The End Does Not Justify the Means
Havana - The leader of the Cuban revolution,
Fidel Castro, stated that the news coming
from the United States are sometimes
outrageous and sometimes disgusting.
In an article posted on Thursday in the
Cubadebate website entitled "The End Does
Not Justify the Means," Fidel Castro said,
"any page of the thick volume of news from
any continent, region or country in the
world is generally connected with the US
policies. There is no place on earth where
the domineering presence of the empire is
not felt."
The Cuban leader stresses that, obviously,
for almost ten years the news on its brutal
wars took large space in the press, much
more so at times of presidential elections.
"However, no one could have thought that in
the middle of the ongoing drama of the wars
of conquest there would be news on secret
jails and torture centers, a shameful and
well-kept secret of the US administration,"
the island's revolutionary leader noted.
"The author of the grotesque policy leading
the world to that point had usurped the US
presidency after the November 2000 elections
through electoral fraud in the southern
state of Florida where the contest was
decided," he pointed out.
"After seizing power, W. Bush not only
dragged the country into a war policy but
also left the Kyoto Protocol unsigned thus
denying the world for ten years the support
of that nation to the struggle for the
environment, a nation that consumes 25
percent of the fossil fuel, which can bring
irreparable damage to the human species,"
Fidel Castro wrote.
Prensa Latina is posting below the full text
of Fidel Castro's reflection.
REFLECTIONS BY COMRADE FIDEL
THE END DOES NOT JUSTIFY THE MEANS
The news coming from the United States are
sometimes outrageous and sometimes
disgusting.
Lately, a good number of them referred to
problems related with the grave
international economic crisis and its
consequences for the empire. Of course, they
are not the only news associated with that
powerful country. Any page of the thick
volume of news from any continent, region or
country in the world is generally connected
with the US policies. There is no place on
earth where the domineering presence of the
empire is not felt.
Obviously, for almost ten years the news on
its brutal wars took large space in the
press, much more so at times of presidential
elections.
However, no one could have thought that in
the middle of the ongoing drama of the wars
of conquest there would be news on secret
jails and torture centers, a shameful and
well-kept secret of the US administration.
The author of the grotesque policy leading
the world to that point had usurped the US
presidency after the November 2000 elections
through electoral fraud in the southern
state of Florida where the contest was
decided. After seizing power, W. Bush not
only dragged the country into a war policy
but also left the Kyoto Protocol unsigned
thus denying the world for ten years the
support of that nation to the struggle for
the environment, a nation that consumes 25
percent of the fossil fuel, which can bring
irreparable damage to the human species.
Climate change can already be felt in the
rise of heat in the world, something the
executive plane pilots can perceive through
the increasingly strong tornadoes formed in
the early afternoon at their tropical air
routes that can prove hazardous for their
modern jet planes. Meanwhile, the causes of
the accident of the Air France plane that
disintegrated in mid-flight are still
unknown.
But nothing would compare to the
consequences of the melting of the enormous
mass of water accumulated on the Antarctic
continent combined with that melting on
Greenland. I recently sustained my
perception on Bush's responsibility in a
discussion I had with American film maker
Oliver Stone on his movie "W" related to the
former president of the United States.
I would simply say that after the political
errors and horrors made by George W. Bush,
former Vicepresident Cheney, who was his
advisor, defends the notion that the
tortures the CIA was ordered to practice in
order to extract information were justified
since American lives could be saved thanks
to the information thus obtained.
Of course, they did not save the lives of
the thousands of Americans who died in Iraq,
and the almost one million Iraqis or those
who keep dying in Afghanistan in growing
numbers. No one knows what the consequences
will be of the hatred accumulated by the
genocides being committed or that could be
committed that way.
Let's be clear about this for it is
essentially a question of political ethics:
"The end does not justify the means."
Torture does not justify torture like crime
does not justify crime.
Such a principle was debated and advocated
for years. On this basis, humanity has
condemned every war of conquest and every
crime committed. It is extremely serious
that the most powerful empire and the
largest superpower that has ever existed
assert such a policy. But more disturbing
still is that not only the former
vicepresident and advocate of such a
perfidious policy is openly defending it but
that a high number of people in that
country, maybe more than half, support it.
If that were the case, it would be proof of
the moral abyss that developed capitalism,
consumerism and imperialism could lead to;
and, it should be openly claimed and then
ask the rest of the world how it feels about
it.
I think, however, that the Americans with a
higher conscience will be capable of waging
and winning this moral battle as they grow
more aware of the painful reality. No honest
person in the world could wish them or any
other nation the death of innocent people
victims of any form of terror, wherever it
may come from.
Fidel Castro Ruz
September 2, 2009
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