The U.S. Defense, Intelligence and National Security Community: Cuba Poses No Threat
General Charles Wilhelm (Ret.), Commander of United States Southern Command, 1997 - 2000: “I have spent all of my adult life doing one thing and that’s tending to the security needs of this country. I’m convinced that a pragmatic relationship with Cuba will further the national security interests of the U.S… [The] Cuban military is an anemic force that is far more focused on farming than it is on fighting. Cuba’s armed forces are not capable of projecting themselves in a meaningful way and presenting conventional threats… During my three years as Commander and Chief of the U.S. Southern Command, I found no conclusive evidence that led me to the conclusion that Cuba was producing chemical or biological weapons… Furthermore, there is no compelling evidence that Cuba is a state sponsor of terrorism…. Although we find little common ground on politics with the Cubans, I strongly support the repeal or modification of our current policy toward Cuba in the interest of our nation. Certainly, such a change would profoundly benefit the United States in the security arena.”
General James T. Hill (Ret.), Commander of United States Southern Command, 2002-2004: “An improved and enlightened Cuba policy begins with dialogue at every level of our government, including the military… Confrontation and sanctions don’t work. Talking, working out differences, and coming to some common ground benefits both sides.” “A friendly Cuba could be a very productive participant in combating twenty-first century security threats including international terrorism, narco-terrorism, natural disasters and mass migration.”
General John J. “Jack” Sheehan (Ret.), Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic for NATO and Commander-in-Chief for the U.S. Atlantic Command, 1994-1997: “Cuba ceased being a security threat to the United States over a decade ago. The rest of theworld has changed during that decade. Yet, U.S. policymakers remain wedded to a series ofdated policies that cry out for a fresh approach.”
General Bantz John Craddock (Ret.): Commander of United States Southern Command, 2004 - 2006, Commander of U.S. European Command and NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe as well as the commanding officer of Allied Command Operations, 2006 - 2009: Requesting a review of U.S. Cuba policy from “stem to stern” while still on active duty, Gen. Craddock stated:"One of the things that we as a government probably don't do well is to review our policies and our laws routinely, based upon the conditions in the world changing... My judgment is we need to re-look laws, policies more often to ensure that they still make sense, given the changing conditions in the world."
General Barry R. McCaffrey (Ret.): U.S. drug czar, 1996 - 2001, Commander of United States Southern Command, 1994 - 1996.: “The bottom line is that this embargo policy has failed to precipitate regime change in Cuba, will not do so in the future, and harms long-term U.S. interests by limiting the ability to develop mutually beneficial relationships that will transcend the inevitable political transition that will occur in Cuba.”
Brent Scowcroft, national security advisor to presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush: "… Cuba is not a foreign policy question. Cuba is a domestic issue. In foreign policy, the embargo makes no sense. It doesn't do anything. It's quite clear we can not starve Cuba to death. We learned that when the Soviet stopped subsidizing Cuba and they didn't collapse. It's a domestic issue."
Richard Clarke, chief counter-terrorism advisor to Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and appointed to the National Security Council as head of President George H.W. Bush’s Counter-Terrorism Security Group: “You look at Cuba and the reason in the 1990’s, in the late 1990’s, why we didn’t take Cuba off the list was not because they were sponsoring terrorism… It was because U.S. domestic political reasons. Factually, objectively, they are no longer sponsoring terrorism.”
George P. Schultz, former Secretary of State for Ronald Reagan: “I think our policy of sanctions against Cuba is ridiculous. During the cold war it made sense because it was a Russian base. They used it for flying spying missions, and so on, but that's over. And all we do by our sanctions is allow Castro, and now maybe his brother, to blame the problems of Cuba on us. And at the same time I think particularly now that there's some transitioning of some kind probably coming about, we're much more likely to get a constructive outcome if there's a lot of interaction. And to try to prevent interaction under these circumstances, I don't think is sensible.”
