BUREAUCRATIC BUNGLING?

And the reason we did nothing when Fischer renewed the passport 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 reportedly reveled in the relative anonymity they afforded him. Yet
Fischer never truly went into hiding. He traveled using his real
identity and passport, and he twice dared to pass directly under the
U.S. government's nose. In 1997, Fischer renewed his passport at the
U.S. embassy in Bern, Switzerland, and he returned there in 2003 to
get 20 new passport 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 ******* people" and the U.S. a "brutal, evil
dictatorship." 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that his passport had been revoked in November 2003.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 passport 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 deportation.
Others counter that a U.S. passport is government property and must be
surrendered upon request. "The U.S. government has the right to take
your passport 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 Ushiku, about 50 km from the airport where he was
nabbed. Japan's Minister of Justice is expected to rule in the next
few weeks on Fischer's appeal against deportation....

With reporting by Coco Masters/Tokyo

http://tinyurl.com/6lvl5k




Mike Murray wrote:
On Wed, 14 May 2008 09:58:50 -0700, "David Kane"
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 passport 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.

wrote in message
...
BUREAUCRATIC BUNGLING?

And the reason we did nothing when Fischer renewed the passport 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 reportedly reveled in the relative anonymity they afforded him. Yet
Fischer never truly went into hiding. He traveled using his real
identity and passport, and he twice dared to pass directly under the
U.S. government's nose. In 1997, Fischer renewed his passport at the
U.S. embassy in Bern, Switzerland, and he returned there in 2003 to
get 20 new passport 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 ******* people" and the U.S. a "brutal, evil
dictatorship." 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 passport 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 passport 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 deportation.
Others counter that a U.S. passport is government property and must be
surrendered upon request. "The U.S. government has the right to take
your passport 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 Ushiku, about 50 km from the airport where he was
nabbed. Japan's Minister of Justice is expected to rule in the next
few weeks on Fischer's appeal against deportation....

With reporting by Coco Masters/Tokyo

http://tinyurl.com/6lvl5k



Interestingly, the only alleged "wrongdoing" of the US governement,
if it can be called that, is that they didn't inform Fischer of his right to
appeal the passport action. (Never mind that no grounds for appeal
have even been offered by the apologists) This in turn is based on
the absurd idea that the U.S. failure to keep track of the whereabouts
of Fischer when in foreign countries denied him "due process".
Moreover even that claim is not supported factually. If you read
Fischer's interactions with his Swiss bank, he clearly lacked
the mental function to understand and reply to correspondence -
it seems quite plausible that Fischer was informed, but, as in the
UBS matter, chose not to understand.

As an observer of human nature, it is always interesting to see
the extremes of illogic that people are willing to employ!