CARACAS, 24 December 2003 — The US-led invasion of Iraq was aimed at taking control of the country’s oil, Cuban President Fidel Castro told Venezuelan state television in an interview shown yesterday.

“There is no moral argument, no possible justification to invade a country,” said the veteran communist leader.

“The United Nations did not agree on it; rather the most powerful nation agreed to invade (Iraq): the main objective, let us be totally honest, was to win an essential raw material which is called petroleum,” said Castro, who made a quick trip to Venezuela’s La Orchila island in the Caribbean yesterday, invited by his closest regional ally, President Hugo Chavez.

“The arguments they have used to justify the invasion are not valid,” Castro argued.

“They accused them of having weapons of mass destruction and they are the ones who have a monopoly on weapons of mass destruction. Yes, everybody has weapons of mass destruction, but there is a club that has nuclear weapons,” he said. “No weapons of mass destruction have even been found,” Castro said. “Saddam (Hussein) might have had some and destroyed them.”