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Friday, June 18, 2004
Ring of Fire
Conrad at The Gweilo Diaries notices a week-old story from Indonesia to the effect that "British and Australian intelligence services have collected 'specific and credible information' including communications intercepts, that a team of Jemaah Islamiah operatives have -- within the past few weeks -- entered Indonesia from the Philippine island of Mindanao for purpose of assassinating Westerners.
"Ideally," he adds, "I would have read this yesterday, before I booked a ticket to Jakarta."
Don't sweat it, Conrad. The same story scrolled across TV screens last weekend while I waited in the Jakarta airport. The idea was that American, British, and Australian diplomats would be the targets of a mysterious new hit squad. For a minute I thought about delaying my flight home. What if someone did get assassinated? Would I miss a story?
A day later, when I e-mailed a friend in Jakarta about it, she sent me this article from the Sydney Morning Herald.
Terrorists, fundamentalists, bird flu, SARS, political riots, live volcanoes, pirates, the dreaded durian fruit -- all a lot of real but minor Indonesian threats that prey on the fears of bulés.
posted by Michael Scott Moore |
11:18 PM
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