Seize Castro’s Offer

We have to wonder whether Fidel Castro knew what he was getting into when he offered former President Jimmy Carter a chance to address the people of the nation over which he has reigned as dictator for 43 years. What he and the island’s oppressed population got was blunt rabble-rousing--in Spanish no less--in support of those brave Cubans striving for democracy, free speech and respect for human rights. Carter’s bold move, however, was accompanied by blunders during his visit.

In welcoming the American on his historic arrival in Cuba Sunday, Castro invited Carter to bring in whomever he chose to investigate whether the communist nation had or was about to cross the line from researching biotechnology to researching (and possibly exporting) bioterrorism. Let’s hope Carter has been on the phone to the U.S. government’s best specialists and they’ve already booked flights to Havana.

On May 6, John R. Bolton, undersecretary of State for arms control, suggested in a speech that Cuba had “at least a limited offensive biological warfare research and development effort.” He also said Cuba had “provided dual-use biotechnology to other rogue states.”

Inspections could confirm the threat or offer some peace of mind that Castro has not followed Iraq’s Saddam Hussein in embracing unconventional warfare. Inspections would also simultaneously shed light on whether the Bush administration was sounding a valid alarm or crying wolf. Or maybe, as Castro and others have charged, it was playing politics, either to influence the Florida election in which the president’s brother is running or as an inside tactic to nudge some in the administration even further from Cuba.

The other thing inspectors could accomplish--if Carter steps back and lets the U.S. government handle the offer--is to spare the former president a measure of public scorn. Carter showed dismal judgment in standing on Cuban soil and publicly siding with the hemisphere’s last remaining dictator against accusations raised by officials of the U.S. government at a time of genuine concern about international terrorism. Carter’s complaints that Bush administration officials apparently misled him during pre-trip briefings only makes us want to shout: Jimmy, it’s not about you!

Carter put his foot in his mouth. But he also has one foot in Cuba’s door. His speech helped redeem him. He can do even better by testing the sincerity of Castro’s offer to allow in legitimate bioweapons inspectors.