US General Heaps More Scorn on Bolton Claims The Miami Herald - May 24, 2002 [MORE} Doubt cast over bio-weapons; U.S. general questions charge against Cuba by CAROL ROSENBERG The commander of U.S. military forces for Latin America and the Caribbean said Thursday that he has seen no evidence that Cuba is producing biological weapons from its biomedical research program. "The Cubans do have a very active R&D [research-and-development] program," said Army Maj. Gen. Gary Speer. "They pride themselves on their biomedical advances and it kind of fits into the purpose for which that is used." But he said he first learned from news reports about an allegation by a senior U.S. diplomat responsible for arms proliferation and terror issues that linked the research-and-development project to biological weapons. So he rang up the Intelligence Directorate at the Doral-based Southern Command to check. "I called my J-2, the intelligence officer, and said, 'What's the deal?' " Speer also said he didn't know why John R. Bolton, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, chose to raise the issue in a speech at the Heritage Foundation on May 6 -- days before former President Jimmy Carter's five-day trip to Havana. The general said he was "surprised he raised the subject." What Bolton said was this: "The United States believes that Cuba has at least a limited offensive biological warfare research and development effort." CUBAN DENIAL Fidel Castro and government spokesmen in Cuba flatly deny the allegation. Speer said, based on his understanding of the issue, "it's kind of all the same science," which would be used in both medical research and weapons processing. "I think what Mr. Bolton said in his statement, it kind of got reported as an accusation that the Cubans were . . . that we had evidence that they were actually producing bio-weapons. And I'm not sure that's the case." The question of Cuba's current bioterror capacity touched off a firestorm in Washington and Cuba-watching circles. Carter said during his trip to Cuba that U.S. officials had told him before his visit there was no evidence linking Cuba to the export of biological weaponry. And Secretary of State Colin Powell likewise sought to clarify Bolton's comments, saying Cuba "has the capacity and capability to conduct such research," rather than actually possessing offensive bioterror weapons. PIRACY Speer made his remarks in a wide-ranging question-and-answer session with Herald reporters and editors that covered several strategic issues across the region. He also said: * U.S. intelligence believes that profits from illegal CD sales and long-distance telephone piracy in South America are supporting Middle East groups linked to international terror, notably the Hamas, Hezbollah and Gamaa Islamiya, or Islamic Group, whose followers have been tied to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. Such fraud is big business in the tri-border area of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay where smuggling and corruption are endemic, he said. No one can quantify how much money is diverted to the Middle Eastern groups but the U.S. is aware of a pattern that goes to so-called charitable organizations which, Speer said, have a terror component. COLOMBIA * Colombia's FARC insurgent movement has increased some activities and received a measure of support across the border in neighboring Venezuela since the election of President Hugo Chavez. However, he said, there has been no evidence that the Chavez government actively supports the insurgents. * He expects the Southern Command to continue to be responsible for military operations at the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay even after the Pentagon creates a Northern Command, whose territory includes Cuba. The line, he said, is more of a technical area of responsibility for a Pentagon component being created to protect the U.S. borders and territory from terror attack. But, he said, if there were future military-to-military contacts with the government of Cuba, he predicted that Southcom would have oversight. Southern Command is principally responsible for U.S. military -- activities training courses, drug interdiction missions and other -- support -- under President Andres Pastrana's Plan Colombia. And Speer said the line is increasingly blurred between the FARC's insurgent activity and the drug smuggling operations that the U.S. military is trying to disrupt. Under tough guidelines for what the U.S. military may do in Colombia, Congress has declared that funds and operations can only be aimed at cocaine and other drug operations and that U.S. forces must not meddle in the civil war. FINE LINE But, Speer said, "I'm to the point where I can't tell the difference between the FARC as a drug trafficker, the FARC as a terrorist and the FARC as an insurgent." Yet the fine line means that U.S. military trainers can only work with a specific anti-drug unit of the Colombian military while leaving all other units on their own to grapple with the larger issue of providing security in the cities and countryside. Speer, a two-star general, has for 10 months been in charge of all U.S. military operations in the region. President Bush has chosen Army Lt. Gen. James T. Hill, now commander of Fort Lewis in Washington state, to receive a fourth star and become the new Southcom chief, replacing Marine Gen. Peter Pace who is now vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. source - JosePertierra@aol.com ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytact-05.24.02-14:27:28-19299