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<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3><i><br><br>
</i><b>Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 21:26:30 -0700<br>
From: "Walter Lippmann"
<</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#003399">walterlx@earthlink.net</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>><br><br>
<br>
</b><i>Fidel Castro has been giving public speeches for over fifty years,
but this has to be one of his most distinctive and unusual. As announced
ahead of time, this speech featured Fidel Castro's reply to George Bush's
speech of July 16 during which he accused Cuba of child sexual
trafficking and Fidel quoted the Bush allegations as reported in
the international<br>
media at some length prior to dissecting Bush's claims in
detail.<br><br>
The Cuban leader, taking off from the works of a wide range of US
scholars, discusses the state of George W. Bush's mental health, his
alcoholism and the implications of these<br>
for his ability to perform his job as Commander-in-Chief of the most
powerful nation in the world. Fidel's principal source is the work of the
psychiatrist Justin A. Frank, M.D., psychoanalyst and also professor of
psychiatrist at George Washington University Medical Center in
Washington, D.C., whose study, <b>BUSH ON THE COUCH, Inside The<br>
Mind of the President</b> (HarperCollins, June 2004) you can learn about
here:
</font><a href="http://www.harpercollins.com/catalog/book_xml.asp?isbn=0060736704" eudora="autourl"><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#003399">www.harpercollins.com/catalog/book_xml.asp?isbn=0060736704</a></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>
<br><br>
You can see from all this how carefully Cuba's Fidel Castro studies the
vast literature developing about the Bush presidency, its close ties with
the ultra-right wing of the Cuban <br>
exile militants as well as Christian fundamentalists. He quotes more than
one US writer and scholar, including former White House anti-terrorism
chief Richard Clarke later Michael Moore's discussion of whether Bush is
illiterate, in questioning the US president's ability to perform his
functions. It will be most interesting to see how this is covered in the
US <br>
and foreign press, since they usually avoid any mention of his principal
themes. Probably they'll say he attacked the US president
"personally" and not that he analyzed Bush's<br>
behavior based on the works of professionals who have studied his odd
behavior carefully.<br><br>
He even ended his remarks without the usual "Patria o muerte!
Venceremos! (Homeland or death! and We Will Win!), replacing them with
"Long Live The Truth! and "Long Live Human Dignity!" For
your convenience, you may wish to print this one out.<br><br>
Available on the Cuban government website here:
</font><a href="http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/2004/ing/f260704i.html" eudora="autourl"><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#003399">www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/2004/ing/f260704i.html</a></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>
<br><br>
Also posted in the FILES section of Cuba News list under Fidel Castro
Speeches:
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#003399">groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/files/</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>
<br><br>
--Walter Lippmann, Moderator, Cuba News list<br>
</i>=================================================<br><br>
Speech made by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, <br>
President of the Republic of Cuba, at the ceremony <br>
for the 51st anniversary of the attack on the <br>
Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes fortresses. <br><br>
Ernesto Che Guevara Square<br>
Santa Clara, July 26, 2004.<br><br>
Dear fellow Cubans;<br>
Distinguished guests:<br>
<br>
On this 51st anniversary of the attack on the Moncada fortress on July
26, 1953 I shall address a sinister character that keeps threatening,
insulting and slandering us. This is not<br>
a whim or an agreeable option; it is a necessity and a duty.<br>
<br>
On June 21, at the Anti-imperialist Forum I read Epistle Number Two to
the president of the United States, responding to an infamous State
Department report on trafficking in human beings, one of those reports
the government of that country usually issues, as if it were the supreme
moral judge of the world. In that document Cuba is accused of being
<br>
one of the countries that promotes sexual tourism and child
pornography.<br>
<br>
Hardly two weeks went by, and instead of keeping a decent silence about
their refutable truth contained in the Epistle, the wire services brought
news of an election speech by <br>
Bush in Tampa, Florida containing new, more perfidious accusations and
insults, the clearly aimed at slandering Cuba and justifying the threats
of aggression and the brutal <br>
measures that they had just taken against our people.<br>
<br>
<b>The French press agency AFP reported the following from Tampa on July
16:<br><br></b>
<ul>
<li>"President George Bush launched a harsh attack on Cuba when he
defined it as 'a major destination for sex tourism' and said that the
United States has a special duty
to lead
a world struggle against human trafficking for forced labor or sexual
purposes."
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"Cuba is one of the 10 countries cited by the State Department
in a report issued in June in which it lists the governments which
tolerate human trafficking or fail to
fight this
crime."
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"The regime of Fidel Castro has turned Cuba into a major
destination for sex tourism replacing Southeast Asia as a destination for
pedophiles and sex tourists from
the United Sates and
Canada," Bush claimed.
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"At a conference in Tampa, Florida, the president pointed to
Cuba as one of the worst offenders in this area." "Sex tourism
is a vital source of hard currency to keep
his corrupt government afloat," he
claimed.
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"Bush said that putting an end to human trafficking will be an
essential part of his foreign policy." "The traffic in human
beings brings shame and suffering to our
country and we shall lead the fight
against it," he promised. "You are in a fight against evil, and
the American people are grateful for your dedication and service,"
he told those at
the conference.
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"Human life is the gift of our Creator and it should never be
for sale."
</ul><br>
<b>A dispatch from the Spanish press agency EFE indicated:</b> <br><br>
<ul>
<li>"We also face a problem only 90 miles off our shores,”
Bush said in Florida.
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"He quoted a study which found that Cuba has "replaced
Southeast Asia as a destination for pedophiles and sex tourists."
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"As restrictions on travel to Cuba were eased during the 1990s,
the study found an influx of American and Canadian tourists contributed
to a sharp increase in child prostitution
in Cuba."
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"My administration is working toward a comprehensive solution of
this problem: the rapid, peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba."
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"We have put a strategy in place to hasten the day when no Cuban
child is exploited to finance a failed revolution and every Cuban citizen
will live in freedom."
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"Bush said that 'Human life is the gift of our Creator and it
should never be for sale."
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"It takes a special kind of depravity to exploit and hurt the
most vulnerable members of society. Human traffickers rob children of
their innocence; they expose them
to
the worst of life before they have seen much of life. Traffickers tear
families apart. They treat their victims as nothing more than goods and
commodities for sale to the
highest bidder."
</ul><br>
<b>And to top off this odd news, the same press dispatch added some words
spoken by John Ashcroft in his speech introducing Bush to the National
Training
Conference on Human Trafficking:<br><br></b>
<ul>
<li>"In the 19th Century President Abraham Lincoln held firm to a
vision of freedom for all and was rightly called the great
emancipator."
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"In the 21st Century we have a great leader who has made us see
that liberty is not a gift from the United States to the world but a gift
to humanity from the Almighty."
</ul><br>
<b>Another wire report from the English news agency Reuters
read:<br><br></b>
<ul>
<li>"Friday, the US president accused the Cuban president of having
turned his Caribbean island into a sex tourism destination and of
contributing to the world problem
of human
trafficking".
</ul><br>
<b>The Italian press agency ANSA reported:<br><br></b>
<ul>
<li>"The regime in Havana is adding to its crimes: it welcomes sex
tourism", said Bush who even repeated a supposed quote by Castro,
'Cuba has the cleanest and
most educated
prostitutes in the world.'"
</ul><br>
<b>Later, wire services have reported</b> that the quotation of something
I supposedly said on this subject, which the US President used in the
Tampa speech I just mentioned to <br>
back up his serious accusations, was taken from a paper on Cuba written
by Charles Turnbull a law student from Vanderbilt University in the
United States who has <br>
emphatically stated that Bush's speech misconstrued the real meaning of a
sentence included in his work, and clarified this and other matters in
the following way:<br>
<ul>
<li><i>"Prostitution boomed in the Caribbean nation after the
collapse of the Soviet Union... Castro, who had outlawed prostitution
when he took power in 1959, initially had few resources to combat it. But
beginning in 1996, Cuban authorities began to crack down on the practice.
Although it still exists, it is far less visible and it would be
inaccurate to
say the government promotes it."</i>
</ul><br>
On Monday, July 19, Bush administration officials admitted they had no
other source for the quote except the paper written by the aforementioned
student.<br>
<br>
Given the fact that it was shown that the US President had launched an
extremely grave accusation based on a sentence found in a paper written
by an American student, who
himself refuted the deliberate way Bush misconstrued it, it's hard to
imagine a more bizarre response than that given by a Whitehouse
spokesperson when told about this <br>
refutation.<br>
<br>
<b>According to the news agency report, </b>the spokesperson simply,
"...defended the inclusion [of the sentence] arguing that it
expressed an essential truth about Cuba", in
other words, for the White House "the
essential truth about Cuba" is anything that the president conjures
up in his mind whether it has anything to do with reality or not.<br>
<br>
This is exactly the kind of fundamentalist approach that the President
constantly resorts to when there are more than enough data, arguments,
truth, reasons, and facts on a <br>
particular subject but the only determining factor is the idea he has in
his mind or the idea that suits him: anything becomes the absolute and
irrefutable truth simply because <br>
Mr. Bush imagines it to be so.<br>
<br>
Many people in the world who know very little about the Cuban Revolution
might fall victim to the lies and tricks the US government spreads
through the huge media available<br>
to it.<br>
<br>
But there are many others, especially in poor countries who are aware of
what the Cuban revolution is about, of its marked dedication, from the
very beginning, to provide <br>
education and healthcare services to all its children and the whole
population; its spirit of solidarity that has led it to cooperate
selflessly with dozens of Third World countries; <br>
its strict adherence to the highest moral values, its ethical principles,
its lofty concept of the dignity and honor of its homeland and its people
for which Cuban revolutionaries <br>
have always been willing to give up their lives. There is no doubt that
these many friends, all over the world, will be wondering how it is
possible that such unspeakable, foul <br>
slander is hurled against Cuba.<br>
<br>
This obliges me to give a most serious and honest explanation of the
causes, which in my view, give rise to these inconceivable, irresponsible
statements by the President of the <br>
most powerful nation on the planet, the same who is threatening to wipe
the Cuban revolution from the face of the Earth.<br>
<br>
I shall do this as objectively as possible, making no arbitrary
statements or shamelessly misconstruing other people's words, sentences
and concepts. I shall avoid any petty <br>
sentiment of vengeance or personal dislike.<br>
<br>
A theme that has been widely documented in several books by outstanding
American scientific authors and other personalities is the current US
President's alcoholism which <br>
lasted two decades when he was between 20 and 40 years old. This feature
has been rigorously and impressively dealt with, from a psychiatric point
of view and using scientific criteria, by <b>Dr. Justin A. Frank</b> in a
now famous book called <b>"Bush on the Couch".<br><br>
</b>Dr. Frank begins by saying that it is important to scientifically
define whether Bush was an alcoholic, or if he still is one. He has
literally said:<br>
</font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#800000"><i>"...
the more pressing question involves the influence his years of heavy
drinking and subsequent abstinence still have on him and those around
him". (p39)</i>
</ul><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>He goes on to explain
and I quote verbatim:<br>
</font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#800000"><i>"Alcoholism
is a potentially fatal, lifelong disease that is notoriously difficult to
arrest permanently" (p40)</i>
</ul><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>Later, referring to the
man who is now President of the United States, he says:<br>
</font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#800000"><i>"Bush
has said publicly that he quit drinking without the help of AA (an
organization dedicated to helping alcoholics) or any substance abuse
program, claiming that he
stopped forever with the assistance of such spiritual tools as bible
study and conversations with the evangelist Billy
Graham".</i></font>
</ul><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3><br>
On page 40 of the book he recounts that, according to ex-presidential
speech writer David Frum, when Bush took over the Oval office he summoned
a group of religious leaders,<br>
asked for their prayers and told them: <br>
<ul>
<li>"There is only one reason that I am in the Oval Office and not a
bar... I found faith, I found God. I am here because of the power of
prayer".
</ul><br>
Dr. Frank thinks that this statement might be true and goes on to say the
following:<br><br></font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#800000"><i>"...surely
all Americans would like to believe that the president no longer drinks,
even if we have no way of knowing for certain. If so, he fits the profile
of a former drinker whose alcoholism has been
arrested but not treated".</i></font>
</ul><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3><br>
He then adds:<br>
</font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#800000"><i>"
Former drinkers who abstain without the benefit of the AA program are
often referred to as "dry drunks", a label that has been
bandied about on the Internet
and elsewhere in reference to
Bush. "Dry drunk" isn't a medical term, and not one I use in a
clinical setting. But even without labeling Bush as such, it's hard to
ignore the many troubling elements of his character among the traits that
the recovery literature associates with the condition, including
grandiosity, judgmental - ism, intolerance, detachment, denial of
responsibility, a tendency toward over-reaction and an aversion to
introspection." (p41)</i></font>
</ul><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3><br>
Dr. Frank insists that he personally has treated alcoholics who held
their addiction in check without proper treatment but that they are
generally not very successful in learning <br>
to control the anxiety that they once tried to suppress by drinking and
he explains that:<br>
</font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#800000"><i>"Their
rigid attempts to manage anxiety make any psychological insight hard-won.
Some can't even face the anxiety of admitting their alcoholism.” </i>
</ul><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>Dr. Frank then goes on
to say:<br>
</font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#800000"><i>"Without
that admission, I have found, even former drinkers cannot truly change,
or learn from their own experience".</i></font>
</ul><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3><br>
And then referring to Bush specifically he argues the
following:<br><br></font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#800000"><i>"The
pattern of blame and denial, which recovering alcoholics work so hard to
break, seems to be ingrained in the alcoholic personality; it's rarely
limited to his or her drinking. The habit of
placing blame and denying responsibility is so prevalent in George W.
Bush's personal history that it is apparently triggered by even the
mildest
threat"</i>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><i>"... The rigidity of Bush's behavior is perhaps most readily
apparent in his well-documented reliance on his daily routines -the
famously short meetings,
sacrosanct
exercise schedule, daily Bible readings, and limited office hours. A
healthy person is able to alter his routine; a rigid one cannot".
(p43)</i>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><i>"Of
course"</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3> -the
eminent US doctor goes on, and I quote-
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#800000"><i>"we
all need rest and relaxation, time to regroup, but Bush appears to need
it more than most. And this is
hardly a
surprise -among other reasons, because the anxiety of being president
might pose a real risk of leading him back to drinking." (p43)</i>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><i>"Along with rigid routines go rigid thought processes -
another hallmark of the Bush presidency. We see it in the stubborn,
almost obsessive way in which he holds on
to ideas and
plans after they have been discredited, from his image of himself as a
"uniter, not a divider" to his conviction that Iraq held
weapons of mass destruction (or, in absence of such weapons, that somehow
"America did the right thing in Iraq" nevertheless). Such
rigidity of thought is not motivated by simple stubbornness; the
untreated alcoholic, consumed with the task of managing the anxieties
that might make him reach for a drink, simply can't tolerate any threat
to his status quo".</i>
</ul><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>And Dr. Frank adds that
such intolerance generally leads to responses that are out of proportion
to the magnitude of the actual threat.<br>
</font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#800000"><i>"This
may help to explain the dramatic contrast between George W's response to
Saddam Hussein and that of his father, who carefully built a coalition,
took action
only
after Kuwait had been invaded, and then proceeded with prudence and
caution once the fighting was underway - the behavior of a seasoned
leader who knew he was responsible
for countless others' lives, not an alcoholic accustomed to taking
dramatic measures to protect his own."</i></font>
</ul><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3><br>
Continuing his analysis, Dr. Frank indicates:<br>
</font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#800000"><i>"Two
questions that the press seems particularly determined to ignore have
hung silently in the air since before Bush took office: Is he still
drinking? And if not, is
he
impaired by all the years he did spend
drinking? Both questions need to be addressed in any serious assessment
of his psychological state". (p48)</i></font>
</ul><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3><br>
With regard to the first question, he points out the possibility that
Bush is managing his anxiety with medication to keep him off alcohol and
he makes special reference to his<br>
strange behavior at press conferences. On this point he says: <br>
</font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#800000"><i>"In
writing about Bush's halting appearance in a press conference just before
the start of the Iraq War, Washington Post media critic Tom Shales
speculated that "the
president may have been ever so slightly medicated".</i>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><i>"More troubling though, are the appearances that arouse
suspicion not because of how he talks but what he says. He has repeatedly
engaged in confabulation, filling
in
gaps in his memory with what he believes are facts - most notably on July
14, 2003, when he stood next to Kofi Annan and made up the idea that
America had given Saddam
"a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them
in". (As the Washington Post noted, "Hussein had, in fact,
admitted the inspectors and Bush had
opposed extending their
work because he did not believe them effective". Confabulation is a
common phenomenon among drinkers, as is perseveration, which is evident
in Bush's tendency to repeat key words and phrases, as if the
repetition helps him remain calm and stay on track."
(p49)</i></font>
</ul><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3><br>
And Dr. Frank concludes his analysis of these two questions with the
following words:<br>
</font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#800000"><i>"Even
if we assume, moreover, that George W. Bush's drinking days are behind
him, the question remains how much lasting damage may have been done
before
he
stopped - beyond the considerable impact on his personality that we can
trace to his untreated abstinence. Any comprehensive psychological or
psychoanalytical
study
of President Bush would have to explore how much the brain and its
functions are changed by more than twenty years of heavy drinking. In a
recent study out of
the University of
California/San Francisco Medical Centre, researchers found that heavy
drinkers who do not call themselves alcoholics reveal that "their
level of drinking constitutes a problem that warrants treatment".
The study found that the heavy drinkers in its sample were
"significantly impaired" on measures of working
memory, processing speed, attention,
executive function and balance. Serious research about long-term recovery
from alcohol abuse is still underway. Science has established
that alcohol itself is toxic to the
brain, both to its anatomy (as the brain gets smaller and fissures
between and around the hemisphere get larger) and to its
neurophysiology.
But recovery does occur with continued sobriety, extending over a
five-year period for many alcoholics.
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Bush claims to have been sober for more that fifteen years, and very
well may have improved to pre-alcohol levels. However, even chronic
alcoholics who recover their compromised mental functions often suffer
lingering damage to their ability to process new information. Important
neuropsychological functions are impaired: The new information is
essentially put into a file that is lost in the brain.
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"Former heavy drinkers often have trouble distinguishing between
relevant and inconsequential information. They also may lose some of
their ability to maintain
concentration. All one has to do to observe Bush's inattention is watch
him listening to a speech given by someone else, watch his behavior at
times on the
campaign
trail, or consider the obviously desperate effort he makes to retain
focus in every speech he gives." (p50)</font>
</ul><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3><br>
</i>Finally, Dr. Frank points out that Bush would reduce the fear of many
Americans by submitting himself to psychological tests that could
scientifically measure the effects of alcoholism on his brain function
and warns:<br><br></font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#800000"><i>"Otherwise,
we are left to suspect -with reason- that our president may be impaired
in his ability to make sense of complex ideas and briefings" (p51)
</ul><br>
</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>And he ends up by
saying:<br>
</font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#800000"><i>"We
all may be a little afraid to find out: after all, he has already held
office for three years and has led our nation into war. But if we fail to
do so, the
consequences
may indict every one of us". (p51)</i></font>
</ul><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3><br>
Another aspect discussed in depth and in detail by Dr. Justin A. Frank in
this book, "Bush on the Couch", is that of President Bush's
religious fundamentalism.<br>
<br>
Dr. Frank explains how, in trying to find relief from the internal chaos
that drink sometimes appeased but eventually intensified, Bush may have
found in religion a source of <br>
peace, not totally different from that given by alcohol, as well as a set
of rules which help him to manage both the external world and his inner
spiritual world.<br>
<br>
He suggests that an analysis of the role of fundamentalism in Bush's life
would show that one of the many ways that Bush employs religion as a
defense mechanism is by using<br>
it as a substitute for illegal substances and says that Bush uses
religion to simplify and even replace thought so that, to a certain
extent, he does not even need to think. He adds <br>
that Bush, by putting himself on the side of good - on God's side -
places himself above mundane discussion and debate. Religion serves as a
shield to protect him from challenges, including those that he himself
would otherwise create.<br>
<br>
Dr. Frank wonders how Bush reached this point and then explains that, the
Bush family tradition has long been fuelled by faith, by the belief in a
God linked closely to moral <br>
rectitude but he makes this distinction:<br>
</font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#800000"><i>"Yet
President Bush's religious orientation represents an important departure
from his family. Though certain aspects of the family tradition have been
maintained
- notably the formality of religious participation - his mid-life
conversion to a more fundamentalist approach stands in dramatic contrast
to the spiritual life of
his
father..." (p56)</i>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><i>"And a review of the events leading up to Bush's conscious
embrace of fundamentalism shows that it clearly occurred at a moment when
he was reaching for
solutions,
in a time of almost desperate need."</i></font>
</ul><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3><br>
Dr Frank goes on to explain that fundamentalist religions narrow the
universe of opportunities and divide the world into good and bad, in
absolute terms that leave no space for questioning and on this point he
argues:<br>
</font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#800000"><i>"The
view of the self is similarly simplified. Just as fundamentalist
creationist teachings deny history, the fundamentalist notion of
conversion or rebirth encourages
the
believer to see himself as disconnected from history. George W.
Bush's evasive, self-serving defense of his life before he was born again
displays just this tendency.
"It doesn't do
any good to inventory the mistakes I made when I was young", he has
insisted. "I think the way ... to answer questions about specific
behavior is to
remind
people that when I was young and irresponsible, I was young and
irresponsible. I changed..." To the believer, the power of spiritual
absolution not only erases the
sins
of the past, but divorces the current self from the historical
sinner". (p60)</font>
</ul><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3><br>
</i>Dr. Frank makes it clear that there is nothing inherently unnatural
in the fact that Bush seeks protection from his faith and that, even when
this makes him stronger, the rigidity<br>
of his thought and speech patterns and of his agenda point to a
considerable fragility. He explains that Bush's fear of everything -from
disagreement to terrorist attacks- are <br>
sometimes painfully visible, even (or especially) through his denials and
that he is a man desperately seeking protection. Dr. Frank wonders:
"But what is George W. Bush so <br>
eager to protect himself against?" and he answers the question with
the following analysis:<br>
</font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#800000"><i>"His
tightly held belief system shields him from challenges to his ideas -
from critics and opponents, but, more important, from himself. Just
beneath the surface, it's
hard
not to believe that he suffers from an innate fear of falling apart, a
fear too terrifying for him to confront." (p.64)</i></font>
</ul><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3></font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#800000"><i>"For
someone so desperate not to lose his way, clinging to a belief (or even a
few key phrases), and sticking to them, is yet another way to protect
against falling apart.
President Bush's press conferences have offered disturbing evidence of
this ongoing anxiety -evidence so unmistakable that it's little wonder
that the White House
has
proven so hesitant to schedule such events at all. After one particularly
disastrous performance in July2003, the Slate political columnist Timothy
Noah noted that: "Bush
seemed jangled"; in a damning editorial the following day, the New
York Times noted that the president's answers were "vague and
sometimes nearly incoherent"
- suggesting,
perceptively, that Bush was "bedazzled by his administration's own
mythmaking"</i></font>
</ul><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3><br>
He gives some examples of phrases Bush used repeatedly during that press
conference:<br><br></font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#800000"><i>"And
so we're making progress. It's slowly but surely making progress of
bringing the - those who terrorize their fellow citizens to justice, and
making progress about convincing the Iraqi people that freedom is real.
And as they become more convinced that freedom is real, they'll begin to
assume more responsibilities that are
required
in a free society...
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"And the threat is a real threat. It's a threat that where - we
obviously don't have specific data, we don't know when, where, what. But
we do know a couple of things...
obviously, we're talking to foreign governments and foreign airlines to
indicate to them the reality of the threat...
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"I don't know how close we are to getting Saddam Hussein. You
know - it's closer that we were yesterday, I guess. All I know is we're
on the hunt. It's like if you
had
asked me
right before we got his sons how close we were to get his sons, I'd say,
I don't know, but we're on the hunt.
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"Well first of all, the war on terror goes on, as I continually
remind people... The threat that you asked about, Steve, reminds us that
we need to be on the hunt,
because
the war on terror goes on...
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"I just described to you that there is a threat to the United
States. There is no doubt in my mind, Campbell, that Saddam Hussein was a
threat to the United States'
security, and
a threat to peace in the region...
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"Saddam Hussein was a threat. The United Nations viewed him as a
threat. That's why they passed twelve resolutions. Predecessors of mine
viewed him as a
threat.
We gathered a lot of intelligence. That intelligence was good, sound
intelligence on which I made a decision... (pp. 65-66)</i></font>
</ul><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3><br>
And Dr. Frank goes on to say:<br>
</font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#800000"><i>"So
powerful are his fears that he can't even face them. His infamous early
advice to Americans less than two weeks after 9/11 -when he told
Americans to continue
to
shop and travel as before, in apparent denial of the radical measures he
was at the same time taking in response to the nation's newfound
vulnerability- suggests
just
how simplistically he viewed the situation, closing himself off to worry
and anxiety. Compare his response to that of New York's mayor, Rudolph
Giuliani, who
faced
his fears, rolled up his sleeves and got to work -making people feel far
safer than Bush's stilted denial ever did.
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"Bush has continued to cite divine instruction to explain his
actions since assuming office. As reported in Israel's Haaretz News, Bush
said, "God told me to strike
at
al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at
Saddam, which I did".</i></font>
</ul><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3><br>
Finally, Dr. Frank offers these thoughts:<br><br></font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#800000"><i>"The
Biblical struggle of good and evil has resonated throughout his discourse
since 9/11, from his repeated use of the term "crusade" to his
characterization of
the
terrorists as "evildoers" and grouping of Iraq, Iran and North
Korea as the "Axis of Evil". At the same time, he presents the
United States as nothing more that
a
nation of wholly innocent victims.
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"In externalizing evil in this way, while absolving America of
responsibility, Bush has transformed his un-integrated infantile
worldview into a starkly combative
(and primitive) foreign
policy.</i></font>
</ul><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3></font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#800000"><i>"Bush's
rhetoric"</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3> -
Dr. Frank concludes -
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3 color="#800000"><i>"highlights
how he identifies the concepts of himself as president with both God and
America: for him these three appear
to
have become somewhat interchangeable. Unable to mourn the dead of 9/11
enough to allow for a full investigation of how it happened - and what
responsibility we
might have
had - he blindly attacks the "enemy" he perceives to be
everywhere, a terrorist suddenly hiding under rock".</i></font>
</ul><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3><br>
In his book <b>"Stupid White Men," Michael Moore</b> points out
that Bush exhibits obvious symptoms of not being able to read at an adult
level and writes the following as part <br>
of an open letter to Bush:<br>
<ul>
<li>"1. George, are you able to read and write on an adult level?
"It appears to me and many others that, sadly, you may be a
functional illiterate. This is nothing to
be
ashamed of... Millions of Americans cannot read and write above a fourth
grade level.
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"But let me ask you this: if you have trouble comprehending the
complex position papers you are handed as the Leader of the Mostly-Free
World, how can we entrust something like our nuclear secrets to you?
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"All the signs of illiteracy area there -and apparently no one
has challenged you about them. The first clue was what you named as your
favorite childhood
book,
"The Very Hungry Caterpillar", you said. "Unfortunately,
that book wasn't even published until a year after you graduated from
college."
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"One thing is clear to everyone -you can't speak the English
language in sentences we can comprehend.
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"If you are going to be Commander-in-Chief, you have to be able
to communicate your orders. What if these little slip-ups keep
happening? Do you know how easy
it would be to turn
a little faux pas into a national-security nightmare?
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"Your aides say that you don't (can't?) read the briefing papers
they give you, and that you ask them to read them for you or to
you."
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"Please , don't take any of this personally. Perhaps it's a
learning disability. Some sixty million Americans have learning
disabilities".
</ul><br>
In his book <b>"Against All Enemies,"</b> <b>Richard Clarke</b>
writes that when Bush got to the White House, "Early on we were told
that the president is not a big reader".<br>
<br>
<b>Bob Woodward's</b> book <b>"Bush at War"</b> tells that, in
a National Security Council meeting during the Afghanistan war, Bush
said: "I don't read the editorial pages. I don't -- the
hyperventilation that tends to take place around those cables, every
expert and every former colonel and all that, is just background
noise".<br>
<br>
Thus far I have given a very brief summary of what has been said on some
points by outstanding Americans, things which help to explain the strange
behavior and
aggressiveness of
the US President.<br>
<br>
I do not want to elaborate now on more sensitive issues like those whose
exposure cost his life to <b>J.H. Hatfield</b>, author of the book
<b>"Fortunate Son,"</b> and others of great<br>
interest analyzed by truly brilliant, brave, eminent authors.<br>
<br>
Mr. Bush's lies and slanders and those of his closest advisors were
fabricated in a hurry to justify the atrocious measures taken against
Cuban-born people living in the United <br>
States who have close family ties in Cuba.<br>
<br>
This outrage, as we warned on June 21, might have adverse political
consequences in Florida which could play a decisive role in this year's
elections. The idea of a punishment <br>
vote is gaining ground among thousands of Cuban-Americans, many of whom
would normally have voted for Bush.<br>
<br>
Hatred and blindness have lead this administration to take a stupid,
immoral action under pressure from the terrorist mob which gave Bush a
fraudulent victory when he had <br>
a million votes less than his rival nationwide, and a narrow majority of
537 votes in Florida where thousands of black Americans were prevented
from exercising their right to<br>
vote whereas many dead people 'exercised' theirs. Fifteen or twenty
thousand voters could sink his hopes of re-election. These brutal
measures have also been criticized all <br>
over the country. <br>
<br>
The overwhelming majority of those who are members of or run that
terrorist mob - which decided no less a thing than the election of the
President of the United States - are <br>
former Batista supporters and their descendents; or they are groups who
for years have been involved in the terrorist actions, pirate attacks,
assassination plots against Cuban revolutionary leaders and all kinds of
armed aggressions against our country; or they were big landowners
and relatives of the upper middle classes who were affected by <br>
revolutionary laws and who previously had all kinds of privileges and
many of whom have amassed huge fortunes and have gained influence in
important power circles<br>
in the US governments.<br>
<br>
Over 90 percent of those who have emigrated from Cuba since the triumph
of the revolution have done so through normal channels and for economic
reasons, their leaving <br>
authorized by the Revolution that placed no obstacles. But Cuban
immigrants were forced to go under the Caudine Forks of that
powerful mafia whose influence they could <br>
not easily ignore. <br>
<br>
Unlike many millions of Latin Americans, including Haitians and other
Caribbeans, that emigrate legally and illegally to the United States and
are called immigrants, Cubans, <br>
with no exception whatsoever, are called exiles.<br>
<br>
On the other hand, the absurd Cuban Adjustment Act has caused the loss of
countless Cuban lives by rewarding and encouraging illegal emigration and
giving Cubans extraordinary privileges that are not granted to citizens
of any other country in the world.<br>
<br>
Nevertheless, years ago, even before the collapse of the Soviet Union and
the special period that ensued, and despite the risk of espionage and
terrorist plans originating in <br>
the United States which the measures entailed, Cuba gave permits to
émigrés so they could visit their relatives and their country of origin,
whereas the Bush administration is <br>
abruptly closing the doors because of its fanatical obsession of bringing
Cuba to its knees through economic suffocation.<br>
<br>
And, to that same end of depriving our country of any income whatsoever,
he labels the tourist industry in Cuba sex tourism and calls those who
visit our country coming from<br>
the United States "pedophiles" and "pleasure
seekers".<br>
<br>
Mr. Bush does not hesitate either in tarring Canadian tourists with the
same brush when everybody knows that the overwhelming majority of them
are pensioners and senior <br>
citizens who, in the company of their relatives, come to enjoy the
exceptional safety and calm, the politeness, culture and hospitality that
they find in our country. <br>
<br>
What would Mr. Bush call the tens of millions of tourists who visit the
United States every year where casinos, gambling dens, areas of male and
female prostitution and many <br>
other activities related to pornography and sex abound, none of which
exist in Cuba and all of which are alien to the revolutionary culture of
our people?<br>
<br>
What would he call the tens of millions of Europeans who visit Spain
every year where many pages in the papers are used to advertising the
names, addresses, the physical, <br>
cultural and intellectual characteristics and the specialties and
individual gifts to suit all tastes of those who exercise the age-old
profession of prostitution? Would he call the <br>
US and Spanish tourist industries sex tourism?<br>
<br>
None of the aforementioned activities take place in Cuba. However, in the
fevered and fundamentalist mind of the all-powerful gentleman in the
White House and in those of <br>
his most intimate advisors, Cuba must now be "saved" not only
from "tyranny", Cuban children must now be "saved from
sexual exploitation and trafficking in persons" "the <br>
world must be freed from this dreadful problem which takes place 90 miles
away from the United States".<br>
<br>
Has no one told him that in Cuba before the triumph of the revolution in
1959 about 100,000 women were directly or indirectly involved in
prostitution for reasons of poverty, discrimination and lack of work and
that the Revolution educated these women and found them jobs, and
outlawed the so-called "tolerance zones" which existed in the
<br>
pseudo-republic and the neo-colony installed by the United States?<br>
<br>
Has no one told him that the Cuban children, whose physical, mental and
moral health is the number one priority of the Revolution, are protected
by more severe laws than <br>
those of the United States and that they all attend school, including
more than 50,000 who suffer from mental or physical disabilities and
that, without exceptions, receive <br>
specialized care in special education centers?<br>
<br>
Has no one told him that infant mortality is lower in Cuba than it is in
the United States and that it continues to decrease?<br>
<br>
Has no one dared to whisper in his ear that Cuba occupies an outstanding
and internationally recognized place in education; that health and
education services are free and extend<br>
to the whole population; that today programs are underway in education,
health and culture that will place Cuba far above all the other countries
in the world?<br>
<br>
The historic session of the National Assembly of People's Power held on
July1 and 2, exposed them and showed how ridiculous is the grotesque over
400-page-long-report which<br>
gives an ample account and full details of the neo-colonial and
annexationist programs the fascist group which begot this disgusting
project propose to implement to the detriment <br>
of the Cuban people and their sovereignty. This report has done nothing
if not unite our people even more and give a boost to their fighting
spirit.<br>
<br>
They must be absolutely mad to talk of such things as implementing
literacy and vaccination programs in Cuba where illiteracy was eradicated
a long time ago, where minimum <br>
school attendance is up to grade nine and where children are vaccinated
against 13 diseases. Actually, such programs should be applied to tens of
millions of Americans who are <br>
left out, who do not enjoy the benefits of social security and who have
not been to school or are completely illiterate or functionally
illiterate.<br>
<br>
The US administration has not even dared to say a single word about the
generous offer that our country made of saving, in a short 5 year period,
a life for every life lost in the <br>
Twin Towers, by providing free health care to 3000 US citizens who have
no access to healthcare services that are indispensable for preserving
life. Neither have they replied to <br>
the question of whether or not those who may decide to come to Cuba to
take advantage of this opportunity would be punished.<br>
<br>
It is really revealing that on the very same day that Mr. Bush spouted
such outrageous slanders and threats, a prestigious American scientific
institution from California signed <br>
an agreement with the Cuban Molecular Immunology Centre for transferring
technology developed in our country for the clinical trials and later
manufacture of three promising vaccines in the battle against cancer,
which, as you know, kills more than half a million Americans every
year.<br>
<br>
It is only fair to acknowledge that in this case the US authorities did
not set any obstacle.<br>
<br>
This fact shows how the fruits of everything I have talked about before
are beginning to sprout all over our country, despite 45 years of a harsh
blockade and of aggressions by<br>
US governments.<br>
<br>
And these are not biological weapons, nor chemical weapons, nor nuclear
weapons; these are scientific discoveries which could help all
humanity.<br>
<br>
Let's hope that, in Cuba's case, God does not 'instruct' Mr. Bush to
attack our country but that he rather inspires him to avoid this colossal
mistake! He had better check on <br>
any divine belligerent order by consulting the Pope and other prestigious
dignitaries and theologians from the Christian churches, asking them for
their opinion<br>
<br>
Excuse me, Mr. President of the United States of America, for not writing
a third epistle to you this time but it would have been difficult to
analyze this subject in that way. <br>
It might have been taken for a personal insult and I rather adhere to
common courtesy.<br>
<br>
Hail, Caesar! I say, but this time I add: Those who are willing to die
have no fear of your enormous power, of your unbridled rage, nor of your
dangerous and cowardly threats<br>
against Cuba!<br>
<br>
Long live the truth!<br>
Long live human dignity!<br>
<br>
July 26, 2004</font> <br>
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