Castro says bin Laden tape arranged by Bush to Influence the Election

 Fidel Castro says the emergence of an Osama bin Laden videotape just ahead of the U.S. presidential election seemed to have been "arranged" to help President Bush. In his first public comments about Bush's re-election, the Cuban leader said, "We have seen too much ... trickery and shamelessness to sustain the belief that this wasn't something arranged." Speaking Tuesday on the communist-run island's nightly televised "Mesa Redonda" discussion program, Castro added, "Bin Laden makes the documentaries that decide elections." He did not give any detail on how the tape could have been timed to the election. It was broadcast by the Arab television station Al-Jazeera on Oct. 29, just ahead of the Nov. 2 election. The station did not say how it received the tape. [more] and [more]