New questions raised about Castro's health

New questions raised about Castro's health: "New questions raised about Castro's health
U.S. intelligence sources say Cuban leader has terminal cancer, Time magazine reports.
By John Shinal

Sunday, October 08, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO — U.S. intelligence officials think that Cuban President Fidel Castro has terminal cancer and won't return to power, according to a report in Time magazine. The Cuban government has maintained that he will retake his post after he recovers from abdominal surgery that he had in July.
'Certainly we have heard this, that this guy has terminal cancer,' one U.S. official said.
On July 31, Castro released a statement saying that the surgery to stop intestinal bleeding 'obliges me to spend several weeks in repose, away from my responsibilities as leader.'
But Castro's 75-year-old brother, Raul Castro, is still serving as acting president, which has some in the intelligence community thinking that the Cuban government wanted Fidel Castro, 80, off the public stage before his death to gauge reaction to his absence.
Time cited several recent developments that it called 'signs of Raul's increasing prominence,' including his first televised national speech and his hosting of a meeting of local, provisional and national leaders.
However, U.S. intelligence reports on Cuba have repeatedly been wrong during the 47 years that Fidel Castro has been in power, reaching back to flawed assessments of opposition supp"