George Bush has flipped... Bush announces initiatives for Cuban dissidents

[M Dogg™]

This man is into even more nation building. A policy he promised not to do. I understood Afganistan, after that though I am at a lost of where this man's sanity is. I studied Cuban history from all angles, because I used to believe like everyone else that Castro was evil. Then I studied the revolution, and learned that it was widely popular, not because Castro was this harsh dictator that hypnotist the people, but because the greatest oppressor of Cuba was the United States. At onetime, the United States companies owned 90% of the land in Cuba, and paid Cubans very low wages to grow sugar, which is next to cotton as the hardest plants to harvest. Then Castro took over, and nationalized the land, and the profits of sugar now is distrubuted to the people. And now Bush, not knowing the real history is speaking this shit, and I'll be honest, I was with him hating Castro, but I know U.S. occupation in Cuba is even worst. We are just mad Castro made it so his people benefit from there own country, not the United States. Communism is bad, but colonialism is worst. Here's the article from CNN.com

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Declaring that "Cuba must change," President Bush Friday announced modest initiatives to "hasten the arrival of a new, free, democratic Cuba" and to prepare for the day when President Fidel Castro -- who seized power more than four decades ago -- is in charge no more.

"Cuba will soon be free," Bush said in Spanish in a Rose Garden address to a crowd that included a number of politicians from South Florida, a politically powerful haven for anti-Castro exiles.

Bush said Castro has responded to his diplomatic initiatives aimed at easing restrictions on trade and travel between the two countries "with defiance and contempt and a new round of brutal oppression that outraged the world's conscience."

Bush cited lengthy prison terms meted out to Cuban opposition members.

Friday was a national holiday in Cuba and no immediate response was available from Havana.

In addition, Bush said, elections in Cuba "are still a sham. Opposition groups still organize and meet at their own peril, private economic activity is still strangled. Non-government trade unions are still oppressed and suppressed. Property rights are still ignored and most goods and services produced in Cuba are still reserved for the political elite.

"Clearly, the Castro regime will not change by its own choice, but Cuba must change," Bush said.

Enforcement of travel restrictions already in place will be strengthened, he said. "We've instructed the Department of Homeland Security to increase inspections of travelers and shipments to and from Cuba."

The U.S. Treasury Department forbids Americans to spend money in Cuba on pleasure trips, but exceptions are made for people visiting relatives, offering humanitarian aid or conducting research.

"Those exceptions are too often used as cover for illegal business travel and tourism or to skirt the restrictions on carrying cash into Cuba," Bush said.

In addition, U.S. citizens who travel to Cuba through third countries or by boat in violation of the U.S. embargo will be targeted, he said.

Bush said U.S. travelers to the island enrich the Castro government simply by paying their hotel bills in dollars. "Foreign-owned resorts in Cuba must pay the wages of their Cuban workers to the government. The government, in turn, pays the workers a pittance in worthless pesos and keeps the hard currency to prop up the dictator and his cronies."

In Cuba, leading dissident Vladimiro Roca told CNN that he applauded the speech, but felt U.S. tourism has little impact on Castro's hold on power. "Our fight is with the Cuban government, not with the Americans," he said.

Bush also said he would work to "ensure that Cubans fleeing the dictator do not risk their lives at sea" by increasing the number of Cuban immigrants allowed to enter the United States each year and by informing Cubans "of the many routes of safe and legal entry into the United States."

In addition, the U.S. government will establish a committee to "hasten" the arrival of "the happy day when Castro's regime is no more and democracy comes to the island," Bush said.

It will be led by Secretary of State Colin Powell and Housing Secretary Mel Martinez, who was born on the island.

"We'll be prepared," said Bush, who has been criticized for what some have called his government's lack of planning prior to the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq. Bush further promised to "continue to build a strong international coalition to advance the cause of freedom inside Cuba."

The president said he would increase the distribution of printed material on the island, increase the effectiveness of Radio and TV Marti, whose communications are regularly jammed by the Cuban government, and boost Internet-based information for Cubans, though few of the island's residents have access to the Internet.

"We're determined to bring the truth to the people who suffer under Fidel Castro," he said.

Cracking down on U.S. travel will also help limit the island's prostitution -- "a modern form of slavery which is encouraged by the Cuban government," Bush said.

The Castro regime has publicly opposed the sex trade. It has flourished on the island in the wake of economic pressures caused by the dissolution of its former trading ally, the Soviet Union, and the U.S. embargo, which was imposed in 1961.

Asked what evidence Bush had to support his contention that the Cuban government encourages the sex trade, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said he did not have that information with him, but would make it available to reporters later.

Administration officials said the new measures, while modest, were, as one put it, "real things" to strengthen the administration's Cuba policy.

Bush has steadfastly resisted calls by those who believe easing sanctions would do more to advance the cause of democracy in Cuba.

One of those, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, expressed disappointment in the speech.

"For more than four decades, the U.S. has pursued an absurd policy of embargo that has accomplished nothing but to increase the misery of the Cuban people and further isolate them from the American people," the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee said in a written statement. "The only beneficiary of the embargo is Castro himself, who is sheltered by the wall we have built around the island."

Baucus added, "I would hope that, at some point, we could move beyond a policy toward Cuba that is held hostage by the politics of the Electoral College. Today's announcement indicates that the administration isn't ready to put the needs of the Cuban people before politics."

It is no secret that Bush is courting anti-Castro Cuban-Americans in advance of next year's presidential election, believing their support is critical in presidential battleground states like Florida.

Bush is the 10th U.S. president since Castro took power in 1959.

A Cuba policy analyst at the Center for International Policy in Washington was also critical of the changes.

"If we're waiting for Fidel Castro to pass, we could be waiting for a couple more presidents," said Anya Landau. "These are simply rehashed, repackaged versions of a very tired and ineffective policy."

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/10/10/bush.cuba/index.html

[OmNIsCiUs]

thats bullshit... bush needs to get his head out of other countries arses....

[Don Jacob]

aright this is where i draw the line in support of bush, Afghanistan ...i can understand......Iraq i supported. But this? why do we need to go into cuba, they ain't doing nothing to us , or even plan on it! yeah castro is a nasty ass hole dictator....but honestly what is he doing that we need to go over there for? plus what do we have to gain from Cuba economically besides vintage cars and cigars......NOTHING!


i ain't going to build Bush into some evil dude or nothing......he's just doin' to much now

[King Tech Quadafi]

But this? why do we need to go into Iraq, they ain't doing nothing to us , or even plan on it! yeah saddam is a nasty ass hole dictator....but honestly what is he doing that we need to go over there for? plus what do we have to gain from Iraq economically besides oil and middle east political monopoly......NOTHING!


i ain't going to build Bush into some evil dude or nothing......he's just doin' to much now

[UnstoppableForce]

This is a fuckin joke....

...the funniest and most ironic part was when Bush stated that Cuban elections were still a SHAM....lolololol

Fuckin new-conservatives... they planned all this shit a long ass time ago.... tryin to control the fuckin world and steal from these countries....

[Real American]

::Sigh::

Only on this message board would people bash George W Bush and praise Fidel Castro.

Why don't you guys go move to Cuba and see how great Castro really is?

[UnstoppableForce]

Nobody praised Fidel... but just so you won't look like an IDIOT again for making stupid comments like you always do....

VIVA FIDEL!

[Woodrow]

^^^


Kill yourself.

[M Dogg™]

Nobody praised Fidel... but just so you won't look like an IDIOT again for making stupid comments like you always do....

VIVA FIDEL!

LMAO... alrighty then....

I for one do not support Fidel, but Fidel came to power because Cuba was under stricked U.S. rule with there U.S. backed dictator Batista. Learn Cuban history. Not wanting to be under U.S. control anymore, they went with the U.S.S.R. backed communist. The revolution was popular for a reason.  

[Lincoln]

Fuck Bush, I'd do anything in the world to have a clear shot at his head.

[JTSimon]

^^^


Kill yourself.

Damn I busted out laughing.


Send that gif to Bush and Cheney

[mauzip]

i don't understand this action either

[UnstoppableForce]

LMAO that gif reminds me of 9/11

[Woodrow]

[UnstoppableForce]

OMG... that was so funny, original, and creative...