President Bush had to go around Christopher Dodd and make a recess appointment for Otto Reich.
FREE OTTO [Excerpt] "I need Otto Reich in place," Secretary of State Colin Powell pleaded with senators on October 3. Eight weeks later, Reich's State Department office literally remains empty, its desk unoccupied and bookshelves bare. Even as an overworked career diplomat juggles crucial security and economic matters in Reich's absence, Dodd could care less.
"That nomination's not going anywhere. That's the end of it," Dodd recently snapped. He has hurled at Reich a number of easily refuted ethical charges pertaining to his 1980s service as director of State's Office of Public Diplomacy and as Ambassador to Venezuela. However Dodd will not let his subcommittee hear Reich defend himself. Perhaps Dodd fears looking foolish once Reich demonstrates his innocence.[End Excerpt]
"We have seen time and again that when terrorist groups work together, their ability to undermine democracy and human rights is greatly magnified. It is not surprising that such a group would come together on the initiative of Fidel Castro, who for forty years has advocated violence and terror to achieve his ends," Hays said. Hays concluded, "As the president and his administration continue to prosecute the war on terrorism, we urge them not to overlook Castro's extensive ties to America's enemies abroad." [End Excerpt]
Sinn Fein head in Cuba to thank Castro for support--[Excerpt] Three suspected IRA members, including one, Niall Connolly, who was the left-leaning Sinn Fein's representative in Cuba, are currently jailed in Colombia suspected of training Marxist FARC rebels there whom the United States labels "terrorists."
The U.S. government cautioned in September that an Adams trip to Cuba would raise "troubling questions" if it turned out the IRA had links to the FARC guerrillas. [End Excerpt]