LAWSUIT - OBAMA COVERS UP AMERICAN PRISONERS IN CUBA

LAWSUIT: OBAMA COVERS UP AMERICAN PRISONERS IN CUBA
'Even the fate of the regime's victims is of little concern'
BOB UNRUH

President Obama's campaign to mainstream the communist regime of Cuba
has included the removal of the island nation from a list of terror
sponsors, visits there by Secretary of State John Kerry and the
president, a commission to establish how the U.S. can promote
"normalization" and agreements to share "science," mail, flights and
even law enforcement.

But it's taking a lawsuit to pry out of the Obama administration details
about American prisoners of war who "may have been held captive by Cuban
government or military forces" there.

The lawsuit by Judical Watch seeks records "depicting the names, service
branch, ranks, Military Occupational Specialty, and dates and locations
of capture of all American servicemen believed to have been held captive
by Cuban government or military forces on the island of Cuba since 1960."

"The fact that we had to sue the Obama administration to get simple
answers as to whether Cuba held and tortured American POWs strongly
suggests that a cover-up is underway," said Judicial Watch President Tom
Fitton.

"The Obama administration admires Castro's Cuba so much that even the
fate of the regime's victims, even American POWs, is of little concern."

Obama, since December 2014, has been campaigning to re-establish
relations with Cuba, help the communist nation in the world community
and more.

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Early in 2015, Obama's State Department declared Cuba no longer is a
state sponsor of terror, and the nations have re-launched reciprocal
embassies.

A bilateral commission was set up to be the "primary vehicle for
advancing normalization."

The suit cites the government's refusal to comply with a request under
the Freedom of Information Act on the subject.

The action explains Judicial Watch submitted the FOIA request on June 1,
2015, but the Department of State "has failed to: (i) produce the
requested records or demonstrate that the requested records are lawfully
exempt from production; (ii) notify plaintiff of the scope of any
responsive records defendant intends to produce or withhold and the
reasons for any withholding; or (iii) inform plaintiff that it may
appeal any adequately specific, adverse determination."

"Plaintiff is being irreparably harmed by reason of defendant's
violation of FOIA, and plaintiff will continue to be irreparably harmed
unless defendant is compelled to comply with FOIA," it states.

The Department of Defense initially claimed to have no records, but in a
recent commentary on Accuracy in Media, John Lowery reported about "17
American airmen captured in North Vietnam and then taken to Cuba for
medical experiments in torture techniques."

"Following his release [during Operation Homecoming] Major Jack Bomar, a
[POW camp] Zoo survivor, described the brutal beating of Captain Earl G.
Cobeil, an F-105F electronics warfare officer, by Cuban Major Fernando
Vecino Alegret, known by the POWs as 'Fidel,'" the report said.
"Regarding Captain Cobeil, Bomar related, 'he was completely catatonic …
His body was ripped and torn everywhere … Hell cuffs appeared almost to
have severed his wrists … Slivers of bamboo were imbedded [sic] in his
bloodied shins, he was bleeding from everywhere.'"

Lowery reported: "Much less is known about our 17 captured airmen taken
to Cuba for 'experimentation in torture techniques.' They were held in
Havana's Los Maristas, a secret Cuban prison run by Castro's G-2
Intelligent service. A few were held in the Mazorra (psychiatric)
Hospital and served as human guinea pigs used to develop improved
methods of extracting information through 'torture and drugs.'

"If our honor code of 'Duty, Honor, Country,' and our national policy of
'No man left behind,' are more than meaningless slogans, then before our
relations with Cuba can be normalized, their murderous leadership must
account for our POWs."

Judicial Watch noted U.S. Navy F-4 pilot Lt. Clemmie McKinney's plane
was shot down in 1972 and he was held at a Cuban compound in North Vietnam.

"The Department of Defense reportedly said he was killed in the crash
but a CIA document later published included a picture of McKinney
standing next to Fidel Castro," it reported.

And Lowery wrote that when McKinney's remains were returned in 1985, a
forensic anthropologist confirmed he died not before 1975 and probably
several years later.

In 1999, former POW Mike Benge told Congress, "I have also uncovered
evidence of the possibility that American POWs from the Vietnam War have
been held in Los Maristas, a secret Cuban prison."

WND reported The Rolling Stones gave a free concern in Havana on the
heels of President Obama's departure. It was one of several bands Cuba's
government considered subversive in past decades. The band's music was
even blocked from radio.

But Rafael Cruz, the father of Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz,
contends it's a "drastic mistake" of mainstream Cuba.

He fled Cuba in 1957 and now is an ordained minister and the author of
"A Time for Action: Empowering the Faithful to Reclaim America." As a
teenager, he resisted the brutal rule of dictator Fulgencio Batista and
initially aligned himself with Fidel Castro, who led the revolution
under false pretenses.

"I was involved in the revolution with Castro, thinking that he was a
freedom fighter," Cruz told WND and Radio America. "I was imprisoned and
tortured (by the Batista regime) as a result. I came to the states in '57."

He said he still didn't realize Castro's true agenda until returning
shortly after the revolution.

"In '59, when I went back, something didn't look right," he said. "They
were starting to talk about how the rich were evil, how they oppressed
the poor, about the need to redistribute the wealth. Soon thereafter, he
called himself a Marxist-Leninist and began confiscating private
property, freedom of religion (and) freedom of the press."

Cruz added: "I felt like I was duped, like many of us kids. We were
high-school kids when we were involved, and we didn't know any better.
Thinking about what Obama is doing nowadays, trying to extend the
lifeline to Cuba is really a horrible situation."

Rafael Cruz's "A Time for Action" is the story or one man's quest for
refuge from Cuban persecution to realizing the American dream. Now you
can get it in the WND Superstore!

Cruz said the most alarming aspect of Obama's olive branch to the
Castros is that the regime is not changing its behavior one iota. He
said the record is clear of Cuba pouring 25,000 troops into Angola in
1979 to assist in a communist revolution and to this day training the
terrorists of FARC to destabilize Columbia.

Listen to the WND/Radio America interview with Rafael Cruz:

Source: Lawsuit: Obama covers up American prisoners in Cuba -
http://www.wnd.com/2016/03/lawsuit-obama-covers-up-american-prisoners-in-cuba/