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CUBA AND THE UN: A FIVE-ACT TRAGEDY REALITY IS WORSE THAN FICTION *** We arrive, therefore, at the final question: If this isn't the right organization to issue a ringing endorsement of human rights in Cuba on behalf of the world community, what is? We don't believe that the United Nations is obsolete. It has been, is and will continue to be a force for good. Whether it should be reorganized to be more effective is a worthy topic for another discussion. But the Human Rights Commission's behavior in Geneva proves that even forces for good can be thwarted by human beings bent on evil. The fact that its chair this year is Libya and that several countries with a similarly soiled record of human rights sit on the panel makes this commission less than it should be.

WILL RIGHTS BE PROTECTED?

Supporters of Cuban dissidents were right to settle for half a loaf, but we have to ask: If the commission can't use diplomacy to fulfill its most basic mandate -- to spotlight aberrant international behavior and use diplomatic means to redress such behavior -- of what use is diplomacy? When the issue arises again before the commission, as it surely will, it will be good to remember the events of the last few weeks.

The issue is not whether human rights are being abused in Cuba. That question has been asked and answered to the satisfaction of everyone who doesn't wear ideological blinders. The question is whether the commission that is supposed to protect and nurture human rights will be ready to fulfill its duties, or whether, in a world that professes disgust for totalitarian governments, it is already hopelessly out of touch.

A strong condemnation of Cuba would be a signal that, for a change, the world is watching the repugnant actions of Fidel Castro and is ready to declare his government an outcast; that the world understands that Castro's dispute isn't with the United States but with his own people; and that it stands ready to say, with Saramago, ``This is as far as we go.''***

Cutting-edge biotech in old-world Cuba : Castro Weaponizes West Nile Virus - *** As the Bush administration prepares for war with Iraq a growing threat to its rear flank is being ignored, according to senior officials who believe that Cuba's biological-weapons (BW) program is at more advanced stages than officially is acknowledged. There now are reports that P-4 containment systems used to store the deadliest toxins have been identified at suspected bioweapons labs inside Cuba.

A member of the intelligence community expresses concern, but says that an open hearing on this issue would provide "feedback" to Cuba on "how much we know about its BW effort." Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton, the source says, was scheduled to deliver details of the Cuban program to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in June, but the testimony was suppressed by the intelligence bureaucracy.***

Cutting-edge biotech in old-world Cuba: Castro's Connections - Editor's Note: This article first appeared in American Legion magazine, April 2002. *** The U.S. government's detaining of Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners at Guantanamo naval base in Cuba is supremely ironic given Fidel Castro's long-standing support for global terrorism. As we continue our worldwide battle against terrorists, this sly but significant terror monger on our very own doorstep should not be overlooked. Castro is a bankrupt dictator with a decades-long history of support for violent, anti-American terror groups, obsessive hatred of the U.S., sophisticated spy rings operating on our soil and a potentially deadly biowarfare capability.***