Cuba On My Mind: John Bolton is Back

On May 6, 2002, less than a year after 9/11, Undersecretary of State John Bolton embarked on a campaign that claimed Cuba was developing “bio-weapons” to use against the U.S.

In the same speech, at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, he linked Cuba to countries such as Libya, Syria, Iraq, Iran and North Korea, and suggested a cooperative relationship between them. He offered no additional details about the types of weapons in question or timeline.

This was, of course, a giant lie with no basis in fact. No documents or photographs, or reports of any kind. The latest State Department report on global terrorism, issued the previous week, included 47 lines of text on Cuba, out of 177 pages. The section on Cuba did not include one word about bio-weapons or biological warfare.

Bolton just pulled the idea right out of his ass and threw it in the wind.

At the time, many feared that President G.W. Bush was about to take a more accommodating stance towards Cuba, and ex-President Jimmy Carter was about to embark on a historic visit (May 12-17) to the island. The first visit by a U.S. President since 1959.

For what seemed like long weeks, Bolton kept pushing the idea of Cuba’s collusion (my word) with other terrorist-friendly states against the U.S.

When members of the State Department refused to sign off on Bolton’s statements, he went after them personally and fiercely, which had not been the norm at the time and created an “unsafe” work environment. But he persisted in repeating and expanding the statement.

Eventually, President G.W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell ordered him (several times) to stop making those unprovable statements about Cuba.

I can imagine G.W. on the phone: “Shut up, Bolton. Just shut up! You’re embarrassing us! Everyone knows you’re lying for God’s sake! There is no evidence OR suspicion. You don’t know how to do this. You should just let our Cubans and the CIA handle this sort of thing. They’re good at it. Been doing it since Bay of Pigs…” Maybe it’s Josh Brolin I’m imagining.

The main goal of the anti-movement continues to be a “rear-guard action” against the possibility of dialogue between the two countries. Dialogue is a frightening thing to a hate movement. It can lead to clarification and understanding and the discovery of common ground.

This was simply Bolton playing a “terror card” against Cuba. No truth required.

The recent “sonic attacks” seem like another timely maneuver. The State Department has issued a travel warning even though no tourist has ever been harmed and Cuba is still considered one of the safest places in the world for Americans to visit.

Prior to the Cuba statements, Bolton was “certain” that Iraq had “weapons of mass destruction” even after it was proved that they didn’t have any. It was later reported that he had more than a willing hand in our misunderstanding of collected evidence.

And yet on May of 2005, President G.W. Bush nominated Bolton for U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., but a Republican-majority Senate refused to confirm him, TWICE! (2005 & 2006)

At the 2^nd hearing, high-ranking State Department officials testified about Bolton’s abusive behavior and his insistence that they support his point of view regardless of the facts. An open letter from a contractor claimed aggressive and sexually insulting behavior. When she was brought before Congress for an interview, she said Bolton even insulted her weight.

Still, days after Congress adjourned for the summer in 2006, G.W. appointed him to the job regardless of Congressional approval. A bold Trumpian move from Jeb’s little brother, a man that can no longer be identified as the worst U.S. President of modern times.

Way back in 1994, Bolton showed us his true ideology; he joked about knocking down the top 10 floors of the 39-floor UN building, claiming that it wouldn’t make “a bit of difference.” In the same speech he said, “There’s no such thing as the United Nations, just an international community that occasionally can be led by the only real power left in the world, and that is the United States.”

Imperial enough for the U.S. of Trump?

And now he’s back, folks. And he may be our next National Security Adviser. Imagine the options he’ll present to the President.

Is there a better fit for the Trump White House? Aside from the fact that Trump is on record as disapproving of Bolton’s gentlemanly moustache, (warning: That was not a joke.) they appear to have much in common.

Trump, Bolton and the anti-Castro movement make an ideal threesome; they improvise their facts when existing ones don’t support their plans. They invent willful lies with no shame. And all easily resort to abusive verbal insults:

· Bolton called the State Department analyst that would not sign off on his claims a “Munchkin” and tried to get him transferred.

· Anti-Castroistas still call everyone that disagrees with them a variation of communist. Consider the may words used constantly to describe Castro: despot, tyrant, etc.

· Trump is the undisputed insult King, with classics such as Little Marco, Crazy Bernie, Mr. Magoo, Lying Ted, Crooked Hillary, Low Energy Jeb, Crazy Jim Acosta, Crazy Megyn, Psycho Joe, Little Rocket Man… Here’s a Wikipedia page that lists most the President’s nicknames for his opponents: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nicknames_used_by_Donald_Trump ).

After leaving the Bush administration in December 2006, there was no place in politics for Bolton. I still recall that Bill Maher was kind to him (May 29, 2009 –Unfortunately I couldn’t find the show on Bill Maher’s You Tube page). Eventually he started showing up regularly on FOX News as a commentator, where he’s advocated a military first strike against North Korea.

Much like President Trump, Bolton is an old-fashion male. He enlisted in the Maryland National Guard in 1970 (to avoid going to the war in Viet Nam) but has always supported wars as a way to solve problems and further his agenda. Especially wars against non-whites.

In a COMMENTARY for the Wall Street Journal (February 28, 2008) Bolton wrote, “It is perfectly legitimate for the United states to respond to the current ‘necessity’ posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons by striking first.”

In December 2013, he suggested on FOX News that Edward Snowden “should swing from a tall Oak tree…”

In a New York Times editorial (March 26, 2015) Bolton said, “The inconvenient truth is that only military action… can accomplish what is required. Time is terribly short, but a strike can still succeed.”

Do you think he would support a military invasion of Cuba if it was brought before him as a possibility? Or a new massive campaign of targeted sabotage and murder?

As people with brains and conscience leave the White House at high speed, the Year of Bolton seems to be looming...

Time to be very afraid. The dark ages are crawling back, right into the digital age.