US Veteran Intelligence Professionals Warn Trump Against War On Cuba

Veterans Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) group, composed of former U.S. intelligence officials, has issued a memorandum of warning to President Donald Trump, stating that the current policy toward Cuba is leading the country into a “lost war.”

The experts in a statement issued  on Saturday  by the Cuban  Government emphasized that Washington seriously underestimates Cuban national pride and its culture of institutional respect.

They warned that even those Cubans who desire internal changes would unite behind their government in the face of any external aggression, causing any attempt to impose a regime from abroad to fail spectacularly.

The group  in the document categorically refuted the justifications used for the escalation of tensions. According to the veterans, there is no evidence since 1992 that Cuba supports terrorist organizations, nor that Russia or China operate espionage bases against the U.S. on the island, calling these accusations dishonest and lacking any real basis.

Finally, VIPS concluded that coercion against Cuba has failed for more than six decades adding that negotiations under the threat of force are not genuine. They urged the administration to abandon the logic of obstruction and political accusations, paving the way for a genuine dialogue that will prevent the migration and humanitarian collapse that an intervention would cause.

Those in the group include  Fulton Armstrong, former National Intelligence Officer for Latin America (ret.); Marshall Carter-Tripp, Foreign Service Officer (ret.); Division Director, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State;

Philip Giraldi, former CIA Operations Officer (ret.) and Matthew Hoh, former U.S. Marine Corps Captain, Iraq and former Foreign Service Officer, Afghanistan (VIPS Associate).

Others include Jim Jatras, former U.S. State Department and former Foreign Policy Advisor to Senate Leadership (VIPS Associate); Larry Johnson, former CIA Intelligence Officer  and State Department Counterterrorism Officer (ret.)

Among them also  are John Kiriakou, former CIA Counterterrorism Officer and former Senior Investigator for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Karen Kwiatkowski, former U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel (ret.); in the Office of the Secretary of Defense observing the fabrication of lies about Iraq, 2001-03 and Ray McGovern, former U.S. Army Infantry/Intelligence Officer and CIA Analyst; former CIA Presidential Brief (ret.)

Others include Elizabeth Murray, former National Intelligence Warrant Officer for the Near East, National Intelligence Council; CIA Policy Analyst (ret.); Scott Ritter, former U.S. Marine Corps Major, former UN Chief Weapons Inspector, Iraq; Coleen Rowley, FBI Special Agent  and former Legal Counsel for the Minneapolis Division (ret.).

There is also Lawrence Wilkerson, Colonel (U.S. Army, ret.),distinguished Visiting Professor, College of William and Mary (Associate VIPS); Sarah G. Wilton, Commander, U.S. Naval Reserve (USNR), (ret.)/Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), (ret.); Robert Wing, former Foreign Service Officer (Associate VIPS and  Ann Wright, Colonel, U.S. Army (ret.); Foreign Service Officer (resigned in opposition to the Iraq War).