The Castro Model

HAVANA - Fidel Castro, who has wielded absolute power in Cuba for nearly half a century, remained out of sight Tuesday after undergoing intestinal surgery and temporarily turning over power to his brother Raul.

The surprise announcement that Castro had been operated on to repair a "sharp intestinal crisis with sustained bleeding" stunned Cubans on the island and in exile, and marked the first time that Castro, two weeks away from 80th birthday, had relinquished power in 47 years of rule.

For quite a while now, there has been a debate as to whether the U.S. should "normalize" relations with Cuba. Valid points can be made on both sides of the argument. That's really not why I posted the story.

Castro is going to die. He might be dead now.. maybe in a day or so.. or maybe in 10 years.. whatever. The point is, he's going to die. President Kennedy did not "regime change" Cuba. When Castro dies, there will likely be a power struggle. There may be a revolution. Who knows? It's up to the Cubans to decide what happens in their country.

The same exact model could have been applied to Iraq. If Iraq is not an active threat (and they weren't), just wait it out and let them settle their own situation.

In fact, Cuba is much much closer to the United States, and the threat much greater than Iraq, and still Kennedy was firm, yet not psychotic as our current leaders demonstrate time and again.

But, there is an important difference between Cuba and Iraq. There's actually 2 big differences.

Cuba is a "Christian" nation, and has no oil to speak of.