Bin Laden is a CIA agent, Castro says

(August 28, Havana, Sri Lanka Guardian) Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has said al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is a US agent used by former US President George W. Bush to scare the world.

"Any time Bush would stir up fear and make a big speech, bin Laden would appear threatening people with a story about what he was going to do," Castro said on Friday, AP reported.

The former Cuban leader added that Bush had bin Laden's full support. "Bush never lacked for bin Laden's support. He was a subordinate."

Castro says US military documents on the Afghan war recently released by whistle-blower website WikiLeaks have effectively proven that bin Laden is a CIA agent.

Castro officially stepped down in February 2008, and Cuba's National Assembly elected his brother Raul Castro as the new president.

Castro, who turned 84 on August 13, returned to public life on July 7 after four years of convalescence from a serious illness.