Leader of Banana Republic Criticises Cuba

I realise no one is going to fall off their chair at the news that George Bush is a hypocrite, but it is worth noting every instance of his hypocrisy. The latest episode took the form of his ramblings over Cuba.

George Bush, the US president, has urged Cubans to push for democratic change, insisting Fidel Castro’s government was a "disgraced and dying order".

Well, look who's talking! Time to bring out the old 'Pots & Kettles' cliché again. He goes on...

"America will have no part in giving oxygen to a criminal regime victimising its own people,"

Really? Does this mean that America is withdrawing its support for Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Israel and Colombia? No, of course it doesn't. The difference is that Cuba has an oppressive government that has a different ideology to the oppressive governments America likes to support. And worse still, Cuba has had the audacity to survive despite America's 45 year embargo on the country and numerous botched attempts to destabilise it.

Bush also described Cuba as "a tropical gulag". Well, here is is at least partially correct. There's an area of Cuba called Guantanamo Bay 'leased' by America. That can certainly be called a gulag.

Bush's rhetoric could also be used to describe his own country. Take a look at this list:

• Spying without court warrants on Americans in violation of both the US Constitution and the FISA statute.


• The denial of habeas corpus, attorney-client privilege, due process, and Geneva Conventions protections to those, American or foreign, designated without evidence as terrorists or enemy combatants.


• The justification and use of torture to coerce confessions and the kidnapping of foreign nationals who are sent to be tortured in foreign prisons.


• The initiation of military aggression against states based on intentional deception by the Bush administration of the US public and the United Nations, and the intentional fabrication of "evidence" to justify unprovoked aggression against sovereign states, which is a war crime under the Nuremberg standard established by the US.


• Violation of the oath of office to defend the US Constitution by practically every member of the Bush administration and Congress.


• Bush has assaulted the separation of powers and the rule of law with "signing statements" and "executive orders" that President Nixon’s White House Counsel John Dean says are commands that treat the co-equal branches of government and the electorate as subservient to executive authority. In April 2006, Boston Globe reporter Charlie Savage listed 750 laws "challenged" by the Bush administration. Not even the demonized president of Iran claims to be above the law.


• Genocide against the people of Iraq where one million Iraqis have died as a result of Bush’s invasion and several million Iraqis are displaced persons.


• Massive civilian casualties in Afghanistan, which is a form of genocide in which military force is routinely applied to unarmed noncombatants.


• Massive corruption in which no-bid contracts are issued to Republican corporations in exchange for kickbacks to political campaigns.


• The theft of two national elections as documented in books by Mark Crispin Miller and Greg Palast.
  

And this is without going into any great detail about America's international atrocities before Bush came to power. There is a lot wrong with the Cuban regime. It certainly can't be called a democracy and it's no bastion of liberty, but when Cuba's failings are compared with the crimes committed by the good old US of A, we get a sense of perspective. And Bush's hypocrisy isn't lost on those Cubans who are wondering why America is harbouring a known terrorist, Luis Posada Carriles, who is allowed to roam free in the USA despite all of Dubya's anti-terrorist rhetoric. You don't suppose it's because he's an ex CIA operative who has consistently targeted Cubans and even tried to assassinate Castro? No, surely not. It is apparently because America is concerned that his extradition might lead to him being tortured. You couldn't make this up could you?

*UPDATE*

More on this topic from Mask of Anarchy.

Tags: Cuba, Castro, George Bush, Guantanamo, Democracy, Torture, US Politics