Oh, that must be fun for the average Cuban who’s suffering tremendously under the regime’s oppression:

Cuba kicked off a crucial Communist Party congress Saturday with a big military and civilian parade to mark 50 years since the defeat of CIA-backed exiles at the Bay of Pigs, still celebrated here as a landmark triumph over the island’s powerful neighbor to the north.

It never ceases to amaze me how important one battle can be. Cuba could’ve been free and democratic if Washington (and especially JFK and the CIA, who didn’t tell the president that the Soviet Union was going to take place) had taken the invasion more seriously. It should – and could! – have been a major triumph for the forces of freedom. Instead, it became an important (PR) victory for communism. Fidel Castro and his henchmen were able to tighten their grip on their country, resulting in their decades-long rule to which there still is no end in sight.

The lesson the U.S. and the West in general should have learned from this fiasco? If you go to war, do whatever is necessary to win. For some reason, however, we refuse to learn that lesson.