Retired US official and wife admit spying for Cuba

[demoleft]

Source: bbc

A retired US state department official and his wife have admitted spying for Cuba for nearly three decades.

The former official, Walter Kendall Myers, 72, had access to top-secret government information.

Under a plea deal, Mr Myers will spend the rest of his life in jail while wife Gwendolyn, 71, will serve a term of no more than seven-and-a-half years.

She pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of conspiracy to gather and transmit national defence information to Cuba.


Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8371798.stm

---

i see it only today on the bbc. i do not know if it's news there.

[Lasher]

1. Here's what the US DOJ said:

The US justice department said the case should serve notice that America remained vigilant in protecting its secrets.

So just so long as you don't let anything like this go on for more than two or three decades, you're being vigilant?

[clixtox]

21. What secrets?

What sort of information, of any sensitive sort, was a career State Department employee likely to have.

Any ideas?

Insights into our nefarious planning for wars to steal our oil and other resources inconveniently located in other nations?

Inside perspectives about how maladroit and inept our system of political patronage has made the State Department?

Recondite knowledge concerning the real beneficiaries of our policies and machinations?

The unbelievable hubris displayed when bragging about how vigilant they were(n't) is indicative of our government's disrespect for our intelligence.

We haven't all been dumbed down to "moran" status yet, although too many Americans obviously have been, practically speaking, lobotomized.

We are the American people, it's us who have to be kept unaware.

Our foreign "enemies" know too well our sordid history of meddling and destructive criminal behaviors world wide.

[bjobotts]

36. Don't kid yourself.State has access to all kinds of secrets info like nculear weapons blueprints

[clixtox]

37. Really? You must have forgotten the sarcasm thingy!

Weapons blueprints! No way...

What else? The mind boggles!

Any other examples of "secrets" that have been entrusted to the state department?

Anyone else want to jump in with examples of State Department "secrets"?

[Lagomorph]

38. You seem to have the inside scoop

"Our foreign "enemies" know too well our sordid history of meddling and destructive criminal behaviors world wide."

So let's hear it!

[clixtox]

40. The only way to learn "the inside scoop" is to do your own research!

You would never believe me, but the reality is easily available to all of those, including you Lagomorph, who care to find out.

Read some books. I dare you! Look past the "conventional wisdom", if you want the "scoop".

You could even start on wikipedia.

I am not intending to be arrogant, as you are, but if you had any interest in knowing about the USA's "sordid history of meddling and destructive criminal behaviors world wide", you wouldn't be so rude.

[MellowDem]

70. I don't know!

What evil, nefarious secrets does the Cuban government hold?

Silly us, we should be glad that foreign governments have spies in our state department!

Next time you try to change a subject because you don't like where the present OP is going, try not to fail so hard.

[jasi2006]

46. And the israeli spy goes free? Franklin nt

[Botany]

2. So this was caught under Obama but missed under bush and his ....

.... Department of Homeland Security, NSA, CIA, and unlimited wire taps?

[Crowman1979]

5. The chickenhawk was more afraid of peaceful protestors in funny costumes than actual threats to...

...national security.

[harmonicon]

3. Prison? Seriously? Who fucking cares?

I suppose it's a radical view, but I simply don't see any reason why "state's secrets" should even exist, apart from within the military as it pertains to present-day battle field operations. Because of this couple's actions, Cuba did what? Invaded? This is a cruel joke.

[naaman fletcher]

6. What if those battlefield operations

are compromised because years before somebody gave away the technology that we were going to use on the battlefield? What if because of what someone did years before the enemy learned more about how are communications systems work and are battlefield plans later are compromised?

Why don't you just admit that you are a coffee shop revolutionary and you think everyone should spy for Cuba?

[harmonicon]

12. I think those things would be fine.

I imagine that more wars could be avoided if all technology, no matter it's use, were freely shared between the people of the world. Any fanciful "what if" downside to that is nothing compared to the innovation that happens when great minds from different parts of the world work to solve problems together.

As for the accusation of being "a coffee shop revolutionary", I don't know what to tell you. I am an anarchist, and I don't see the point of anyone "spying". The fact that the word exists I find to be absurd. However, the supposed crime of spying for Cuba I see as being far less serious if we're going to talk about crime, than the crime of denying free movement of the people within the US anywhere in the world they would choose to go, denying visas for doctors and academics because of a 50 year old political vendetta, denying trade in needed goods to a neighbour, or putting out hate-filled propaganda against an entire country that does it's damnedest to provide for it's people, which is more than I can say mine does.

[naaman fletcher]

14. so...

<i>The fact that the word exists I find to be absurd.</i>

<p>
Don't know what to say there.<p><i> However, the supposed crime of spying for Cuba I see as being far less serious if we're going to talk about crime, than the crime of denying free movement of the people within the US anywhere in the world they would choose to go</i>
<p>
How does the US deny people free movement where to go? Do you mean the embargo against Cuba? What do you think about Cuba's keeping people in a prison state, refusing to let them live anywhere?<p><i> denying visas for doctors and academics because of a 50 year old political vendetta, </i>
<p>
Does Cuba give Visas to anyone?<p><i>denying trade in needed goods to a neighbour,</i>
<p>
So you support Free Trade? Or only trade with countries whose dictators you admire?<i> or putting out hate-filled propaganda against an entire country that does it's damnedest to provide for it's people, which is more than I can say mine does.</i>
<p>
Does Cuba put out hate-filled propaganda about the US to its people? If Cuba does its damndest to provide for its people, why do so many of its people desperately try to flee? How many Americans are trying to flee to Cuba.<p>
The fact is, you are not an anarchist. Anarchists don't like authoritarian dictatorships. You do. Therefore, you are not an anarchist. I think Coffee-shop revolutionary describes your pretty accurately.

[harmonicon]

24. massive text-fail

all the same, I'll parse through it to give you answers (that you won't pay attention to).

Yes, the US makes it illegal for US citizens to spend their money in Cuba.

Cuba gives visas to many people. My US-citizen brother went to a summer course at the University of Havana with no problem what-so-ever. I have friends in the UK who go to Cuba to do their musical research all of the time.

I do not support "free trade". I support fair trade, which in some idealized cases may be free trade.

As far as I know, Cuba does not put out hate-filled propaganda against the US to its people - it tells them the truth, and sometimes the truth hurts.

Not that many Cubans try to flee their country. I don't know percentages, so I can't make a definite case, but I doubt that there many more Cubans living abroad than citizens of any other country. I can tell you that Cuba has a far higher standard of education for its people and far better healthcare.

As for me being an anarchist, I'm quite sure that I know who and what I am and that you do not. Can you name for me any major anarchists from the past few hundred years? Have you read their writings and do you know the history of various national and international anarchist movements? I somehow doubt it.

It is very clear to me from what you have written that you are brain-washed by propaganda. Prove me wrong?

[naaman fletcher]

34. huh?

It is straight-forward:

Cuba prevents its people from leaving Cuba. The United States does not.

Also, no, you are not an Anarchist. Anarchists support the abolition of government. You support Cuban government education and healthcare (which is fine by me, but these are government actions).

You also support a police-state dictatorship that imprisons the entire country (which I don't support, and nobody who does could possible be called a liberal).

[harmonicon]

50. The US keeps people from leaving the country.

At most places where you can leave from, there are people there with guns who will stop you if they see fit. That's just the extreme on one level though. The way that they really keep people from leaving the country is by keeping them uneducated, too overworked and poor to be able to consider leaving, and filling them with propaganda telling them that they don't want to leave (in part, because the outside world is scary and evil, and in part because "The United States is the greatest country in the world").

Really, you don't know what anarchists are about. You can't name a single influential anarchist thinker, but you somehow somewhere got some idea and have stuck to it.

In what way to I support a police-state dictatorship? Is there one that I send money to? Apart from sales taxes I've paid in various countries, the only government I've ever given money to is the US government, and they used it to start illegal wars, build an illegal prison on a largely defenseless country which cannot stop them from doing so, torture people, kill civilians.... the list could go on and on.

[naaman fletcher]

52. Huh again.

1. OK, so you need a passport to leave. Yes, that is because the country wants you to be able to get back in. OK, do you need to apply to get a passport to leave. Of course, you will get one. Yet, you are comparing that to a country, like Cuba, that is a jail for it's citizens

2. Why do I need to name an Anarchist thinker to know that someone who supports large governments in peoples lives is not an anarchist? Could you please take a few minutes to explain that?

3. You support Cuba, and have been supporting Cuba in this entire thread. Coffee to what they teach you in coffee-shops, Cuba is a police state.

[harmonicon]

57. ok then...

I don't really know how to reply to you, because we don't seem to be using the same language. What am I supporting? How am I supporting it? I am for equal rights, equal opportunity, and equal treatment for all people of the world. Sure, I'm an anarchist, but I still vote (I voted for Obama, for instance). I take part in society in the most responsible ways that I see fit, regardless of laws and regulations placed upon inherently free people. I may agree with Thoreau's statement that "the best form of government is no government at all", just as I may think that the best fast food hamburger is from In-N-Out Burger - that doesn't mean that I never eat at McDonald's.

[proteus_lives]

8. Damage or no. They're still traitors.

And they belong in jail.

[harmonicon]

13. Why?

Why do they belong in jail? Have they harmed anyone? What will locking them up accomplish? What will that put a stop to?

As for being traitors, I find the premise absurd. The US's policy towards Cuba is completely insane, so I can't imagine that anything associated with it should be taken seriously. I don't really think "act like a spoiled, vindictive child" when you don't get your way is sound foreign policy.

[proteus_lives]

26. Because they betrayed their country.

The husband took an oath to this country and betrayed it, and his wife was an accomplice. They committed a criminal act.

"As for being traitors, I find the premise absurd. The US's policy towards Cuba is completely insane, so I can't imagine that anything associated with it should be taken seriously. I don't really think "act like a spoiled, vindictive child" when you don't get your way is sound foreign policy."

So you would pass on sensitive information to Cuba with a clear conscience? What if it was another country, what if the information put people's lives at risk?

I gotta say, you're the one who sounds childish.

[harmonicon]

27. what is a country if not its people?

Our government's Cuba policy is a crime against the people of both nations. It is those policies which punish us - we receive collective punishment for what? To show us that the poor better not act up? To hide from us the fact that when the poor do act up they can free themselves from the tyranny of the wealthy elite? I just don't get it. How can it be justified?

Not only would I pass on "sensitive information" to Cuba with a clear conscience, I would give it to anyone in the world who wanted it - I say that any "secret" or "classified" information should be made public and readily accessible to anyone who wants it. I don't want to make any GWB "bring it on" statements, but I highly doubt that any country trying its hardest could fuck up the US any more than it's fucked itself over the last 60 years. Seriously, how many lives have been lost for complete bullshit reasons or for the sake of "keeping secrets"?

I really don't think that a policy of always being honest and truthful and leading a life where you don't have to keep secrets is childish. I think "I have a secret and you can't know" is childish. I think, "I'll tell you a secret, and if you tell anyone else I'll hurt you" is childish.

[proteus_lives]

33. You do realize that no country could or would function like that.

"I say that any "secret" or "classified" information should be made public and readily accessible to anyone who wants it."

Do you understand the concept of Realpolitik?

All countries are in competition with each other. Political, military and economic competition. The US, Cuba, UK and the rest couldn't function.

"Our government's Cuba policy is a crime against the people of both nations." Not everyone agrees with that. And even if the two nations were the closest of allies, this duo would still deserve prison for betraying their country.

"we receive collective punishment for what? To show us that the poor better not act up? To hide from us the fact that when the poor do act up they can free themselves from the tyranny of the wealthy elite? I just don't get it. How can it be justified?"

Might have something to do with the dictatorship that got running in that country.

"Not only would I pass on "sensitive information" to Cuba with a clear conscience, I would give it to anyone in the world who wanted it " Well, you clearly don't belong in any government job. So you would put people's lives at risk with a clear conscience?

"Seriously, how many lives have been lost for complete bullshit reasons or for the sake of "keeping secrets"?

I really don't think that a policy of always being honest and truthful and leading a life where you don't have to keep secrets is childish. I think "I have a secret and you can't know" is childish. I think, "I'll tell you a secret, and if you tell anyone else I'll hurt you" is childish."

Sorry, that's not how the world works. Our government did the right thing.

[harmonicon]

51. well, we clearly disagree

I may be an idealist in this respect, and I'm fine with that. However, I think the world would be a far better place if all countries acted the way that I suggest, and one would have to go first.

Countries may well be in competition with each other, but I think we have a lot of history which demonstrates that that competition between countries only hurts the people of those countries. For this reason, I reject the idea of one betraying a country, because I think a betrayal of people by a government is a far more serious crime. How can someone betray a country when they have done nothing to harm the people of that country?

As for people calling Cuba a dictatorship.... it's really just silly and I don't want to hash it all out in this thread again. The more important over-arching thing to consider in this is that if we expect other countries to respect our form of government, we should respect theirs. 50 years ago the Cuban people decided that they didn't like their government and they changed it. I respect that. There was a time when people living in what is now the US didn't like their government, and they changed that as well.

You are right that I probably don't belong in a government job. I don't mind. Would I put peoples lives at risk with a clear conscience? Probably in some cases, yes. An example would be the fighting of a just war. Many soldiers' lives were put a risk when the US invaded France in WWII, and I think that was a good thing. As for what this couple did, I don't think anyone's life was put at risk other than their own, so I'm pretty sure that it's a wash.

I know that the world does not work in the reasoned, truthful, trusting way that I suggest it should. To me, that does not mean that our government did the right thing. I think that just piled one more "wrong" an a large stack.

[proteus_lives]

67. Yes, we disagree.

"one would have to go first." There's the problem, you have to convince the first to jump off the bridge and trust that, "The rest of us will follow you." Don't hold your breath.

Competition can be negative but also positive. Many good things have come from the competition between nations.

"because I think a betrayal of people by a government is a far more serious crime. How can someone betray a country when they have done nothing to harm the people of that country?"

Here's the thing, they did betray us. Because our government is our representatives. They are us. Also, depending on the information, they could have gotten people killed and what would affect the people.

"As for people calling Cuba a dictatorship.... it's really just silly and I don't want to hash it all out in this thread again."

Really, so they aren't a one-party state? When was the last time they had a leader without the last name of Castro?

"50 years ago the Cuban people decided that they didn't like their government and they changed it." No, Castro and his thugs changed it and if some members of the Cuban people didn't like it, they got a bullet in the head.

"There was a time when people living in what is now the US didn't like their government, and they changed that as well."

Still do or did they cancel local, state and federal elections when I wasn't looking? Too bad the Cubans don't have the same options.

"know that the world does not work in the reasoned, truthful, trusting way that I suggest it should."

You're not really suggesting anything original. Take the from the lessons of history. Utopias don't exist and will never exist. Things always change, sometimes for the better or worse. But looking for perfection will always lead to disappointment.

[harmonicon]

69. The US has gone first on other things, and people have followed us

Unfortunately, one of those things was the stock piling of nuclear arms. Thank god no other country was foolish enough to follow through with actually using them to carry out terrorism or any other killing.

You think the government is our representatives? No way, Jose. You can speak for yourself, but no one in this case betrayed me.

On the Cuba question, you are now putting up a straw man argument about "one party state" in an attempt to move the discussion away from "dictatorship" which you first brought up. Again, it's not my job here to educate you about the truth of how the Cuban government came into being and is run - you can look all of that up for yourself. I will not be swayed by baseless accusations intended to cause a knee-jerk reaction.

Did I suggest that my ideas were original? They aren't original, they're plain common sense. While utopias do not exist, right and wrong do exist. I do not see a problem in - not looking for perfection, but - working toward perfection. "I take my dreams for reality, because I believe in the reality of my dreams".

[AlphaCentauri]

66. You are applying the concept of free market to global politics

as we can see Canada is not competing with the US so it doesn't need to spy on it, now the US is spying on everyone who doesn't even can compete with the US, why?

[proteus_lives]

68. Real life.

If there was a reason for Canada to be spying on the US, they would be doing it. And vice-versa.

Every country on Earth has reasons to keep tabs on every other country.

[imdjh]

53. Better to be silent and thought a fool..... Seriously, you're wrong here.

[AlphaCentauri]

65. They can be consider traitors as cuban blogger yoani sanchez may be

from both sides of the political spectrum they could be also political prisoners.

[clixtox]

20. Secrets? Our supposed enemies already know all the secrets.

The "enemy" that our government wants to keep ignorant and clueless are us!

Our "government" is so opaque, so full of known unknowns and unknown unknowns, that the true masters, the identity of our actual rulers and the knowledge of how they control every important institution, is the real secret.

Think about it!

Please...

[harmonicon]

23. oh, I've thought about it

and I don't think it's all that secret at all. These people are more-or-less very upfront about how they're running the show, and the lies they tell to give a little lip-service to that not being the case are completely transparent.

Am I wrong, or are you actually giving even more credence to my original point?

[clixtox]

35. #1. I agree with you in general and maybe "secret" is the wrong word?

I do not believe that I am at all unique in the way I understand who we are and what we, as a nation with an empire to maintain at any cost, do.

We being the USA.

I do say that those who do understand the true history, and the current reality, of our country are relatively few, and those willing to discuss their beliefs, rarer still, perhaps due to the hostility it creates in the typical "patriot".

Conventional wisdom, often unrelated to reality, is the core of the American ethos. Propaganda is repeated until it's traction is unassailable to the non critical thinker. And that leads us to where we are now. A population that is set up to be bamboozled, alienated, hateful, fearful and willing to support insane policies inimical to their own interests. Jingoism, subtle and not so subtle racism, fear and the creation of enemies out of innocent citizens of other nations are prerequisites to controlling us. Angry people are easy to control and we are constantly being exhorted to hate others enough to kill them mercilessly. this process works too well!

I am sure that you, harmonicon, see the situation similarly to how I do. Or maybe not...

[harmonicon]

49. Yeah, I think we're probably on the same page here (nt)

[Ter]

39. You have no idea the secrets our government has

We have Aurora (a plane that can go Mach 8-10), HAARP weather control (create hurricanes and manipulate weather), and so many more. We even posses the technology to make an entire battleship disappear, as we did in the early 40's (Philadelphia Expirament). No way in hell Cuba knows that kind of stuff.

[clixtox]

44. The US State Department has been entrusted with that info?

In the first place those technologies, if they actually exist which is doubtful, would be of very little, if any interest in Cuba or anywhere else. Cuba doesn't care a bit about "that kind of stuff"!

Secondly, this isn't the type of sensitive information that the STATE DEPARTMENT would "need to know". Actual, real, honest-to-God secrets are not ever shared, especially with the bureaucrats in the State Department! That's for sure!

You seem to be serious so thank you for trying to come-up with secrets the State Department would have that would be of material benefit to Cuba?

[barbtries]

48. that was my reaction.

clearly we suffered no harm from cuba.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[hmorehead]

7. I'm sorry. Whatever possible damage they did to this country pales next to the damage

the US has done to Cuba by the embargo. How many conservative Cuban born contributers to all sorts of PACs have to finaly die off before we restore relations with Cuba???????

They got made broke. They're in prison at an age where most prisons are trying to release inmates, let them go.

[Paladin]

10. Well Said, hmorehead. (n/t)

[naaman fletcher]

16. So you support free trade with cuba?

Do you support free trade with all nations, or just cuba? What about China?

[mddem9850]

19. This is just ridiculous

[IndianaGreen]

9. Had they spied for Israel, the charges would have been dropped

Discuss.

[hmorehead]

11. Jonathon Pollard might disagree with you, but there is a difference between Israel and Cuba.

[IndianaGreen]

15. Pollard was betrayed by subsequent Israeli governments

who refused to acknowledge he was spying for them, leaving him to rot in jail while others were let go.

[hmorehead]

54. Pollard deserves to rot and there are others locked up, too.

[hmorehead]

55. AND Pollard and Israel betrayed the US.

[EFerrari]

17. That's right. Israel has nukes. n/t

[boppers]

18. So did Cuba...

Can you be more specific about your point?

[mackerel]

22. The whole issue is moot as far as I can see.

Cuba went no where, did nothing and it's people suffered more from being
stagnant than anything else.

[Indenturedebtor]

29. His point is that Israel is full of joos who are responsible for all evil in this world

Cuba had nukes which were pointed at us... but it didn't have those damn hebes!

[EFerrari]

31. No, History Professor, Cuba didn't have nukes.

The Soviets had nukes.

And for the rest, whooooooooooooooooooosh.

[Indenturedebtor]

43. So because the nukes had "Made in the USSR" stamped on the side of them

that makes all the difference. Brilliant.

"Whooooosh"? Is that the sound of your all consuming hatred for Israel whizzing around from thread to thread?

[boppers]

47. I'm guessing Eferrari didn't know that Cuba had them, regardless of maker.

It wasn't common knowledge 15 years ago, so it may take a while for it to percolate.

[pitohui]

60. it was common knowledge in 1962, so "take a while to percolate" is an interesting statement

anyone who doesn't know by now that cuba wanted, and for a time, actually had nuclear weapons on its soil is just plain not paying attention


plenty of us old geezers actually remember hiding in our basement waiting to die during the cuban missile crisis, it makes for an "interesting" childhood to be told that you could be dead w. 15 minutes warning on any given sunday

[boppers]

72. We knew about the missiles then, and "suspected" about the warheads.

The blockade was an effort to block possible warhead shipments.

We now know that the missiles were live *before* the blockade.

I grew up in a valley surrounded by 17 ICBM silos, and we had countdown drills, a years supply of food, and I'm only 37, so that fear gripped the psyche of of the U.S. well into the 80's.

[EFerrari]

64. So are you claiming that the Kennedy administration was on the phone

with the wrong country during the missile crisis?

How sloppy is this forum any more?

[boppers]

73. No, I'm pointing out that the crisis wasn't just about missiles, or a blockade.

It was about live, aimed, nuclear weapons being used to successfully blackmail the US, and the fact that it actually worked, and was kept under wraps, to save face.

[EFerrari]

32. No, Cuba didn't have nukes. Next?

[boppers]

45. I think you might have missed the papers that came out in the last ten years.

Nukes were deployed, and functional, in Cuba, *before* the crisis.

We blockaded to "prevent" nukes... that were already there.

[Indenturedebtor]

28. Yeah Israel is threatening us with nukes.

Man I hate people who shout "anti-semitism!" at every turn but sometimes it's just too obvious on this board.

[EFerrari]

30. Isn't that charge important enough to you to respect at bottom what it means?

Man, you don't hate people who shout "anti-semitism" on this board. You are those people.

[Indenturedebtor]

42. Only because this board is full of it n/t

[fascisthunter]

58. and that's a lie

DU is not full of "it".

There is something wrong with folks who claim people hate a religion due to the country they criticize. I know this poster, and this poster is far from being anti-semitic or a bigot. Your ad hominem belittles real anti-semitism, because you abuse the term to shut down criticism of Israel.

The Israeli government is right wing and full of fanatics... they do NOT represent all Israelis nor do they represent all Judaism. Your claim implies that they do.

[EFerrari]

62. That's a pretty thin excuse for tossing around such an accusation.

And I think you know that.

[cali]

56. why do certain DUers consistently make shit up to fit their rigid and intellectually

bankrupt little world views?>


Discuss, dearie.

[pitohui]

61. there's a lot of ...creativity...in this thread is all i can say, cali

cuba never had nukes on their soil, people who spy for israel get a free pass...whatever they're smoking, they need to pass it around, i'd like to see a few of these colorful fantasies myself!

[EFerrari]

63. Cuba never had command and control over nuclear weapons

or else Robert Kennedy would have been on the phone to CASTRO and not to KHRUSHCHEV. And, yes, that makes a difference when we're talking about a retrograde policy towards CUBA that the whole world but our lapdogs condemn. Wait, that's wrong. Our lapdog Colombia has condemned it, too.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[Mudoria]

41. Life in prison seems appropriate

should have given the wife the same however. Traitors.

[pitohui]

59. the wife is getting the same, check her age, then check out health care in prison

she'll die there

i don't understand why shitheads like this involve the wife, if you're going to be a fucking criminal for the $$$ and there is no honor to it, why involve your family and suck them in, putting them to the awful decision of leaving you/informing on you or becoming a criminal themselves?

he ruined her life as surely as he ruined his

you have to ask yourself if some people have any conscience or any caring in their soul at all

even if he wanted to sell himself for the bucks then how in the world did he sleep at night all those years knowing that he also involved his own wife, the one person in the world he is sworn to love and care for?

jonathan pollard's wife had to be released early because she would have otherwise died in prison, i don't recall the details any more, but she had some stomach disease and was pretty much being starved to death...

terrible terrible story...if you must be a spy, be a loner don't involve your family, that's just completely dishonorable

and, as others say, wow, how reagan/bush let this happen for all these beers and years, but the obama fbi catches on right away...

[unkachuck]

71. "...spying for Cuba for nearly three decades."

....maybe they were smokers and had to have their Cuba cigars?....if so, this could be case for lifting the embargo and desperation it generates....

"Under a plea deal, Mr Myers will spend the rest of his life in jail..."

....can we be sure the plea deal did not include Cuban cigars?....just sayin'