Fidel Castro on:
What can stop Bush's war
The following are excerpts from remarks by Dr. Fidel
Castro Ruz, president of the Republic of Cuba, at a rally in
Santiago de Cuba on June 8.
This is an unprecedented confrontation that is taking place
in a new historical stage between the force of just ideas and
the murderous ideas of the brutal force.
When the arrogant use of force is imposed in violation of
every right, ethic and reason, demagogy and lies remain the
only possible ideological support.
Hardly two thirds of a century has passed since humanity
went through the bitter experience of Nazism. Fear was Hitler's
inseparable ally against his adversaries.
I don't think that a fascist regime can be established in
the United States ... the American people still have a number
of institutions and traditions, as well as educational,
cultural and ethical values that would hardly allow that to
happen. The risk exists in the international arena.
The power and prerogatives of that country's president are
so extensive, and the economic, technological and military
power network in that nation is so pervasive that due to
circumstances that fully escape the will of the American
people, the world is coming under the rule of Nazi concepts and
methods.
Last Sept. 20, 2001, when Mr. Bush proclaimed that those who
did not support his war project against terrorism would
themselves be considered terrorists and exposed to his attacks
... based on his military power he was assuming the role of
world master and policeman.
Such conceptions and methods contradict the idea of a
democratic world order based on principles and norms that
ensure safety and peace for all of the peoples.
Long before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Bush had
promoted enormous budgets for the research and production of
more deadly and sophisticated weapons, although the cold war
was over, the old adversary no longer existed and the weakened
state that replaced it lacked both the economic resources and
the will to face up to the overwhelming force of the sole
hyperpower.
In a recent speech made on the occasion of the bicentennial
year of the West Point Military Academy, an institution well
known for its remarkable role in the military history of the
United States, Mr. Bush threw a fiery harangue at the
graduation ceremony of 958 cadets.
Some of the ideas expressed there are a reflection of his
thinking, and that of his closest advisers, long before the
brutal attacks of Sept. 11, which now serve as an excellent
pretext to justify what was already then a rather dangerous,
inadmissible, unsustainable and peculiar idea of the world. He
said for example:
"If we wait for threats to fully materialize, we will have
waited too long."
"Our security will require transforming the military you
will lead, a military that must be ready to strike at a
moment's notice in any dark corner of the world. And our
security will require ... to be ready for preemptive action
when necessary to defend our liberty and to defend our
lives."
"We must uncover terror cells in 60 or more countries....
Along with our friends and allies, we must oppose proliferation
and confront regimes that sponsor terror, as each case
requires."
He only talks of alliances between powers, and of war and
more war.
What is the difference between that philosophy and methods
and those of the Nazis? Why is it that so many governments are
trembling with fear and keeping silent?
It is not a simple coincidence that the fascist right forces
are gaining ground in various European countries.
In the face of such cowardice, many peoples of the world
will look hopefully to the American people as the only one
capable of putting a straightjacket on, or stopping, the bigots
in their lust for power, abuse and conflict. Many peoples in
the world showed their unanimous solidarity with the American
people after the attacks of Sept. 11; our noble and generous
people did too, and certainly not out of hypocrisy or fear.
Who has actually reaped the benefits of the terrorist
attacks of Sept. 11? Those that President Eisenhower defined as
the military-industrial complex; those whose authority had been
called into question by the electoral fraud; the Miami
terrorist mob; those who want to destroy the United Nations;
those who advocate the predominance of hegemonic policies and
who want to reshape the world as they wish.
Reprinted from the June 20, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME
:: U.S. NEWS ::
WORLD NEWS ::
EDITORIALS ::
SUBSCRIBE ::
DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page