Chuck Noe, NewsMax.com
Tuesday, May 14, 2002

During a visit Carter and Castro made to Cuba's Center of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, scientists denied they exported technology that could be used to make weapons of mass destruction.

Carter sounded apologetic even for questioning his hosts – and swallowed their claims without one shred of evidence. "I just want to assure myself," said the Georgia Democrat, Castro's favorite of the 10 U.S. presidents he has dealt with during his four-decade-plus dictatorship.

Castro's media flunkies and left-wing allies paved the way Sunday for Carter's comments Monday.

Though Carter might have assured himself, the U.S. is anything but assured.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, while traveling to Iceland to attend a NATO meeting, was asked about Carter's comments. "I don't know what briefings President Carter received," he told reporters.

He repeated what Under Secretary of State John Bolton said last week about Cuba's bioterrorism threat – a story that NewsMax.com broke and was later covered by media giants CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post, etc.

"We know that Cuba has been doing some research with respect to biological offensive weapons possibly, and so we think that it is appropriate for us to point out this kind of activity," Powell said Sunday on Russian television.

Hot Air at Foggy Bottom

Carter claimed that State Department officials who briefed him for his visit to Castro, none of whom he named, said they had no evidence against Castro.

"The purpose of this briefing was for them to share with us any concern that my government had about possible terrorist activities that were supported by Cuba," he said. "There were absolutely no allegations made or questions raised. I asked them specifically on more than one occasion if there was any evidence that Cuba has been involved in sharing any information to any other country on Earth that could be used for terrorist purposes.

"The answer from our experts on intelligence was 'no'," Carter said at Cuba's top biotechnology lab.

Offering no evidence, Carter said he didn't believe that Havana has been providing terrorist information to Libya and Iran.

"The relationship between Cuba and Iran in this respect is just in the initial stages and has not reached the point of technological development," he asserted. "And my hope and my presumption is that Cuba will be very intensely concentrated upon enforcing that provision that would prevent any illicit or improper use of the technology which they share."

Bolton's speech last week, Carter implied, sabotaged his junket. "These allegations were made, maybe not coincidentally, just before our visit to Cuba," he huffed.

With notable exceptions such as Bolton and Otto Reich, the State Department, still packed with Bill Clinton's leftovers, is notorious for being to the left of the president and undermining him on Cuba, China, Israel and other fronts.

And as the Associated Press noted Monday, though Carter has a background in nuclear technology (as well as peanut farming and carpentry), he is no expert on biotechnology or bioterrorism.

Carter's latest pronouncements have compounded his history of gaffes and left some conservatives fuming. Fox News Channel's John Gibson referred Monday evening to "the dotty old former president acting as if what he does matters" and "trying to get people to forget that disastrous presidency of his."

Morton Kondracke of Roll Call said Monday night on Fox News Channel that, after Jesse Jackson, Carter was the "biggest nuzzler of anti-American dictators in the country." Even leftist Mara Liasson of National Public Radio observed, "So far Jimmy Carter's trip has been very good for Fidel Castro."

As Carter Softens, Bush Toughens

Perhaps fearing the fuss that would have ensued had it denied Carter permission for his tour, the Bush administration grudgingly granted approval. Now, anticipating that the Cuban communists would use the ex-president as a "useful idiot" to spread their propaganda, the White House is taking counteraction.

Even as Carter continues on his Castro-guided visit, President Bush is preparing to get tough on the regime, Castro ally CNN reported Monday. Bush will deliver a speech next week outlining U.S. policy toward Cuba and then fly to Miami to celebrate Cuban Independence Day.

In sharp contrast to Carter, "The president has made clear he believes that easing the decades-old trade and travel restrictions on Cuba would only help Castro stay in power," CNN noted.

Reich, Bush's assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, opposed by Senate Democrats for his stance against communism, said in March, "We are not going to help Fidel Castro stay in power by opening up our markets to Cuba."

Among policies Bush might unveil Monday, according to CNN: increasing U.S. government broadcasts to the Cuban people, increasing aid to dissidents, and further tightening travel restrictions.

Just imagine Jimmy Carter's reaction.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Clinton Scandals
Media Bias

Bioterrorism

Bush Administration

Castro/Cuba

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