Spies to Cuba: The Real Obama Scandal

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He said it, but he sure as hell didn't mean it!

Still have stars in your eyes for Barack Obama? If so, get thee to an ophthalmologist. Forget the crazy-as-a-loon stuff: Obama's birth certificate, the Obama-is-a-Muslim madness, the Benghazi bullshit… Here's one you can and should pin on him: beginning in 2009, Obama authorized (not so) covert activities in Cuba. Using the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as a front, Obama sent poorly trained young folks from Costa Rica, Peru, and Venezuela into Cuba to spy, foment rebellion, and set up propaganda arms (like a Cuban Twitter account).

Of course it all unraveled. You don't sent boys to do the jobs of trained spooks. Must I say it again? The Castro/Communism/Cuba paranoia is way past its sell-by date. Everything about the USAID scandal reeks of ineptitude of the highest magnitude. When I voted for Obama in 2008, I had high hopes that an intelligent man would take the Oval Office. Guess I was wrong.

Forget impeachment–no U.S. laws were violated–but I wonder how Obama could keep a straight face when collecting his Nobel Peace Prize in 2009. That one's going to go into the books as the biggest Nobel farce since Henry Kissinger's.

Let's not sugarcoat this–the Cuba spy operation is very, very bad. In 1961, President Kennedy authorized the Bay of Pigs operation–a complete fiasco in which sixty-eight erstwhile liberators of Cuba died. It too was stupid and Kenney should have never green-lighted it. He at least had the excuse that it made some 'sense' in the Cold War era and it was plan he inherited from Eisenhower. Obama has no such excuse, and there may well be loss of life associated with Obama's arrogance. Now that the lid has been blown off a plan involving USAID, every Western humanitarian worker, exchange student, missionary, and foreign-based scholar is at risk. He's made the "spy" tag plausible for every thug looking to seize Western hostages. Congratulations, Mr. President, you've just placed Doctors without Borders physicians, Fulbright scholars, Peace Corps volunteers, legitimate USAID workers, Red Cross personnel, Oxfam activists, and religious charity staff in jeopardy.

Obama's damage to US ideals isn't the worst in recent memory, but his humanitarian credentials have been shredded. Here's my list of the six worst presidential misadventures since 1960 in order of egregiousness:

            1. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964): President Johnson withheld critical information from Congress, which never asked for the details. This marked America's entry into Vietnam combat operations, which did not end until 1973. It cost 58,000 American lives and untold numbers in Vietnam.

            2. Invented Weapons of Mass Destruction (2001-present): George W. Bush's inept reading (or lie–take your pick) of what Saddam Hussein did not hold. This led to the Gulf War in 2003, Saddam Hussein's removal from power, and Iraq's descent into hell. We are still paying for this war, literally and metaphorically. 4,489 Americans have died there and the current price tag is over $1.57 trillion dollars. Iraq's costs are incalculable. Bush should have been impeached.

            3. Watergate (1972-74): Nixon's attempt to trash the U.S. Constitution resulted in two years of national angst–at a time in which nothing could get done to head off hyperinflation, deindustrialization, or the energy crisis. Nixon was rightly impeached.

            4. Iran Contra (1985-87): What a tin soldier and colossal liar Reagan was! As Oliver North later revealed, Reagan was just playing dumb during the hearings–he knew all along about the illegal funding of the Nicaraguan Contras and personally authorized weapons' sales to Iran. Between Reagan and Bush II, the US effectively made arch-enemy Iran the region's superpower. It's a minor injustice that Bush wasn't impeached; it's a major miscarriage of justice that Reagan wasn't. His contempt for the rule of law matched Nixon's.

            5. Obama's Cuban spying.

            6. Bay of Pigs. This one ranks under Obama's scam/scheme because at least those involved knew they were being placed in harm's way.

            Dishonorable Mention: Nixon's "secret bombing" of Cambodia (1969-70); the CIA's involvement in overthrowing Allende (1973—Nixon again); Gulf War I (1990-91–George H. Bush's attempt to make the world safe for monarchy); deregulation under Reagan/Bush (1981-93–giving America's wealth to pirates). Special Blockhead Awards: US Congress for trying to impeach Clinton in 1998 and Clinton for being such an ass he encouraged it.

So if you look at the above list, Obama's only the fifth biggest idiot in the past fifty years. Is that what you thought you were getting in 2008? The Democrats are headed for a major fall in November and odds are against them for holding the White House in 2016. Say goodbye to what's left of the Great Society after that. Guess whose fault that will be? Thanks for nothing, Barack.