Well the arseness has finally come to an end......I just have to shake mih head in wonderment yes.....the thing that struck me most about this whole thing is that people who supposed to be able to think logically and see through dotishness was supporting this madness......that is the thing that struck me the most. The only thing I have been able to come up with is that we had really reach the depths of desperation.......
One a related note, here's one commentator's take on Gary Griffith's interview in the Guns, Drugs and secrets video and the SOE by extension.....
Big fish, little fish and an ocean of lies
By Michael HarrisA friend has forwarded to me the link containing the interview which National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, Capt Gary Griffith, gave to a reporter from the UK in which he seemed to imply that the
Judiciary in this country had corrupt persons. That statement by Capt Griffith was roundly condemned by the Judiciary in an official response and Capt Griffith was forced to apologise.
But while the contempt for the judiciary which could have been inferred from Capt Griffith's statement captured the news headlines, certain even more significant and frightening aspects of his responses to the interviewer have been completely overlooked.
Capt Griffith's statements came at the tail-end of a video documentary entitled Guns, Drugs and Secrets aired by Channel Four in the UK and featured this country's State of Emergency. The question put by the Channel Four reporter Seyi Rhodes to Capt Griffith was as follows: "It's probably no surprise to you to hear that every person I speak to in Trinidad, when I ask them where the drugs and the guns come from, they tell me that the ports, the customs authorities, the Coast Guard and the police are a 100 per cent involved in the trafficking of drugs and guns. Why are you not focusing on that?"
Capt Griffith replied: "Every country in the world will have corrupt police officers, will have corrupt persons in the Judiciary, will have corrupt politicians. That is not an avenue to call a State of Emergency. We needed a State of Emergency to stop law abiding citizens of this country from being killed." (For the benefit of my readers who may wish to view the documentary themselves I am inserting the web address
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/unreported-world/4od#3259570.
What, apart from his comments about the Judiciary, is particularly stunning about Capt Griffith's response is the admission that the SoE was never intended to capture the "big fish" in the guns and drugs trade. How else are we to interpret his statement that corruption "is not an avenue to call a State of Emergency"?
But if that statement was not enough, Capt Griffith, who was described by the reporter as "one of the architects of the State of Emergency and one of its most outspoken supporters", went on to state that dealing with the big fish is a matter for legislation and reminded the reporter that such legislation in the UK "took years to be implemented".
This startling admission by Capt Griffith that the State of Emergency was never intended to capture any "big fish" has to be placed in the context of the fact that from the very beginning of the SoE there have been numerous voices raised questioning the fact that only "little fish" were being arrested and carted off to jail while there was not a single case of the arrest of a "big fish". Indeed this argument was taken further by some people to suggest that it was only persons from the areas of opposition PNM support (read "young black men") who were being arrested.
This widespread perception prompted the Express in its editorial of September 3 to write as follows: "This does not negate the concern that the individuals being held are only "small fry" and the big fish are more likely to live in upper-class areas and even belong to a non-Afro ethnic group.
After all, if it is the drug trade which is directly or indirectly behind most violent crimes in T&T, then that trade cannot function without white-collar functionaries. These big fish must certainly be hooked at some point if the Government is to justify the State of Emergency." It was the same Capt Griffith who, in response to a charge from Opposition Leader, Keith Rowley, soon after the SoE was implemented, that the Government was playing favourites in its selection of curfew areas, stated that, "Dr Rowley should cease his feeble attempt at throwing red herrings, when this Government is busy trying to catch big fish."
And it was the ever-garrulous Attorney General, Anand Ramlogan, who sought to reassure the population that the Government was indeed going after the "big fish" by arguing that "The idea that we are not going after the big fish is not correct, you know.
"People seem to think that these gang leaders and these gangs are small fries. The gangs that we are after are big fish."
In the light of all of this, Capt Griffith's statement to the UK interviewer that the SoE was never intended to go after the "big fish" can mean one of two things.
It can be taken either as a post facto justification of the failure of the SoE, or it can mean that from the very beginning the Government was feeding the population a diet of lies.
In this context, and given the latest allegations about a plot to assassinate the Prime Minister and other Ministers, we would do well to note a statement made by the Attorney General as far back as November 2, in an address to an international conference on Gangs, Violence and Governance, held at the Learning Resource Centre at the St Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies.
On that occasion the AG had this to say: "One of the worrying trends picked up during the State of Emergency was not just the quantity of arms and ammunition that were recovered, but it had to do with the quality, the high-range, high-powered, sophisticated nature of some of the weapons.. I am advised by our security agencies that some of the guns that were recovered have a range and capability that make it a joke to assassinate a president or a prime minister."
Of course it may be that our Attorney General is a very astute and prescient individual.
Or it may just be that our Government has the entire country swimming in an ocean of lies. You be the judge.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/commentaries/Big_fish__little_fish_and_an_ocean_of_lies-135006948.html