Castro denounces Iraq war

[Zuni]

THE US-led invasion of Iraq was aimed at taking control of the country's oil, Cuban President Fidel Castro told Venezuelan state television in an interview shown today.

"There is no moral argument, no possible justification to invade a country," said the veteran communist leader.

"The United Nations did not agree on it, rather the most powerful nation agreed to invade.

"The main objective, let us be totally honest, was to win an essential raw material which is called petroleum," said Castro, who made a quick trip to Venezuela's La Orchila island in the Caribbean overnight, invited by his closest regional ally, President Hugo Chavez.

"The arguments they have used to justify the invasion are not valid," Castro argued.

"They accused them of having weapons of mass destruction and they are the ones who have a monopoly on weapons of mass destruction.

"Yes, everybody has weapons of mass destruction, but there is a club that has nuclear weapons and there are no restrictions on its holding of weapons of mass destruction," he said.

"No weapons of mass destruction even have been found. Saddam might have had some and destroyed them."

Castro also noted that the deposed Iraqi president "made mistakes", including the war against Iran in the 1980s and the 1990 invasion Kuwait.

But, Castro said, "Europe was (Iraq's) accomplice in the invasion of Iran, and may even have given it some chemical weapons".

"Europe helped Iraq before the war with Iran, and helped it boost the range of its missiles from 600 kilometres to 1200 kilometres. That is a historical fact that nobody can deny."

From AFI

[ClarkGraham2004]

1. AP - Castro Endorses Dean for President

:P

3. hmmmm

I usually stay out of these things, but that is completely uncalled for.

[libview]

2. I don't mean to be harsh here.....

but who the fuck cares what Castro thinks!!?? He's a communist dictator for christ sakes!

4. a lot of people in this country don't care

...but Castro does have a lot of people who do listen to him, particularly south of this country, so whether you care what he thinks or not doesn't mean much in the long term.
(on edit -- really what I should say here is that it means something that you don't care, but it also needs to be taken into account that people do listen to Castro, and if you look at the heart of what he's saying, there is truth in it. Even if the messenger is corrupt, the message has validity)