BUREAUCRATIC BUNGLING?
<And the reason we did nothing when Fischer renewed the pass****t in
Switzerland, but rather waited until he was in Japan ?> -- Mike Murray
>Good question. Likely bureaucratic bungling. I don't see how it is really
relevant, though.> -- David Kane
>I don't think it was bungling. From what I've read, the Swiss
wouldn't have held him, but our government folks knew the Japanese
Japanese would.> -- Mike Murray
FROM TIME MAGAZINE
Fischer spat on a letter from the U.S. Treasury Department telling him
not to play. He beat Spassky and pocketed a $3.35 million prize, and a
U.S. federal warrant was issued for his arrest. Faced with a possible
penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for violating
America's economic sanctions, he has never returned to the States.
For more than a decade, Fischer crisscrossed the globe, passing
through Hungary, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Macau and South Korea. By
2000, Japan and the Philippines had become his primary home bases, and
he re****tedly reveled in the relative anonymity they afforded him. Yet
Fischer never truly went into hiding. He traveled using his real
identity and pass****t, and he twice dared to pass directly under the
U.S. government's nose. In 1997, Fischer renewed his pass****t at the
U.S. embassy in Bern, Switzerland, and he returned there in 2003 to
get 20 new pass****t pages.
Nor was he shy about using the media to express his views. He made 21
live radio appearances from 1999-2003, mostly in the Philippines.
During these spots he would rail against the worldwide Jewish and
American conspiracies supposedly out to ruin him, calling the Jews
"filthy, lying bastard people" and the U.S. a "brutal, evil
dictator****p." When the World Trade Center was destroyed on Sept. 11,
2001, he announced on Philippine radio: "This is wonderful news. I
applaud the act ... I want to see the U.S. wiped out."
It's not clear why the U.S. has chosen to pursue Fischer more
vigorously after all these years. Japan's immigration authorities
detained him as he attempted to board a flight from Tokyo to Manila,
acting on a letter from the U.S. State Department, which notified them
that his pass****t had been revoked in November 2003. John Bosnitch, a
Canadian journalist and consultant in Japan who has founded an
organization called the Committee to Free Bobby Fischer, says the
U.S.'s invalidation of Fischer's pass****t did not follow due process
because Fischer was not properly notified of the action, nor of his
right to a 60-day appeal period. As Fischer's alleged crime is not an
extraditable offense in Japan, the U.S. is trying to get Fischer back
through what Bosnitch calls a "backdoor extradition" via de****tation.
Others counter that a U.S. pass****t is government property and must be
surrendered upon request. "The U.S. government has the right to take
your pass****t back at any time," says Stephen Givens, a Tokyo-based
American lawyer. "Fischer can contest that if they screwed up in the
process, sent notice to the wrong address or whatever. But they can go
through that procedure again. That's no problem."
In the meantime, Fischer languishes in an immigration detention center
in the city of U****ku, about 50 km from the air****t where he was
nabbed. Japan's Minister of Justice is expected to rule in the next
few weeks on Fischer's appeal against de****tation....
With re****ting by Coco Masters/Tokyo
http://tinyurl.com/6lvl5k
Mike Murray wrote:
> On Wed, 14 May 2008 09:58:50 -0700, "David Kane"
> <davidekane@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> >not sure about the indictment text
> >but I've seen it somewhere but don't have the link handy. Jurgen just
quoted the
> >text so it is out there.
>
> Yeah, actually, I found several links after I asked my question.
> Should have searched first, I guess. Here's one:
>
> http://www.chesscity.com/Features/indictment.html
>
> >> And the reason we did nothing when Fischer renewed the pass****t in
> >> Switzerland, but rather waited until he was in Japan ?
>
> >Good question. Likely bureaucratic bungling. I don't see how
> >it is really relevant, though.
>
> I don't think it was bungling. From what I've read, the Swiss
> wouldn't have held him, but our government folks knew the Japanese
> would.
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