jonny5
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2012
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- Location
- Republic of Florida
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- Political Leaning
- Libertarian
WASHINGTON (AP) — In July 2010, Joe McSpedon, a U.S. government official, flew to Barcelona to put the final touches on a secret plan to build a social media project aimed at undermining Cuba's communist government.
McSpedon and his team of high-tech contractors had come in from Costa Rica and Nicaragua, Washington and Denver. Their mission: to launch a messaging network that could reach hundreds of thousands of Cubans. To hide the network from the Cuban government, they would set up a byzantine system of front companies using a Cayman Islands bank account, and recruit unsuspecting executives who would not be told of the company's ties to the U.S. government.
The program's legality is unclear: U.S. law requires that any covert action by a federal agency must have a presidential authorization. Officials at USAID would not say who had approved the program or whether the White House was aware of it. McSpedon, the most senior official named in the documents obtained by the AP, is a mid-level manager who declined to comment.
More interesting:
Seems pretty par for US, except that USAID is now acting like the CIA, possibly illegally. Did congress or the President know this was going on?
Who cares?
It sounds like a great idea we more such efforts indirectly attack that monstrous governmnet in Cuba
Who cares?
It sounds like a great idea we more such efforts indirectly attack that monstrous governmnet in Cuba
Yeh, first thing you know, that Castro will be throwing cigars at us or some dastardly similar deed. Youza, probably Start selling us low cost rum. He must be dangerous because we keep embargoing them so they can't sell us cigars and stuff. Who do you believe? Why not think about it instead.
More interesting:
Seems pretty par for US, except that USAID is now acting like the CIA, possibly illegally. Did congress or the President know this was going on?
Who cares?
It sounds like a great idea we more such efforts indirectly attack that monstrous governmnet in Cuba
Who cares?
It sounds like a great idea we more such efforts indirectly attack that monstrous governmnet in Cuba
US citizens who dont think govt agencies whose purpose of humanitarian aid should be funding covert operations to destablize other countries? Libertarians who beleive in non interference?
More interesting:
Seems pretty par for US, except that USAID is now acting like the CIA, possibly illegally. Did congress or the President know this was going on?
Yeah....that Cuban government that is smaller than that of Florida that has had the US quaking in paranoid delusions for over five decades.
Having vacationed there several times I can attest the whole island is pure evil; it is mandatory that every citizen scheme and plot ways to wipe the United States off the face of the earth, or maybe increase sugar cane prices. So "monstrous" no one even mentions the US, they are a blight on the earth; the greatest of insults: they ignore you.
Cuba is the greatest reason on earth to laugh at the United States; they are a "favored" trading partner, for which Canadians are very grateful as thousands of people get rich selling Cuban cigars to Americans along the border. I need less documentation, interrogation and searching to go to Havana than it does for me to go shopping at Bellis Fair Mall in Bellingham, Wash, and Cubans like Canadians, as opposed to being called "Cheeseheads", or "wogs". And the marijuana is waaaay better too, not that I have first hand information on that...
There's serious argument that can be made that the intent of the program was indeed humanitarian. Change in Cuba from the current situation could only be an improvement. The place is going to hell in a hand basket and likely to worsen with the instability in Venezuela.
More interesting:
Seems pretty par for US, except that USAID is now acting like the CIA, possibly illegally. Did congress or the President know this was going on?
Anything can be a serious argument. I think its clear that covert operations where you lie to a populace to instigate uprisings should not be done by an organization whose main purpose is disaster relief and economic development. Especially when according to the article, they are not reporting this to congress for oversight. This is why we keep getting scandal after scandal.
Intelligence agencies like the C.I.A. use other federal agencies and departments as cover, like USAID or the State Department. This is nothing new.
Update: The White House has made a statement on the USAID program that follows Shah's statement provided to Popular Science. The program was secret "not because it is an intelligence program, but to protect individuals,” press secretary Jay Carney told reporters, adding that he wasn't sure which White House officials were aware of the program.
Its new when congress says they werent told about the covert nature.
USAID Chief Defends 'Cuba Twitter' Program, Says It Had Congressional Approval | Popular Science
Had we engaged Cuba in the same type of economic manner as we have the larger and much more dangerous China, the embargo would be over and Castro would already be gone. But rather the US persists in being the only country remaining who does not trade with Cuba. Ever since we began trade with China, the US has appeared as a bully to the rest of the world. Those we cannot beat-up (China) we are friends with and those we can (Cuba) we continue to bully. Or at least attempt to.
Yeh, first thing you know, that Castro will be throwing cigars at us or some dastardly similar deed. Youza, probably Start selling us low cost rum. He must be dangerous because we keep embargoing them so they can't sell us cigars and stuff. Who do you believe? Why not think about it instead.
It's high time we let go of our hate boner for Cuba. Everything up to and including my ingrown toenail is more important than Cuba.
The Congressional Intelligence Committees not being informed about a covert operation is not new either, see Iran-Contra. Hence, why some people know Congressional oversight of intelligence agencies is an oxymoron: oversight depends on secretive agencies sharing information with Congressmen and Congresswomen who they do not trust, who have little to no experience in the IC and will not only leak to the press but chastise the IC any chance they get.
Congressional oversight is a fairytale, a pipedream.
If Cuba can trade with the rest of the world there is nothing to stop them. The sad fact is they have little too trade apart from young Cuban women. The cigars are now of very poor quality and they can barely feed their people.
The US does business with China, as do many countries, but few are their 'friends'.
Cuba is actually one of the go to places for medical procedures, cheap medicine and free schooling. They also have armies of engineers that could be exported and have some of the most educated populace on the planet. As a country, they probably could offer us more than deadweights like Puerto Rico or Guam.
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