "infamous' incident, and that US cuases hunger in the area...

Fifty years ago today, a brigade of 1,400 US-trained and -financed rebels was struggling desperately to keep alive an attempt to topple Fidel Castro and liberate Cuba from his communist regime. But by April 21, 1961, four days after the initial invasion at the Bahia de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs), the invaders had run out of ammunition and were forced to surrender -- victims of a monumental failure of will by Washington.

Taps will fill the air in Little Havana Sunday as the survivors of Brigade 2506 honor their fallen brothers, the men who died trying to liberate Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. The survivors, now in their 70s and 80s, will salute as a bugle plays and 104 names of veterans killed in battle are read. SNIP “These men certainly fit the bill of being considered a great generation,’’ said Victor Triay, SNIP More than 3,000 took part in the doomed mission, about half of which are still alive today. “What these men did 50 years ago was an act...

Ernesto "Che" Guevara's famous beret is gone. His iconic beard is filthy and matted against skeletal cheekbones. One bushy eyebrow arches over his half-open eyes. As a Bolivian country surgeon methodically saws off his lifeless hands, Che appears vaguely amused. Gustavo Villoldo, a stocky figure in green army fatigues, stands just inside the tiny laundry room where the Cuban revolutionary's corpse rests atop a sink. For five months, the CIA operative has led soldiers hunting Guevara through the rough crags and valleys of southern Bolivia. Less than 24 hours ago, his team had captured and executed him in a village...

President Obama celebrated the resignation of Hosni Mubarak on Friday, declaring that the president of Egypt “responded to the Egyptian people’s hunger for change.” “Egypt will never be the same,” Obama said in a statement, optimistically. “But this is not the end of Egypt's transition. It's a beginning. I'm sure there will be difficult days ahead, and many questions remain unanswered.” Obama called on the Egyptian military, which is now in charge in Cairo, to oversee a transition to power peacefully by protecting the people, lifting an emergency law and revising the constitution. Referring to the Berlin Wall and to...

This is a huge lesson in political culture. It also shows just how bad the media coverage has been. Mubarak is not resigning. He’s managing the “reform” process. He is appointing a committee to study constitutional changes. He will decide when there are elections. He is going to “consider” changing the emergency law. He basically said: I am an Arab warrior, not a community organizer. That speech should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand the Middle East. This is not over yet. There has been no revolution so far, but the protesters are going to freak out....

Early in this crisis, one of the most wise people on Egypt in the entire world told me the following joke: Aide: "Do you want to say good-bye to the Egyptian people?" Mubarak: "Why? Are they going somewhere?" As I told you, the regime was not going to give up and reports of its death were greatly exaggerated. This is a huge lesson in political culture. It also shows just how bad the media coverage has been! Mubarak is not resigning. He's managing the "reform" process. He is appointing a committee to study constitutional changes. He will decide when there...

CAIRO — Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak is to step down tonight, two sources have told NBC News, losing his 30-year grip on power after 17 days of dramatic mass uprisings across the nation. NBC's Richard Engel reported that a high-ranking source inside the president's office said the newly appointed vice president, Omar Suleiman, would take over. This was confirmed by a second source. Egypt's military announced on national television it had stepped in to secure the country and promised protesters calling for Mubarak's ouster that all their demands would soon be met.

Update: Army will “act” if protesters reject Suleiman Question mark in the headline because Egypt’s information minister insists it’s not a done deal. As I write this, though, Mubarak’s preparing to speak on state TV (which has gradually turned against him) and Fox News is citing a senior Egyptian official as saying he’s ready to quit.Gird your loins. Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak is to step down tonight, two sources told NBC News, amid widespread protests against his 30-year rule that have gripped the country.Following an all-day meeting of the country’s supreme military council, the army said all the protesters’...

From Stratfor, citing BBC Arabic. EGYPT: MUBARAK HAS ALREADY LEFT COUNTRY - REPORT Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has reportedly already left the country, and his speech scheduled for the night of Feb. 10 has been pre-recorded, BBC Arabic reported. Some reports indicate Mubarak will speak within two hours, while other unconfirmed reports say he left the country as early as yesterday.

Mubarak Speaks

Just listening to Mubarrak - He's staying, not bowing to foreign pressure( Adios Hillary)

"I have laid down a clear vision on how to resolve the crisis"--

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak has announced he is will not stand down until elections have been held. In a televised address, the president said he refused to be the subject of foreign pressure. He said those responsible for violence will be punished. He promised to scrap emergency laws as soon as the situation in Egypt is stable. Rumours spread earlier this evening that the resignation of the president was possibly imminent after Egypt's military announced earlier it was taking measures to preserve the nation and aspirations of the people. The Higher Army Council held an ongoing meeting without President Mubarak...

His comments confounded reports he was preparing to stand down immediately. He said he would ignore "diktats from abroad". President Mubarak said he would delegate some powers to Vice-President Omar Suleiman. Egypt's military earlier said it was standing ready to "protect the nation". "I express a commitment to carry on and protect the constitution and the people and transfer power to whomever is elected next September in free and transparent elections," Mr Mubarak said. Ahead of Mr Mubarak's announcement, thousands of Egyptians had again gathered in central Cairo to call for him to step down. Doctors, bus drivers, lawyers and...

So our CIA told President Obama that Hosni Mubarak would resign today. From Rush Limbaugh: Obama went to Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan, and said: “I just want to say that we are following today’s events in Egypt very closely. We’ll have more to say as this plays out. But what is absolutely clear is that we are witnessing history unfold. The moment of transformation is taking place because the people of Egypt are calling for change. “They’ve turned out in extraordinary numbers representing all ages and all walks of life. But it’s young people who’ve been at...

Obama has been putting pressure on Mubarak since last week to stand down straight away. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA The Obama administration was embarrassingly wrongfooted when the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak confounded expectations by refusing to leave office. Mubarak's speech came just hours after Barack Obama and the director of the CIA, Leon Panetta, appeared to give credence to the rumours that the Egyptian president was heading for the exit. Obama has been putting pressure on Mubarak since last week to stand down straight away, but Mubarak, in a televised address tonight, said he would not bow to international pressure,...

President Obama watched Hosni Mubarak's speech to Egyptians from the conference room on Air Force One, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs tells the pool. Obama is now headed to the White House for a meeting with his national security team, moments after Mubarak said he wouldn't step down but that he had given some powers to his vice president.

Mubarak-backers fire back at U.S.By YASMINE SALEH AND PATRICK WERR REUTERS Updated 8 hours ago CAIRO -- The government of embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak hit back on Wednesday at what it called U.S. attempts to "impose" American will on a loyal Middle East ally, saying rapid reforms would be too risky. But as pro-democracy protesters consolidated a new encampment around Cairo's parliament building, the White House again said that Egyptian ministers must do more to meet the demands of demonstrators, who want an immediate end to Mubarak's 30 years of one-man rule and sweeping legislative changes. **SNIP** "When you...

“The Supreme Military Council met with Mubarak and as I have said time and time again it is NOT going to pan out the way Obama wants it. There was false rumors stating Mubarak was going to resign, it’s not true, the truth is Mubarak is very ill, his health has been stressed and the Army is fed up. (They leaked the false report to the media to see who they carried the message to in the mob’s hierarchy. They are going to declare Martial Law, it’s going to get ugly. The Supreme Military council during a meeting yesterday stated...

  WASHINGTON — On Thursday morning, the heads of America's intelligence services went to Capitol Hill to testify before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on worldwide threats to the United States. We won't know what was said in the committee's closed sessions until it's leaked by one of the participants. But to paraphrase former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, based on their public testimony, what we now know about what our intelligence services don't know ought to alarm us.The director of national intelligence, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James Clapper, stunned the committee by describing Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood...

Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., chairman of the Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, called Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's address "a sadistic tease" and predicted that demonstrations could turn violent. "He just lit the final fuse," Ackerman said in an interview on MSNBC TV. "And now I think the situation is going to verge on the explosive over the next 24 hours."

Although Saudi King Abdullah warned Barack Obama not to push Mubarak over the edge, according to reports by the Times of London, CIA director Leon Panetta believed the Egyptian president would step down.Just a few minutes ago, the New York Times reported that Mubarak refused to step down. Not only did the speech prove U.S. estimates wrong, it casts doubt over whether their game plan was ever working at all. Even as Mr. Mubarak spoke, angry chants were shouted from huge crowds in Cairo who had anticipated his resignation but were instead confronted with a plea from the president...

MIAMI – Bernard Leon Barker, one of the five Watergate burglars whose break-in led to America's biggest political scandal, died Friday in suburban Miami. He was 92. The Cuban-born former CIA operative who also participated in the Bay of Pigs invasion died at his home after being taken to the Veteran's Administration Medical Center the night before, said his stepdaughter, Kelly Andrad. He appeared to have died from complications of lung cancer, and he had also suffered from heart problems. Barker was one of five men who broke into the Watergate building in Washington on June 17, 1972. A piece...

America’s Great Betrayal By Humberto Fontova FrontPageMagazine.com | Friday, April 17, 2009 "They fought like Tigers," wrote CIA officer Grayston Lynch, who helped train these Cuban freedom-fighters. "But their fight was doomed before the first man hit the beach." Lynch, knew something about fighting – and about long odds. He carried scars from Omaha Beach, the Battle of the Bulge, and Heartbreak Ridge. But in those battles, Lynch and his band of brothers could count on the support of their own chief executive. At the Bay of Pigs, Lynch and his band of Cuban brothers learned – first in speechless...

ABC's Sam Donaldson let a little of his inner-conspiracy theorist out this morning on This Week with George Stephanopoulos. In a discussion of President Barack Obama's lessening the sanctions on Fidel Castro's Cuba, Donaldson began his analysis with one of a number a Kennedy-Truther notions that have been knocking around ever since President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963.... Another wild card in this crazy deck was Cuba's El Presidente, Castro. The theory being that Castro was upset with JFK's woefully planned and executed Bay of Pigs attempt at ending his nascent dictatorship, and...

Ortega denounced the U.S.-backed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro's new Communist government in Cuba in 1961, a history of US racism and what he called suffocating U.S. economic policies in the region. In his 17-minute address to the summit, Obama departed from his prepared remarks to mildly rebuke Ortega. "To move forward, we cannot let ourselves be prisoners of past disagreements. I'm grateful that President Ortega did not blame me for things that happened when I was three months old. Too often, an opportunity to build a fresh partnership of the Americas has been undermined by stale debates. We've all...

Forty-eight years ago today, 1,500 Cuban exiles landed on the beach of a desolate area of Cuba's southern shore known to the locals as Bahia de Cochinos -- the Bay of Pigs. Authorized by a young and inexperienced President John Kennedy -- who had been in office fewer than two months when he green-lighted the plan -- the Central Intelligence Agency had recruited and trained the exiles in the hopes that their landing would spark a nation-wide uprising. But Kennedy's insistence on reducing the U.S. military role in the invasion, in the hope of maintaining plausible deniability, doomed to failure...

The Bay of Pigs invasion begins when a CIA-financed and -trained group of Cuban refugees lands in Cuba and attempts to topple the communist government of Fidel Castro. The attack was an utter failure

"Freedom is our goal!" roared commander Pepe San Roman to the men assembled before him 48 years ago this week. "Cuba is our cause! God is on our side! On to victory!" Fifteen hundred men crowded before San Roman at their Guatemalan training camps that day. The next day they'd embark for a port in Nicaragua, the following day for a landing site in Cuba named Bahia De Cochinos (Bay of Pigs). Their outfit was known as Brigada 2506, and at their commander's address the men (and boys, some as young as 16) erupted A scene of total bedlam unfolded....

The Gathering Storm in the Caribbean   By Kathy ShaidleFrontPageMagazine.com | Thursday, November 13, 2008 Like Russian military invasions and a one-party government in Moscow, the Russo-Cuban alliance is one of those Cold War relics currently making a comeback. In sign of a reinvigorated alliance between the two former allies, the Kremlin announced on Tuesday that Cuban President Raul Castro will visit Russia in 2009. Castro’s Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, called the visit “another contribution to the development of ties” between Cuba and Russia. Those ties, he said, “are developing in a very dynamic way.”“Dynamic” is a fitting word...

Lock of Che Guevara's hair to be sold Mon Sep 3, 12:51 PM ET MIAMI - A former CIA operative and Cuban exile plans to auction what he says is a lock of Che Guevara's hair, snipped before the Argentinian revolutionary and friend of Fidel Castro was buried in 1967. Gustavo Villoldo, 71, was involved in Guevara's capture in the jungles of Bolivia, according to unclassified U.S. records and other documents. He plans to auction the hair and other items kept in a scrapbook since the joint CIA-Bolivian army mission 40 years ago. "It's time for me to put the...

The CIA in the late 1950's, from the Hungarian Revolution to the Bay of Pigs betrayal. Showing the courageous, thankless efforts of the CIA against the Soviet Menace.

"They fought like tigers," writes the CIA officer who helped train the Cubans who splashed ashore at the Bay of Pigs 46 years ago this week. "But their fight was doomed before the first man hit the beach." That CIA man, Grayston Lynch, knows something about fighting – and about long odds. He carried scars from Omaha Beach, The Battle of the Bulge and Korea's Heartbreak Ridge. But in those battles Lynch and his band of brothers could count on the support of their own chief executive. At the Bay of Pigs, Grayston Lynch (an American) and his band of...

Hogs in Havana: Harley aficionados keep American classics on Cuban roads by Patrick Moser 1 hour, 59 minutes ago HAVANA (AFP) - Unable to get original parts because of a 45-year-old US embargo, Harley-Davidson aficionados resort to ingenuity and Soviet truck parts to keep the decades-old US classics on Cuban roads. Cuban fans, said to include Ernesto Guevarra, a son of the famed revolutionary leader known as "Che", estimate there are about 100 Harleys left in the communist-run state, all of them pre-dating 1960 and most still running. "It's a struggle keeping them alive; you have to invent parts and...

HAVANA, Cuba -- Former revolutionaries promised to keep fighting for Cuba on Saturday as the island beefed up security, saying it fears a U.S. attack during Fidel Castro's health crisis. The government, under the control of Castro's brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro, has mobilized citizen defense militias and asked military reservists to check in daily. The White House has insisted no such threat exists, with press secretary Tony Snow dismissing the suggestion that the United States would attack the island as "absurd." The Communist Party daily newspaper Granma issued a front-page statement by the Association of Combatants of the Cuban...

Cuba's Communist Party tried to quell fears of chaos on Thursday following the temporary surrender of power by the ailing Fidel Castro but failed to clear up doubts over who is in charge of the island. In a typically cryptic message, the main Communist Party newspaper Granma printed an old speech by Raul Castro, who took over island leadership on Monday, saying that his brother's only heir was the Communist Party itself. While the front page publication of the speech was obviously designed to quell fears that Fidel's possible exit after 47 years of rule would unleash chaos, it could...

The dentist cranks up his drill, revs it up and digs in. At first, no problem. The Novocain kicked in minutes ago. Half our head is numb. He asks us a question and we nod spastically. He asks another and we mumble like Steve Martin in “The Jerk” when reading Bernadette Peters’ goodbye note that fell in the bathtub. Meanwhile his drill keeps buzzing. The buzz gets louder, harsher. Our jaw—and finally our whole head—start vibrating. The sadist in the face mask and rubber gloves drills deeper, deeper. Soon—“AAWH!” We wail in pain. He went too deep. Either that, or...

President Fidel Castro called the U.S. airstrike that killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi a "barbarity," saying he should have been put on trial. The United States acted as "judge and jury" against the leader of the al-Qaida in Iraq, Castro said late Friday. "They bragged, they were practically drunk with happiness." "The accused cannot just be eliminated," he told a literacy conference. "This barbarity cannot be done." The U.S. military has said al-Zarqawi initially survived the dropping of two 500-pound bombs on his hide-out Wednesday, but died a short time later. Castro said if Cuba used the same logic, it could...

If men who voluntarily took up arms and put their lives on the line to smash Castro's regime don't qualify as freedom fighters, then I surely learned the English language in vain. And 45 years ago this week, 1,400 of them were hard at it on the beaches surrounding Cuba's Bay of Pigs. Pigs will flap their wings through interstellar space before Hollywood (or the MSM) deigns to depict that battle accurately. But to get an idea of the odds faced by those freedom fighters, the desperation of their battle and the damage they wrought, you might revisit Tony Montana...

CUBANS have marked the 45th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion, when a US backed assault by 1,400 Cuban exiles failed to bring down Fidel Castro's two year old government. A 21-gun salute was fired from San Carlos de La Cabana Fort in Havana to mark the time when Mr Castro, then 35, declared Cuba to be a socialist country. Mr Castro, now nearly 80, was absent though as veterans celebrated their fight on the Bay of Pigs' Playa Giron beach on Cuba's south coast, which was stormed by the CIA-organised and trained force on April 17, 1961, two...

Traitors of Record: The Record of the New York TimesBy Fedora “. . .the most untrustworthy paper in the United States. . .” --President Dwight Eisenhower, referring to the New York TimesIntroductionLast week Senator John Cornyn criticized the New York Times for endangering national security with a James Risen story on NSA surveillance timed to coincide with a vote on the Patriot Act and, incidentally, with the release of a book by Risen. A review of the record illustrates that endangering national security through irresponsible leaks is nothing new for the New York Times. Some particularly outrageous examples are worth...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. .................................................................. .................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should...

"A more vital piece of U.S. history would be hard to find," gushed the Boston Globe last week about a new item in the Kennedy Library and Museum, a map of Cuba. The Library obtained it from the estate of Robert L. White, a collector who had earlier received it from JFK's late secretary, Evelyn Lincoln. "This map bears the marks of history," continues the Globe story, "a series of X marks in black ink, crosshatched east and west of Havana by President John F. Kennedy, and two foreboding words scrawled above them: 'missile sites.' This map was used by...

Reports from Cuba say the island has been invaded by counter-revolutionary forces trying to overthrow the country's leader, Fidel Castro. The only news coming out of Cuba is broadcast by the government-run radio station. All other communications with the island have been cut. THe first landing is reported to have taken place in the early hours of this morning. Broadcasts from Cuban government radio appealing for medical help indicate that the raiders have successfully penetrated 25 miles (40km) inland. They appear to have come ashore on an area of the coast known as the Bahía de Cochinos, or Bay of...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

Notwithstanding former President Jimmy Carter's recent statement to the contrary, Undersecretary of State John Bolton's remarks about Cuba's biological weapons capabilities underscore lingering concerns with the rogue island only 90 miles from the United States. Bolton, on May 6, told an audience at the Washington, D.C.-based Heritage Foundation that the U.S. is suspicious about Cuban biomedical laboratories and their ability to transfer biological weapons technology to Iraq, Syria and Libya, all countries that Cuban President Fidel Castro visited last year. Bolton also made remarks, which may be interpreted as a clear signal of hardening State Department policy toward Cuba, faulting...

Cuba's armed forces have begun their biggest military exercise for nearly 20 years, involving hundreds of thousands of troops and civilians. The exercise, called Bastion 2004, is a response to "the continued aggression and threats" of the US, Cuba says. The manoeuvres are being led by Defence Minister Raul Castro - brother to President Fidel Castro and second in the Cuban hierarchy. The US said the drill was an attempt to "distract" Cubans from daily hardships. The exercise will involve exercises with Cuban air force MiG-29s, anti-aircraft units and elite troops. Two days of civil defence exercises at the end...

MIAMI-A judge awarded more than $86 million Thursday to a woman who sued the Cuban government over her father's execution following the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion.