Blunderov
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"We think in generalities, we live in details"
  
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RE: virus: Bobby Fischer freed.
« on: 2005-03-28 13:21:31 » |
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[Blunderov] Bobby Fischer has completed his anabasis and returned to
Iceland. An interesting passage from the saga:
http://www.chessville.com/News/RJFCommittee_Iceland_OpenLetterUSAmbassad
or.htm
An Open Letter, Written on Behalf of the the RJF COMMITTEE - Iceland
TO THE AMERICAN AMBASSADOR
- SECOND REQUEST
Dear Mr. Ambassador,
For three months you have delayed in providing an answer to the simple
question of who, other than Bobby Fischer, has been indicted for
violating the so-called economic sanctions against the countries
formerly known as Yugoslavia. After the media's unveiling, former
President Bill Clinton has been unable to do otherwise than to admit
your government's violation of those same sanctions.
But as you know, the violations of the United States government did not
involve playing chess. The US government's violations involved paving
the way for arms shipments to the very battlefields of the bloody war
being fought in that country. Even if there were no other reason to call
the proceedings a travesty, it is abundantly clear that any trial held
over the act of playing chess would instantly dissolve into pure farce,
as Fischer's inevitable companions at the defendants' table would be
former US cabinet members.
You must surely be able to explain why it can be considered a more
serious violation of economic sanctions to play chess in full view of
the entire world than to engage in the clandestine shipment of arms. If
that is too much to ask, then as a minimum, it must be possible for you
to provide information on why 8 months have proven insufficient time for
your administration to show - much less, to prove - that Fischer's
passport was revoked in a normal and lawful manner. You can hardly
expect us to believe that the man can be held like an animal in a cage
for 8 months without there being a sensible explanation of such a
crucial aspect of the case.
Instead of demonstrating genuine diplomacy and answering honestly, you
made it a priority to meet with Iceland's Minister for Foreign Affairs
in order to express your disapprobation that a free and independent
nation should have the audacity to offer an old friend a residence
permit. Looking back, it is obvious that the minister should have taken
you seriously to task for such inappropriate interference in Iceland's
domestic affairs. But very likely it caught him entirely off guard that
you had actually come to meet with him on such an unworthy errand.
Now that Bobby Fischer has spent 8 months in a Japanese dungeon, the
latest news is that your administration has given up on its original
tack of pursuing him on the previously stated grounds for his arrest;
the new twist is that they intend instead to create a new and totally
unrelated claim against him: a tax-related case that they are hoping to
be able to present in court on April 5 of this year. In order to
camouflage the blatant abuse of judicial procedure already committed,
they have decided to dig up old tax returns in the hope of using them to
ruin the life a man who is best known for having, through his
accomplishments, given millions of young people immeasurable
satisfaction and kept them away from the corrosive effects of life on
the streets.
We recognize the tactics. How many people's lives did you ruin with just
these techniques during the government-driven persecution campaign that
you later chose to hang on a single drunken senator? You saw a communist
in virtually every thinking individual during that debacle. And now it's
Cold War hero Bobby Fischer who is threatening world peace by no longer
professing doctrinally correct opinions on your administrative policies
and activities, and the ensuing nightmare is characterized by a
vindictiveness and a prison camp mentality that are unparalleled in
Western history since the time of World War II.
Honorable Mr. Ambassador. If you should be tempted to assert that this
case is being driven forward by respect for the law, it would not be
inappropriate for you to tell us how many American heroes have been in
exile for 13 years for their art - how many of them have been unable
even to attend the funerals of their nearest, and only, relatives.
It would be worth the trouble if you told us how common it is that your
countrymen are held in cages for 8 months without the government's being
able to show that their arrest and suffering are based on normal and
lawful grounds. And finally, it is unavoidable that you inform us how
common it has become once again that American government officials hop
from one point of defense to another instead of sticking fast to their
formally presented reasons for arresting a man and depriving him of his
freedom.
For three months, Bobby Fischer's supporters have awaited answers to
these questions. Instead of providing those answers, you have wielded
your pen to extol the excellence of your own government; indeed, you
have been eloquent in the service of that goal. But as long as you
choose to remain silent on the subject of the way your government has
treated Bobby Fischer, it is hardly possible to draw any conclusion
other than that you actually agree with us when we maintain that this
treatment represents an inhumane attack on a fellow human being.
With your silence, you have actually said more, and spoken more clearly,
than can be done through diplomatic address. For that, at least, we must
thank you and the American authorities.
Gardar Sverrisson
The author is a political scientist
with an MFA degree from
the University of Arizona.
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