VHeadline.com's Chicago-based commentarist Stephen Lendman writes: Reports of the Cuban President's impending demise come from such impeccable sources as US Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte who told the Washington Post earlier this month US intelligence agencies believe Fidel Castro is "terminally ill" and would be dead in "months, not years."

This is the same man who also likely said or echoed what other high-level US officials declared with imperial bravado and certainty in early 2003: "The Iraqi people will welcome us with flowers and candy."

Indeed ... and so much for US intelligence accuracy that also missed the mark a bit on all those falsely claimed so-called WMDs Saddam was said to have that was the justification used for waging a war of genocidal extermination against the people living there as part of the overall US imperial agenda of conquest, control of the region's oil and all the other plunder this country had in mind to seize along with it.

Famed American writer and anti-imperialist vice-president of the American Anti-Imperialist League Mark Twain reportedly once said "The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."

It's not known if Cuban President Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz ever read Twain but he's likely familiar with the famous quote in recent months might apply it to himself, and now can do it with even more justification after the report on his health by Spanish physician, and head of surgery at Gregorio Maranon Hospital in Madrid, Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido.

Dr. Sabrido held a news conference on December 26 in Madrid after returning home following his examination of the Cuban President in Havana last week. He reported Fidel Castro did not have cancer, as the US corporate press and Bush administration officials have been bleating since his surgery last summer, is recovering well from his intestinal surgery and can return to work.

This is the first official report on President Castro's health, and it was an affirmation of the unofficial ones claimed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez following his recent visits to Cuba and others who've seen the Cuban President in recent months.

Dr. Sabrido gave his official medical opinion stating: "(Fidel Castro's) physical activity is excellent, his intellectual activity intact....I'd say (they're) fantastic. He's recovering (well) from his previous operation."

Dr. Sabrido explained that Castro's surgery to correct his intestinal bleeding was not caused by a malignancy. He said the Cuban President could make a full recovery, but "required muscular rehabilitation and a strict diet (that would be the same regimen prescribed for anyone following major surgery for almost any reason)." He added: "He does not have cancer, he has a problem with his digestive system. President Castro has no malign inflammation. It's a benign process in which he has had a series of complications. It is not planned that he will undergo another operation for the moment. His condition is stable. He is recovering slowly but progressively."

It wasn't reported what all doctors know about everyone post-op ... recovery from major surgery takes time as the human body needs it to heal.

That's especially true for someone in his 9th decade when the healing process needs considerable time but can proceed as normally as it does for a much younger person if proper rehab procedures are followed.

That seems to be the prognosis for Fidel Castro who will make a public appearance shortly according to what Cuban officials told US congressmen earlier this month when they visited the island state.

When he does, the public can make its own unprofessional assessment of the Cuban leader by observing him in manner, speech and overall demeanor.

Stephen Lendman
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net