Bobby Fischer: In the news again

What will the USA do about Bobby Fischer? Is Fischer wanted for murder? No. Is Fischer wanted for robbing banks? No. Is Fischer wanted for raping little girls? No. So, why does the US government want Bobby Fischer so badly???

The reason: Fischer violated US economic sanctions put in place against Yugoslavia.

No, I'm not kidding. Fischer violated sanctions. Can you believe it??? Here we live in a world where UN Officials are involved in helping Iraq violate UN sanctions on selling its oil on the open markets for cold hard cash instead of the 'Oil for Food' program ordered by the UN. So, are any of those people in jail for violating UN sanctions? No. Do we expect to see any of those officials put behind bars at anytime soon? No.

So, why is the US so hard up to throw Fischer in jail? Well, Fischer is an easy catch. Look at him. Fischer has been living as a recluse for so many years. Fischer has openly stated his contempt for the US and its government. Fischer has publicly condemned friends and allies of the US government. I won't name them here for fear that I, too, would be subjected to jail. Also, you have to know that Fischer is no fan of the Bush White House. So, there you have it in a nutshell. Fischer has pissed off too many Republicans and their world allies.

It's so funny, it hurts to see how Fischer is being treated. If the US government is so interested in bringing fugitives to justice, why don't they just look in their own backyard???

Let Fischer go. He may be a recluse and a bit of a whacko, but I don't see his crimes rising to the level of international attention it is receiving.

Here is a new story about Fischer and the way he is being treated/mistreated by the Japanese government. If you don't know anything about Jenkins, who is compared to Fischer in the story, you really need to read more newspapers.

Well, here is the story.

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Lawyer asks gov't to give Fischer the Jenkins treatment

Bobby Fischer should receive the same Japanese government handling being received by Charles Jenkins, an American fugitive in Tokyo whose lavish treatment at taxpayer's expense starkly contrasts with conditions facing the incarcerated former chess world champion, according to lawyer Masako Suzuki on Friday night.

Suzuki, Fischer's lawyer, asked immigration officials to refrain from immediately implementing a deportation order against her client, citing for the first time humane reasons brought on by the grandmaster's planned marriage to local chess champ Miyoko Watai and the case of Charles Robert Jenkins.

Her request came just before officials nixed her application to have the deportation order against Fischer rescinded, making it legally possible for the chess genius to be sent out of the country at any time.

Suzuki said immediate deportation is unlikely considering Fischer's application for refugee status and other impending moves aimed at keeping him out of the hands of the U.S. law enforcers hunting him down.

Jenkins, meanwhile, is wanted by the United States for deserting his military post and defecting to North Korea, where he met and married Hitomi Soga, a Japanese woman kidnapped by Pyongyang's secret agents.

Since leaving Pyongyang to reunite with Soga in July, Jenkins has been treated like royalty, staying in a 200,000-yen a night hotel suite in Jakarta, riding specially charted jumbo jets and receiving extensive medical treatment at one of the country's finest hospitals, with taxpayers forced to foot the hefty bills. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has publicly pledged to shelter Jenkins.

"The Japanese government is currently working passionately to ensure the United States government does not punish Jenkins for humane reasons, even though Jenkins, the wife of Japanese Hitomi Soga, is also wanted by the United States government," Suzuki said in a letter addressed to the immigration bureau. "Mr. Fischer and Miss Watai are in the same situation and should thus be accorded the same efforts on humane grounds."

Fischer, a fugitive for 12 years after being indicted for violating U.S. economic sanctions by playing a game of chess in Yugoslavia against Boris Spassky, is locked away in an immigration bureau detention center in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture.

Immigration officials arrested Fischer July 13 for using a passport the U.S. government said had been revoked.

Earlier this week, Fischer signed marriage papers, but Watai's application for the nuptials to be recognized were refused because he could not hand over his passport as required under Japanese law. U.S. officials have destroyed Fischer's passport, which he said is still perfectly valid. He has 60 days from July 14 to appeal the revocation of his passport. Fischer announced he wanted to renounce his U.S. citizenship on Aug. 6.

Meanwhile, in a related development, Watai told the Mainichi that the notoriously camera shy chess champion was not particularly happy with the world exclusive photo Mainichi photographers took of Fischer as he was being transferred to the Ushiku detention center on Aug. 10. But rather than being angry at being caught on film by a news camera for the first time in years, Fischer was upset by his appearance.

"It makes me look like Saddam Hussein," Watai quoted her fiancee as saying. (By Ryann Connell, Mainichi Daily News, Aug. 20, 2004)

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