FIDEL CASTRO JOINS DISCUSSION OF BUSH'S PSYCHE http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/2004/ing/f260704i.html
[From a speech delivered in Cuba on July 26, responding to Bush accusations of child prostitution in Cuba]
FIDEL CASTRO - There is no doubt that these many friends, all over the world, will be wondering how it is possible that such unspeakable, foul slander is hurled against Cuba. 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 most powerful nation on the planet, the same who is threatening to wipe the Cuban revolution from the face of the Earth.
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 sentiment of vengeance or personal dislike.
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 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 Dr. Justin A. Frank in a now famous book called "Bush on the Couch.". . .
[Frank] then adds: " 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, judgmentalism, intolerance, detachment, denial of responsibility, a tendency toward over-reaction and an aversion to introspection." (p. 41)
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 to control the anxiety that they once tried to suppress by drinking and he explains that: "Their rigid attempts to manage anxiety make any psychological insight hard-won. Some canÕt even face the anxiety of admitting their alcoholism. . .
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: "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" (p. 51)
[Many paragraphs later]
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 any divine belligerent order by consulting the Pope and other prestigious dignitaries and theologians from the Christian churches, asking them for their opinion. 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. It might have been taken for a personal insult and I rather adhere to common courtesy.