Warner Todd Huston
Here's a deal with Cuba I endorse
By Warner Todd Huston
There hasn't been much news about it in the U.S. but an American citizen has been arrested by Cuban authorities and has been placed in one of Cuba's most secure facilities; El Morro Castle, Havana.
Cuba has yet to announce what charges they are leveling against the man but he was arrested after he gave out laptop computers, cellphones and other communication equipment to Cuba's beleaguered citizens. The Cuban government claims these items are against the law for its citizens to own because it "subverts" government authority.
The American was a contractor for Development Alternatives, Inc. a company that has worked for the State Department since 2008 and is part of a Cuban democracy project that has received some $40 million in federal aid.
U.S. officials have been quiet on the matter and have yet to make too many demands of the Cuban government for this man's release. They aren't even releasing his name to us.
To recap, Cuban despots are holding one of our citizens, a man that was in Cuba to help people reach the outside world via computers and cellphones.
Now let us go back to June 5 of this year when it was revealed that the government arrested a husband and wife for spying for Cuba. As it happens Walter Kendall Myers worked for the State Department for 30 years and claims to have been a spy since the 1970s. He and his wife were arrested in an FBI sting in a Washington area hotel.
Naturally this traitorous, commie-loving, ingrate was a college professor. Not that anyone should be surprised that one of our colleges might be harboring a traitorous, commie-loving professor, of course. In fact, it just might be as prosaic a reality as one can imagine.
OK, so here's my deal: Let's make a trade with ol' Fidel.
We get back the democracy loving, U.S. contractor being held by the Cuban despots and we give Cuba the two traitorous, aged, cretins.
Good deal, right? I think so, too.
Look at it this way, we get back a man brave enough to risk his life and freedom just so he could foster freedom and democracy in a liberty starved, tyrannical, police-state like Cuba. And Cuba gets two washed up, aging, traitors that are useless to our society yet were in a position to warp the minds of our youth.
Yep, I think that is a good deal. After all, we win with BOTH angles here.
The amusing part is that if this deal works these decrepit old monsters from that American college would be forced to live in the rat hole they spied for all these years. They would finally get a chance to see firsthand how bad Cuba really is. They would lose their comfortable lives in the U.S., lose their TV and, lose the culture, books, and Internet sources they've spent 70 some decades enjoying. They'd lose all the wonderful products, foodstuffs and healthcare that we Americans enjoy, as well. Everything that a free society affords its citizens would be lost to them as they are forced to take up residence in the armpit of the world, Cuba.
And boy would these Benedict Arnolds deserve it.
Now, since the Obama Administration likes to deal with our enemies so much, I ask of them: please make this deal. It's a win, win for everyone!
... of course, the only problem with this deal is that Obama likely doesn't want a democracy loving hero back in this country roaming free and threatening his own tyranny. There's always a fly in the ointment, isn't there?
© Warner Todd Huston
December 18, 2009
There hasn't been much news about it in the U.S. but an American citizen has been arrested by Cuban authorities and has been placed in one of Cuba's most secure facilities; El Morro Castle, Havana.
Cuba has yet to announce what charges they are leveling against the man but he was arrested after he gave out laptop computers, cellphones and other communication equipment to Cuba's beleaguered citizens. The Cuban government claims these items are against the law for its citizens to own because it "subverts" government authority.
The American was a contractor for Development Alternatives, Inc. a company that has worked for the State Department since 2008 and is part of a Cuban democracy project that has received some $40 million in federal aid.
U.S. officials have been quiet on the matter and have yet to make too many demands of the Cuban government for this man's release. They aren't even releasing his name to us.
To recap, Cuban despots are holding one of our citizens, a man that was in Cuba to help people reach the outside world via computers and cellphones.
Now let us go back to June 5 of this year when it was revealed that the government arrested a husband and wife for spying for Cuba. As it happens Walter Kendall Myers worked for the State Department for 30 years and claims to have been a spy since the 1970s. He and his wife were arrested in an FBI sting in a Washington area hotel.
Naturally this traitorous, commie-loving, ingrate was a college professor. Not that anyone should be surprised that one of our colleges might be harboring a traitorous, commie-loving professor, of course. In fact, it just might be as prosaic a reality as one can imagine.
OK, so here's my deal: Let's make a trade with ol' Fidel.
We get back the democracy loving, U.S. contractor being held by the Cuban despots and we give Cuba the two traitorous, aged, cretins.
Good deal, right? I think so, too.
Look at it this way, we get back a man brave enough to risk his life and freedom just so he could foster freedom and democracy in a liberty starved, tyrannical, police-state like Cuba. And Cuba gets two washed up, aging, traitors that are useless to our society yet were in a position to warp the minds of our youth.
Yep, I think that is a good deal. After all, we win with BOTH angles here.
The amusing part is that if this deal works these decrepit old monsters from that American college would be forced to live in the rat hole they spied for all these years. They would finally get a chance to see firsthand how bad Cuba really is. They would lose their comfortable lives in the U.S., lose their TV and, lose the culture, books, and Internet sources they've spent 70 some decades enjoying. They'd lose all the wonderful products, foodstuffs and healthcare that we Americans enjoy, as well. Everything that a free society affords its citizens would be lost to them as they are forced to take up residence in the armpit of the world, Cuba.
And boy would these Benedict Arnolds deserve it.
Now, since the Obama Administration likes to deal with our enemies so much, I ask of them: please make this deal. It's a win, win for everyone!
... of course, the only problem with this deal is that Obama likely doesn't want a democracy loving hero back in this country roaming free and threatening his own tyranny. There's always a fly in the ointment, isn't there?
© Warner Todd Huston
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
