Obama, BP's Mess and America's Mess

Obama is furious about BP's mess in the Gulf of Mexico and rightly so. Lucky for him it was not an American oil company. Mind you, he seems to be overlooking the fact that BP bought Amoco, American Oil Company, in 1998 and all its American assets including personnel who were prominent in this current fiasco. Is Obama in this new political zest for cleaning up America's mess overlooking American military waste in Indochina that has been adversely affecting lives there for 40 years, not just reducing their income but reducing their lifespan? What if Laos, Viet Nam and Cambodia decided it was time to put their foot on America's neck and insist they clean up their mess and not one penny to be picked up by their governments and taxpayers and every one affected by the contamination by UXO's sue the American government for loss of life and livelihood in a xenophobic frenzy? Ha, that'll be the day Democracy reaches the United States of America.

Educating Nate Thayer by Al Rockoff and Project Pineapple

Nate Thayer came over to say hi. There were only staff in the FCCT, Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, no customers. He didn't need to introduce himself by name. This is the man who interviewed Pol Pot after an 18 year absence, the same year he died. He also interviewed Duch, the executioner of thousands in torture camps, found by photographer Nick Dunlop working for ARC, American Refugee Committee. Duch is presently being tried for Crimes Against Humanity, awaiting sentencing. I worked for ARC 1998-1999 on the Cambodian border supplying two refugee camps with water.

It was during the Red Shirt occupation of down town commercial centre of Bangkok in which FCCT is located that we met and hung out for a couple of weeks last month, May. I rode my bike through two Red Shirt check points to an empty car park surrounded by a linked barrier fence. The bike is of course not the Minsk which I sold in Phnom Penh last year but my old faithful Yamaha DT 200. Built for dirt track, it works well in this city riding through the sunken manhole covers and drains, mounting the high kerbs when the traffic jam is too dense to get through. Whizz along the pavements through accommodating pedestrians. Everyone does it, if they've got big wheels.

In pursuit of Pol Pot and other stories, Nate had made a heavily armed elephant ride, a convoy of four, the only way to safely travel through Cambodia's Ratanakiri Province during the Khmer Rouge strife. This is the intersection point. I too had ridden my Minsk along unpaved trails somewhat improved through the same territory only last year in search of a different story, one generation earlier. The Viet Nam story of the Ho Chi Minh Trail and it being carpet bombed with clusters.

"Clusters bombs?" Nate questioned, being more familiar with the widespread use of landmines in the Khmer Rouge war mongering days. "Yes" chipped in Al, "along the Ho Chi Minh trail in the north east and around Phnom Penh too". Al Rockoff is an old Cambodia and Viet Nam hand, a respected photographer. He's the one played by John Malkovich in the Killing Fields. Have a look: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Rockoff

So there you are. Project Pineapple's purpose was to raise awareness of the Cluster Bomb issue. A well worn journalist such as Nate who was focused on the Khmer Rouge problem with Pol Pot and Duch was surprised to learn of their use in Cambodia. Imagine the ignorance remaining in the minds of most who have far less possibility to be aware.

So children in the carpert bombed areas continue to die every month, around 10 'on average'. Now at least one more is aware of this little publicised fact, Nate Thayer.

To read Nate's story go to: http://www.cybercambodia.com/dachs/killing/polpot.html

Among his peers, Nate Thayer is known as "a man with a mission, a mobile, and an AK-47". In his yet to be published book, Sympathy For the Devil, he recounts his search for Pol Pot, Duch and other tales. Nate kindly offered me some sections of the manuscript over which to cast an eye. A good read.

One Year Anniversary, the Minsk

It has just passed. At the end of May last year I rode into Phnom Penh to end the over 7000 kilometer ride along the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laos, Viet Nam and Cambodia to help raise awareness of the Cluster Bomb issue. It was planned only to be about 3500 kilometers but with invitations and detours it extended. Ride one, get one free.

The final few hundreds of meters brought me to a guest house not far from Phnom Penh Post. To my surprise, I saw two other Minsk motorbikes sitting outside. Chatting with the guys they said a friend was arriving soon looking to buy one too. Saddle sore, I gladly offered my Minsk.

Next day while hugging the toilet with my only bout of bad belly, another guy whom I'd helped repair his Yamaha turned up with Aussie Tom looking for a Minsk. After talking to his Dad back home and viewing this blog he agreed to buy it.

Next day, yahoo, I was on a bus to Angkor Wat. It was raining so, yahoo, I didn't have to take shelter. I could doze without the possiblity of being wiped out by ten wheeled truck, yahoo. I was grateful to Tom for relieving me of my extended marathon.

Earlier this year I was on a trip in Indonesia. While walking along the beach road in south Kuta, Bali, noticing the developments from three years earlier, through my day dreaming I heard, Robert, then more loudly, ROBERT, as a hand came down on my right shoulder. It was Tom. A great reunion with him and his brother.

Tom was refused exit by the Cambodian border guards. He was aware of the 1500 kilometer detour I had to make coming from the Vietnamese side. He ignored the guards and pushed the Minsk through to the Vietnamese side. The Cambodians called him back only to stamp his passport. Ha, attaboy, he was on his way. The Minsk had Vietnam plates so possible to do it that direction.

After two months of touring Vietnam with his two friends, Tom sold the Project Pineapple Minsk in Hanoi. Who knows where it is now. Anybody know?