The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1963-02-28

In addition to such briefings and
conversations, | took part in aerial
surveillance flights of the shipping
lanes and in rigging" or photo
graphing Russian shipping and in
conducting a search for Russian
submarine activity. In this way. l
have actually seen the Russians
going about their work of building
up a Communist base in Cuba.
Many conscientious and patriotic
Americans today differ on the de-
tails of the Cuban situation. Some
facts are, however, uncontroverted
and in fact generally agreed.
Among these is the fact that the
Russians are in Cuba in force and
with no apparent intention of leav-
ing in the immediate future. 1t is
further agreed that the Russians
who are in Cuba are not ground
troops or labor battalions but are
in fact highly trained technicianS
who are manning one of the most
sophisticated Red defense systems
that exist anywhere in the world
outside of the Soviet Union. 1t
is obvious that such skilled tech
nicians could easily be transferred
from one job in the area of tech
biological warfare to another. These
Russians must be considered to be
potentially offensive" despite the
fact that the job that they may
presently be doing can be called
defensive in the narrow sense.
There is no universal agreement
that all long range and medium
range missiles have been with
drawn from Cuba, although the
consensus of the informed persons
with whom l have talked is that
such missiles have been removed
by the Russians. 1t will be remem-
bered, however, that photographs
which appeared in the press dur
ing the time of removal were
usually captioned as Missile
Shapes" and this was accurate re-
porting since no American actual
ly inspected the deck cargo which
was purported to be the offensive
missiles and the long range bomb
ers 1t is generally agreed that the
Russians have imported into Cuba
and have mounted for use some
short range defensive" missiles
and have set up an establishment
capable of maintaining a missile
system. All of the elements neceS-
sary to the maintenance of this
system are being provided.
1t is also undisputed that the
Russians are supplying to the Gu
bans both airplanes and naval
craft which might be characterized
as defensive or offensive accord
, ing to their employment.
In summary, it is perfectly clear
that the Russians are completing
! in Cuba a well-defended, if not
impregnable, bastion of Com
munism 80 miles off our coast
What was an undefended tropical
island few years ago is now an
island fortress of formidable di-
mansions. Although we do not suf-
fer any immediate aggressive ac-
ton originating from behind the
Cactus Curtain, yet we are unable
to find out precisely what is Zap
pening in Communist Cuba.
Thus, the true tragedy of the
Bay of Pigs now becomes apparent.
In the larger sense that tragedy is
not the death and anguish suffered
on the beach, much as we respect
those who made these sacrifices
for freedom On the contrary, the
tragedy for our country and for
, the Western Hemisphere is that
the decision to go forward at the
Bay of Pigs, without the resolution
to complete the job, produced re-
suits that are proving to be in
creasingly damaging for all the
Americas. That mistake left avail
able to the Communist conspiracy
an attractive and strategic base in
the Western Hemisphere and. at
the same time, gave to the Com
munist conspiratorS a logical eX-
cuSe which we had ineptly given
them to enter the Western Henri
sphere and reinforce and fortify
their new possession in the West
Once this sequence of events
had run its fatal course, the irreso-
luton at the Bay of Pigs became
truly momentous error To have
tried and failed at the Bay of
Pigs has brought upon us that I'M
fortunate situation with cannot
now be remedied by patriotic
band of Cuban refugees returning
to their homeland under arms.
It is clear that concerted eco
nomic and diplomatic action is
initially necessary. I personally
advocate complete investigation
by a joint committee of the Con-
gress of our entire Cuban policy