By Cheryl K. Chumley - The Washington Times - Friday, October 13, 2017
ANALYSIS/OPINION:
So far, 22 American diplomats and their family members have been harmed in unexplained attacks in Cuba — the country Barack Obama assured was our new bestie, maybe even more so than Iran.
Obama needs to apologize. His personal crusade to restore relations with the communist country was misplaced at best, a national security threat at worst. Americans are suffering for his progressive hogwash.
A new recording has surfaced that seems to link high-pitched, cricket-like sounds from Havana to the sickening of U.S. Embassy workers. Not all of these workers actually reported hearing the sound. But investigators are following a trail of possible sonic weaponry.
The U.S. Navy is analyzing to see if the symptoms reported by the hurt workers — the hearing loss, the dizziness, the cognitive degradation, the sleep disorders and the rest — are directly tied to the sounds.
Either way, something sickened 22 Americans in Cuba. And just because Cuba’s denying any knowledge of an attack, doesn’t mean the country’s government — the communist government — is telling the truth.
The United States ordered 60 percent of its government employees to leave Cuba, and expelled 15 Cuban diplomats from Washington, D.C.
“Until the government of Cuba can ensure the safety of our diplomats in Cuba, our embassy will be reduced to emergency personnel to minimize the number of diplomats at risk of exposure to harm,” said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Yes. And now we just need Obama to apologize for his part in putting Americans in harm’s way.
It was Obama who, in late 2014, started reaching out to then-President Raul Castro to improve relations between the two countries — a move that angered, outraged and even shocked the Cuban-American community living in America, who saw the White House as wheeling and dealing with a devil.
It was Obama who used his executive power — minus Congress — to ease travel restrictions from America to Cuba.
It was Obama who lifted import and export restrictions on America-Cuba goods; the Obama administration that removed Cuba from the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism; the Obama White House the hung the American flag over the U.S. Embassy in Cuba; Team Obama who officially restored diplomatic relations to the country.
It was Obama’s secretary of state, John Kerry, who traveled to Havana to reopen an embassy that had been closed since 1961.
It was Obama who opened doors for commercial airlines in America to fly the friendly Cuban skies.
It was Obama who visited Cuba — the first president in 88 years to do so.
It was Obama who hung with Castro at a baseball game in Havana.
Cuba is Obama’s legacy.
It seems only natural that he should take the lead in apologizing for the error of his Cuban ways — to realize publicly that his dreams of forging friendships with communists may not have left Americans in the safest of spots. There are at least 22 Americans right now who are deserving of his mea culpa.