US Man Imprisoned for Same Crime as 75 Cuban "Dissidents"

Nice one to whoever threw that snowball...

As Bush in his innauguration talks about spreading freedom to dissidents sitting in prison in "outposts of tyranny," I have little doubt Cuba was among the top of targets for such bluster. This comes against the backdrop of US and Western human rights organizations berating Cuba for arresting 75 so-called dissidents nearly 2 eyars ago. What is interesting is that yesterday the US arrested an Iraqi-American for the same crime these 75 were arrested for: taking money from a foreign government to influence foriegn policy.

The Iraqi's crime was the take money from his home country to try to arrange discussions and exchanges between Iraqi and American clergy and policy makers during the 1990s. There is no indication that this Iraqi - Samir Ambrose Vincent - sought to undermine the United States or had any ill-intentions to America at all. The Cubans, on the other hand, were working covertly with enemy intelligence services to actively undermine their own country. Yet the world is silent when the US sentences the man to 28 years and raises a hellish ruckus when Cubans are sentenced to half that time - and more than a dozen of those 75 have already been released.



Again US-Cuba relations are a prime lens to view human rights hypocrisy.