The American Spectator

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p> EIGHT HOUR SHIFT br> Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.'s The Fool Fidel : /p>

In "The Fool Fidel" R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. writes, "After Steven Spielberg dined with him in 2002 Spielberg enthused that he had just spent 'the eight most important hours of my life.'"

p>In fact, Spielberg never said that, or anything like that. I organized Spielberg's trip to Cuba. The purpose was to screen 8 of his films for the Cuban public, and the trip was authorized by the U.S. government. He never said that, or anything else about Fidel Castro, during the trip or after. AP and Reuters in Cuba never quoted him as saying that. A version of the quote originated in a state-owned Cuban newspaper -- consider the source. br> -- Stephen Rivers /p>

"Fidel and "his entourage" rejected the conventional medical approach to his intestinal disorder."

The fool, indeed. Fidel, as a Cuban citizen, enjoys the highest standard of medical care in the world, yet he rejects the advice of his own experts!

There has to be another explanation. Perhaps Fidel is illiterate, and could not read the medical consent forms. After all, Fidel's youth pre-dated his own educationist reforms, which wiped out illiteracy on the island paradise.

Perhaps the European specialists that were consulted botched the treatment. The medical arts, as practiced in Europe, must certainly be inferior to the state of the art as achieved on the island paradise.

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