|
Comment on this article |
Email this Article
|
|
News :: Miscellaneous |
|
Bush's Human Rights Motivations |
Current rating: 0 |
by Dan Chambers
Email: dschambers77 (nospam) hotmail.com (unverified!)
Address: 218 W. Main. Urbana IL 61801 |
20 May 2002
|
|
Bush's speech today on Cuban democracy and human rights was glaring self-serving and should be recognized as such. |
Today President George W. Bush launched a scathing war of words on Cuba, the communist nation 90 miles off the Florida coast. He attacked the country's sad record of political repression, its lack of respect for freedoms of speech, assembly, and dissent, and its refusal to accept the rules of free market capitalism.
What of these charges? Cuba does indeed have a checkered past in regard to human rights, but the larger question is, why in the world does the Bush administration care? The corporate media will quietly ignore the fact that our government has befriended, empowered, and yes, traded with villains far worse than Castro. Suharto's Indonesia, Saddam's Iraq, and the Apartheid government of South Africa are but a few examples. So the presence of misery and injustice have never been an impediment to getting our dollars and military aid. Or, for that matter, is the presence of communist rule, especially in regard to China.
What about the issue of national security that has been raised in the past weeks? Early last week charges were leveled by the Bush administration that Cuba was developing weapons of mass destruction (WMD), a charge they quickly backed down on when it was revealed they had no proof. Cuba has, on the other hand, suffered various attempts to destabilize their regime and eliminate their leaders (http://www.motherjones.com/sideshow/cuba.html http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/fidelcastro1.html ). The selection of Otto Reich to a prominent position in the State Department only highlights the glaring difference between presidential rhetoric and reality. During the 1980’s Reich used his position at the Office of Public Diplomacy to propagandize the American people about the situation in Cuba. Reich was known to pal around with Orlando Bosch, a Cuban exile/terrorist implicated in the bombing of a Cuban airliner, as well as the 1976 assassination of Orlando Letelier, a Chilean diplomat in Washington DC (http://www.news-press.com/special_sections/terror/stories/011021bag.html). For Bush to accuse the Cuban government of being a threat to the United States should be seen by the most casual observer as a laughable suggestion. Sadly, this has not been the case. The corporate media has repeatedly passed along the allegations of the Bush administration without looking at the sad history of our deeds.
Among some of the more amusing claims made today by Bush were his requests for Cuba to respect workers rights, to give dissidents equal time on Cuban airwaves, and to have free and fair elections. While each of these is a laudable goal, it’s hard to take a man seriously whose party has blocked every attempt to open up the American airwaves to dissent, who was elected by a minority at the behest of the Supreme Court, and who has rolled back years of hard-won labor rights. Glass houses, stones and all.
So why the fuss on the part of the Bush administration? You need look no further than the calendar. This is an election year, and in the crucial swing states of Florida and New Jersey (which both have substantial Cuban-American populations), and to add fuel to the fire, Bush’s own brother Jeb is up for reelection as governor in Florida. All of this should raise the eyebrows of serious commentators but it won’t. The contrasted images of Castro’s Cuba and the GOP will only serve the interests of campaign managers, not Americans or Cubans. Such transparent motives ought to be obvious to the journalist class, but don’t hold your breath waiting to see Tim Russert, Bill O’Reilly, or Tom Brokaw bringing up these relevant facts. |
