Left I on the News

The Administration and Congress continue to fantasize that Cubans are planning to leave Cuba in droves when Fidel dies (and no doubt also continue to fantasize about how soon that will be). Unfortunately they're not just fantasizing; they're spending our money as well:

Concerned about a possible mass exodus of Cubans, the Department of Defense plans to spend $18 million to prepare part of the U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo Bay to shelter interdicted migrants, U.S. officials told The Miami Herald.

The administration quietly requested the funds about a month ago and Congress has approved it, The Miami Herald was told.

The $18 million initiative is part of a broader U.S. government effort to prepare for the death of Castro. The administration will not say how many migrants it believes might flee Cuba or even if any will do so, but one expert warned that up to 500,000 may try to leave the island after Castro's death.

I hope they didn't pay that "expert" too much money for that absurd prediction. Of course, when you stick in an "up to," you can't possibly be wrong.

Back in the real world, where there is a real refugee crisis, the U.S. isn't as free with its money. With more than two million Iraqis already having fled their country, and predictions of another million joining them this year, the U.S. has taken the bold step of offering to allow 7,000 (!) of them to enter the U.S. this year. That might not sound like much, but heck, it's up from just 202 (!!) in 2006. On the money front, the EU has just offered $13 million more to help these very-real refugees, while the U.S. spends $18 million to prepare for non-existent ones.

Update: CNN is reporting that the U.S. is planning to spend $18 million to aid the two million (and growing) Iraqi refugees, precisely the same amount as they're spending on the non-existent Cuban refugees, and less than the amount being spent on killing Iraqis in two hours.