[News] Cuba Erects Iraq Abuse Billboards Near U.S. Mission

[News at freedomarchives.org]

To many people around the world, the inhumanity and hypocrisy of US foreign 
policy is graphically represented by the images of American soldiers (both 
women and men) torturing imprisoned Arab civilians in Iraq, and echoed 
again by the stories emanating from those illegally incarcerated and 
tortured by American soldiers at Guantanamo.  The US spirit of 
unilateralism and aggression is similarly summarized by the Bush 
administration’s refusal to abide by the Geneva Conventions and its 
rejection of previously signed international accords (from the environment 
to weapons proliferation); not that the Democrats were much better when 
Clinton opposed the international ban on land mines or when Gore flew to 
Europe to oppose the application of the Fourth Geneva Conventions on the 
West Bank and Gaza Strip.  No wonder the US government (supported mainly by 
Israel) demands other nations to exempt or shelter Americans from 
prosecution at international courts of justice.



By the way, the article below, as is typical of those appearing in the US 
“mainstream press”, reinforces the illusion that the only opinions that 
seem to matter are those of US officials.  No comment was sought below from 
any Cuban official for the billboard they put up, although their billboard 
was supposedly the main subject of this article.



Joy to the world 


-- Wael Masri







<http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20041217/wl_nm/cuba_usa_dc_2>http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20041217/wl_nm/cuba_usa_dc_2





Cuba Erects Iraq Abuse Billboards Near U.S. Mission


Fri Dec 17,12:25 PM ET

By Marc Frank

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba put up several huge billboards near the U.S. 
mission on Friday with pictures of abused Iraqi prisoners and American 
soldiers pointing a rifle at children, in response to a U.S. Christmas 
display in support of imprisoned Cuban dissident.

Two billboards with photos of hooded and bloodied inmates at Iraq's Abu 
Ghraib prison, a swastika and the word "fascists" in bold red letters were 
erected across the street from the U.S. diplomatic mission, where the 
display of Christmas lights includes the number 75, in reference to 75 
pro-democracy activists imprisoned for lengthy terms last year.

Another billboard faces the back of the building, with large photos of U.S. 
soldiers searching and pointing a rifle at children, presumably in Iraq.

A U.S. diplomat called the billboards fanatical and hyperbolic. "There 
couldn't be a better contrast: the U.S. wishing Cubans happy holidays, 
Frosty waving at passers-by and an effort to prompt discussion on human 
rights on the one side, and screaming Cuban government billboards on the 
other," he said.

Cuba had demanded this week that the U.S. display at the mission on 
Havana's busy sea-side drive be taken down. The president of the National 
Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon, called it "rubbish" and "a provocation."

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Wednesday the display 
and the number 75 showed "our solidarity with Cubans who struggle for 
democracy and freedom" and would remain until the holidays were over.

The U.S. diplomat in Cuba said: "The torture at Abu Ghraib ... has been 
investigated, reported and discussed fully and openly in the United States. 
... The Cuban government does not allow a single word of dissent in its 
media and jails those who dare espouse different ideas."

Washington broke off diplomatic relations with Havana and imposed sanctions 
on Cuba after Fidel Castro 
(<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/nm/wl_nm/cuba_usa_dc/13732563/*http:/news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?fr=news-storylinks&p=%22Fidel%20Castro%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw>news 
- 
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/nm/wl_nm/cuba_usa_dc/13732563/*http:/search.yahoo.com/search?fr=web-storylinks&p=Fidel%20Castro>web 
sites)'s 1959 revolution, but the two countries maintain interests sections 
in each others' capitals.

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