WASHINGTON -- A powerful group of former Republican officials, including Henry Kissinger and Lawrence Eagleburger, joined John Warner, a GOP senator from Virginia, in calling Tuesday for a bipartisan commission to reexamine U.S. policy toward Cuba.

The group did not call for ending the U.S. embargo on Cuba, but said such trade barriers, and the domestic and international impact of the embargo, should be reviewed by an independent panel authorized by President Clinton.

Along with the two former secretaries of state, Kissinger and Eagleburger, the group included former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker, ex-Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci, and former Sen. Malcolm Wallop, a Wyoming Republican.

Defenders of the embargo, including the three Cuban-American representatives in Congress, blasted the idea as transparent corporate lobbying -- ex-officials who now represent business clients who want to do business in Cuba.

``These are former officials who seek personal profit in the attempt to perpetuate a system [in Cuba] that permits no human rights or labor rights,'' said Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a Miami Republican. He joined Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, another Miami Republican, and Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, in urging Clinton to reject the idea.

As an example, the three representatives singled out Wallop, who has lobbied for a Canadian mining company, Sherrit, which operates a nickel mine in Cuba. Sherrit has been cited by the State Department for violating the Helms-Burton Act for using confiscated U.S. property in Cuba.

The White House late Tuesday had no reaction to Warner's proposal -- because the Virginia senator had not yet sent it.

Seeking support

Warner on Tuesday was still seeking support from Senate colleagues for naming a bipartisan commission. A Warner spokesman gave The Herald a copy of the letter that will be sent.

Citing Pope John Paul II's visit to Cuba and a Pentagon study in May that downgraded the Castro government as a security threat, Warner wrote that ``more and more Americans are becoming concerned about the far-reaching effects of U.S.-Cuba policy on U.S. interests and the Cuban people.''

Warner, the second-ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee, called unsuccessfully earlier this year for easing restrictions on the sale of food and medicine to Cuba.

Warner suggested a bipartisan commission modeled on the Kissinger Commission appointed by President Reagan in 1983 to study U.S. policy in Central America.

``We recommend this action because there has not been a comprehensive review of U.S.-Cuba policy, or a measurement of its effectiveness in achieving its stated goals, in over 38 years,'' Warner wrote.

The commission would ``conduct a thoughtful, rational and objective analysis of our current policy toward Cuba and its overall effect on this hemisphere,'' he added.

Trade barriers' critics

Kissinger, Eagleburger and other former officials have criticized the overall use and effectiveness of trade barriers against China and other nations. Kissinger, in turn, has been criticized for representing corporate clients doing business in China.

The three Cuban-American representatives, along with the Cuban American National Foundation, said that Warner's premise is faulty and that U.S.-Cuba policy was thoroughly reviewed during the debate over Helms-Burton, which tightened trade restrictions on Cuba.

``There's strong bipartisan support in Congress and the White House for the embargo, and to suggest otherwise is just bizarre,'' said Jose Cardenas, the Washington representative of the foundation. ``This sort of [proposal] is just not going to happen.''