WikiLeaks and the war in Afghanistan

The New Yorker

by Amy Davidson August 9, 2010

Last September, an assessment of the war in Afghanistan, by the American commander General Stanley McChrystal, was leaked to the press. The timing was not incidental. President Obama was trying to make up his mind about what kind of war he wanted to wage, for how long, and with how many soldiers. McChrystal had a definite opinion: the best way to win was to send forty-five thousand more troops to Afghanistan—the sooner the better.

That same month, American soldiers in Balkh Province, in the north of Afghanistan, were planning a search-and-clear operation. It was not going well. According to a report written by a member of Task Force Warrior, a unit of the 10th Mountain Division, local civilians would not coöperate, whereupon Afghan soldiers and policemen “harassed and beat” them. The area’s residents “had a negative opinion” of their nation’s security forces, the writer noted. A police district commander

is reported to have had forcible sexual contact with a 16 ye old AC [Afghan civilian] female. When AC from the area went to complain to the ANP [Afghan National Police] district commander about the incident, the district commander ordered his body guard to open fire on the AC. The body guard refused at which time the district commander shot him in front of the AC.

This dispatch was one of some seventy-six thousand classified American military documents, mostly field reports, released online by WikiLeaks, an organization committed to making secrets public. (The group says that, at the insistence of its source, it delayed the publication of fifteen thousand other documents as part of “a harm minimization process”; still, the names of some Afghan informants were posted.) WikiLeaks gave the Times, the Guardian, and Der Spiegel an advance look at the entire archive, which covers events from January, 2004, to December, 2009, in every corner of Afghanistan.

Almost immediately, a consensus emerged that little in the files was actually secret or new. There is something to that. We did know, in a general sense, much of what they document: that the regime of President Hamid Karzai is corrupt and unpopular, that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency has ties to the Taliban, that too many civilians are dying. There had been reports, including some in this magazine, of targeted killings. And we knew that the Afghan security forces were a disaster, even after we had spent twenty-seven billion dollars to train them. But knowing specifically what happened to a sixteen-year-old girl and to the man who stood up to her alleged rapist—and knowing that her attacker may have been in a position to do what he did because he was backed by our troops and our money—is different.

And what do we still not know? The documents are labelled in various ways, among them whether an incident involved an “enemy” or a “friend.” The Balkh report is marked “enemy,” and it does mention insurgents killing a motorist. But the designation, of this and many of the other reports, raises a larger question: Do we know who in Afghanistan is our enemy and who is our friend? Al Qaeda is our enemy, of course, but after that the lines get blurry. Is a police chief who might chase insurgents one day but creates more of them by alienating the civilian population the next our enemy or our friend? When our soldiers go to the chief’s village and are met with hostility, whose fight are they walking into?

The Afghan security forces apparently can’t tell their friends from their enemies, either. In February, 2008, according to one report, an Afghan policeman “was in the public shower smoking hash” when two Afghan National Army guys walked in. That sounds like the setup for a joke, but the punch line wasn’t funny: the policeman “felt threatened and a fire fight occurred.” In September, 2007, Afghan soldiers went looking for five policemen who had abandoned their post and, minutes later, brought one of them back with a bullet in his head. “Their story is that they tried to fire a warning shot and accidentally hit [the policeman],” the report notes. The area’s entire police force was then “withdrawn to prevent an attempted honor killing.” Both shootings are categorized as “friendly fire.”

If the problem were just undisciplined local units, then a solution that McChrystal advocated—more money and more training—might have a chance. So might a recent plan to set up another police force. But the confusion of friends and enemies goes much deeper. We pay Pakistan a billion dollars a year to fight the Taliban and other insurgents, and yet the WikiLeaks archive is riddled with reports like one from May, 2007, about the I.S.I. sending the Haqqani network, which regularly attacks American forces, “1000 motorcycles” for suicide bombers. More fundamentally, our counterinsurgency strategy relies on strengthening Karzai—“our friend and ally,” as Obama referred to him in May. But many Afghan civilians don’t regard him as their friend, and they associate us with his failings. Karzai’s own friends include dubious warlords, who serve in his government; his brother Ahmed Wali Karzai, the provincial council leader in Kandahar Province, is allegedly involved in criminal enterprises. (He has denied it.)

Last week, the White House stressed that much had changed in the seven months since the final entry in the WikiLeaks files. And that is true: we are now more deeply enmeshed in Afghanistan. Obama has doubled the number of troops there, and more are dying—more than sixty were killed in July, the highest monthly toll for Americans since the war began. McChrystal was fired in June, but Obama emphasized that his successor, David Petraeus, would pursue the same strategy. An experiment in being stern about high-level corruption ended with Karzai musing about joining the Taliban and the Administration backing down. Karzai’s initial reaction to the files bespeaks a sense of impunity. His spokesman, Waheed Omar, “was asked whether there was anything in the leaked documents that angered Mr. Karzai or that he thought unfair,” the Times reported. “No, I don’t think so,” Omar said.

Some American observers similarly implied that the lack of broad revelations rendered the contents of the files insignificant. In an Op-Ed for the Times, Andrew Exum, a former Army officer and adviser to McChrystal, wrote that one might “be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss is about.” The Washington Post reported that a “dismissive attitude dominated the national security think tanks.” The Wall Street Journal noted, in an editorial, “Among the many nonscoops in the documents, we learn that war is hell.” The prevailing view in those quarters was that there is no alternative: this is the war we have. But perhaps the leaked documents will persuade us to challenge that sense of resignation. We could reëxamine other proposals, like the one for a pared-down campaign narrowly focussed on hunting Al Qaeda—a plan that McChrystal’s leaked report helped quash. We might even decide, nine years after our arrival, that it is time to leave Afghanistan.

ILLUSTRATION: TOM BACHTELL

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2010/08/09/100809taco_talk_davidson?printable=true#ixzz0vY2N0cLi

The spirit of Sudirman

Inside Indonesia

A mural competition in Yogyakarta sees Indonesians reinterpreting their revolutionary past in the light of present concerns

Matthew Woolgar

Between midnight and 4am on 15 November 2009 approximately 2000 people took part in ‘Yogya Wall Nation’, a mural competition held in the centre of Yogyakarta. The participants produced around 500 murals for the competition which were then displayed for several weeks along the length of Jalan Malioboro, a famous shopping stretch in central Yogyakarta.
The theme of the mural display was 'The Spirit of Sudirman' - Sudirman being the first Commander in Chief of the Indonesian armed forces. He is also officially recognised in Indonesia as a national hero for his role in the revolutionary struggle against the Dutch.

One competition, many motivations

The competition was organised with the involvement of local army units and the Yogyakarta city government. Registration took place in army posts and the army also provided logistical support, for example installing the completed murals on bamboo frames along Jalan Malioboro. Indeed, the idea for the competition emerged during inspections of student accommodation by the army and police forces as part of an anti-terrorism exercise.
Lieutenant Colonel Arudji Anwar explained that most student rooms were ‘without posters of the Indonesian heroes who founded the nation’. He saw, however, ‘lots of posters of people from foreign countries’, which deeply concerned him. This led to the idea of a mural contest as a means to raise consciousness of, and pride in, Indonesian national heroes.
If for the army the competition offered the opportunity to promote its national heroes, for the city government the competition supported their efforts to develop Yogyakarta as a centre for culture and tourism. In particular, the competition provided the chance to help develop Yogyakarta's reputation as a 'city of murals'. This is part of a wider effort that has seen the local authorities commission street art around the city, for example, to mark Yogyakarta’s Biennial celebrations.
Although the competition was aimed at young people, it drew participants from diverse backgrounds. Competitors ranged from tattooed punks to policemen and came from as far away as Bali and Sumatra. They were partly drawn by the attraction of cash prizes for the winning murals, with a total of Rp.21,000,000 (A$2500) to be divided between six prize-winning murals. More importantly however, the competition offered them the chance to express their own interpretation of Indonesia’s past.

One spirit, many interpretations

The theme of the event gave competitors wide scope to re-interpret the life of Sudirman and the Indonesian national struggle. The organisers judged the images against values they took to represent the 'Spirit of Sudirman': a refusal to give up, simplicity or modesty and a willingness to make sacrifices for the nation.
In practice, however, participants used the contest’s theme as a stimulus to tackle a range of concerns about present Indonesian politics together with its society and culture. Murals dealt with issues in the news at that time or with local significance, as well as exploring the themes of national and cultural identity.
Corruption was a theme of a number of murals. This issue had particular potency because the contest took place not long after evidence had emerged implicating the police and public prosecutors in a conspiracy to frame two leaders of the Corruption Eradication Commission, which sparked demonstrations across the country. In the above mural the simplicity of Sudirman's life is contrasted with the greed of corrupt officials. The text on the right reads 'General Sudirman persevered in struggling for independence, a modest man and leader.' The lead rat is saying 'I'm the king of state corruption.'
Education was another prominent theme, given its special importance for Yogyakarta, which is known as a centre of learning and is home to a large number of institutions of higher education, including the prestigious Gadjah Mada University.
Some of the complexities of the influence of western culture were evident in the use of the figure Superman. The first image shows Sudirman, on the left, facing Superman as an equal. Sudirman is wearing a blangkon, a type of Javanese headdress. Behind him are bamboo spears, weapons that are particularly associated in Indonesia with the struggle for independence. The caption reads 'A great and mature nation is a nation that values its heroes.' In the second, Sudirman, again wearing a blangkon, tears back his Superman suit to reveal a batik-style design. The caption reads 'It’s time we were proud of our own culture.'
Insecurity about Indonesian cultural identity was apparent in several images. The caption in the above image reads: 'Struggling to defend Indonesian culture’. The inclusion of a dancing woman is particularly significant. Earlier in 2009 a widely publicised dispute erupted over the use of the Balinese Pendet dance in Malaysian tourism adverts. Many Indonesians felt this was a case of Malaysia trying to 'steal' Indonesian culture. Other symbols of Indonesian cultural identity are visible in the background: on the left is a becak and at the top of the image are two signs for shops selling batik.
Several murals, including this one, had captions in Javanese, demonstrating the enduring significance of a distinctly Javanese culture in Yogyakarta. The caption of the above image encourages people to act themselves in defence of the culture rather than leaving the work to others.
Others, such as the one above, interpreted the spirit of Sudirman as a journey striving towards a bright future for the nation. However, there was also a note of uncertainty about what that future would entail. The mural below highlights this uncertainty. The caption asks where Indonesia is, or should be, heading.
Yogya Wall Nation was a great success, attracting more participants than were expected and bringing together people from diverse backgrounds. The organisers were so impressed that they extended the length of time the murals were displayed and there are plans to make the competition an annual event. Contestants became involved for various reasons but the contest acted as a focus to bring these disparate groups together.
A key attraction for the artists was the opportunity to freely express their particular view on the importance of the ‘spirit of Sudirman’. The result was that the competition's theme acted as a starting point to make varied statements about a whole range of pressing issues, showing how vibrantly Indonesia's past and present are being contested in post-reformasi Indonesia.
Matthew Woolgar (matthew.woolgar@googlemail.com) graduated in History from the University of Oxford. He is currently in Yogyakarta studying Indonesian language.

Playing with the past

Inside Indonesia

Critics say it’s just a fad but some young upper middle-class Indonesians are rediscovering forgotten histories

Yatun Sastramidjaja

Authentic costumes make for authentic fun Yatun Sastramidjaja

Young Indonesians, particularly those of the urban middle class, are often criticised for being indifferent to their history, spending all their time in malls and being more interested in western pop culture than local heritage. However, recently new communities have emerged that seek to raise historical awareness and appreciation among their peers by showing them that history is interesting, cool and fun. These groups of young ‘history and heritage lovers’, as they call themselves, have created a remarkable trend which has spread to many cities in Indonesia. Now, history is the new hip in urban youth culture and heritage sites are the new place-to-be.

This trend has taken root especially in Jakarta, closely followed by Bandung, because of its high density of historical sites and museums. These young people are not drawn to just any museum. They are keen to explore those that focus on the colonial past, not those established by the New Order state in support of the official version of national history. For many of Jakarta’s clued-up youth, the proper place for dating is no longer McDonalds but the National Museum, which was founded by the Dutch to house ethnographic and archaeological collections from across the archipelago. Likewise, their favourite hang-outs alternate between the up-market Pondok Indah Mall in south Jakarta and the rundown colonial district of Kota Tua (Old Town) in the poverty-stricken north of the city. These sites of the colonial past used to be seen as grim places to avoid. But these days, throngs of young people regularly go there to rediscover forgotten histories – and have great fun while they’re at it.
Learning through fun

It is no coincidence that this trend emerged in the era of reformasi, a time when the official version of national history is being contested. Growing attention to suppressed histories in leading media such as Tempo has made people aware of the gaps in history as it is taught in schools or through other official channels, yet this has not led to any official historical revision. History is still associated with the state and the more the state version is proven to be flawed, the more people distrust official programs to raise historical awareness. No one understands this better than the young people, mostly university students, who have founded their own history communities.

Among the first and most popular of these is Sahabat Museum (Friends of the Museum), which better known as Batmus, like the action figure Batman, or so members joke. It was founded in 2002 by a Dutch Literature student at the University of Indonesia, as a way of doing what he liked to do best: exploring the city’s forgotten histories and spreading his passion among ‘mall-addicted’ friends. Previously, he had assisted in the organisation of an official heritage trail in Kota Tua, run by the Jakarta History Museum, but left as he felt that it was ‘too government-style’. He then decided to organise his own heritage trails, called Plesiran Tempo Doeloe (Old Days Fun Trip), punning on the Dutch word for fun (plezier) and playing up the irony of the term tempo doeloe (good old days) as the key phrase of Dutch-Indies colonial nostalgia.

In these Tempo Doeloe Fun Trips young people visit museums and heritage sites in Jakarta and other places across the country. There have also been trips to Singapore and a trip to the Netherlands is being planned. As the name suggests fun is central to these heritage trails, but the underlying purpose is very much educational – not in the sense of merely teaching historical facts, but of opening young people’s minds to historical places as a source of fascinating stories that still matter. A senior expert is usually invited along, who can tell lively stories about places for which there is no room in a class curriculum.

The principle of learning though fun is also the foundation of another popular group, the Indonesian History Community (KHI), which was founded in 2003 by a history student at the Jakarta National University. He too had been involved in the heritage trail of the Jakarta History Museum and similarly felt that a different approach was needed to reach the younger generations. KHI organises heritage trails and other historical events that are at once ‘recreational, educational and entertaining’, so as to create an atmosphere where ‘history sticks to the heart’. Their intent is to ‘build cultural and historical awareness’, with the objective to ‘foster critical minds’. But the main attraction is fun.

This mixture is most clearly reflected in KHI’s night events in Kota Tua. In 2009 they hosted the world’s first ‘museum sleepover’ in the Mandiri Bank Museum. This year they organised a midnight trail from the Maritime Museum, via the Ciliwung River, to the colonial warehouse district where they spent the night watching movies that painted a critical picture of the colonial era from a Dutch point of view. The advertisement said, ‘Wuah, what a cool event!’ But the thrill is eventually meant to trigger discussion.

Batmus and KHI boast around three thousand members each, registered on mailing lists and social networking sites, and their events can attract as many as five hundred participants. Following their success, similar groups have been set up in Jakarta and other cities, with names like Komunitas Jelajah Budaya (Cultural Exploration Community), Klub Tempo Doeloe or Mooi Bandoeng de Indische Plezier Compagnie (Beautiful Bandung the Indies Fun Company, in Dutch). Each has its own style and attracts its own, though often overlapping, following. But they all play up a sense of youthful enthusiasm and open-mindedness in their interactions with history and heritage, along with a do-it-yourself approach.
Colonial play

In a typical youth-style Kota Tua trail, participants first gather in a vacant historical building, where they receive a badge and a ‘tempo doeloe’ meal inspired by the Indies ‘rice table’. The consumption of traditional food is an important part of the event, reflecting a broader revival of traditional cuisine, which is replacing western fast-food as the favourite cuisine of the middle classes. While enjoying this meal in a relaxed atmosphere, often seated on the floor, they watch an old film or documentary with footage of colonial street scenes, for example, with commentary by a guest expert or community member.

Then they head out onto the streets. This is a groundbreaking phenomenon in itself, considering that the upper middle classes are conditioned to avoid the streets as much as possible and move through the city in the safety and comfort of air-conditioned cars. But as true history lovers these middle class adventurers are willing to brave the streets. Without complaint they walk the trail in the blazing sun amidst the chaotic traffic and the stench of pollution and waste of Kota Tua. Along the trail they take snap shots or video shoots, at times wandering off in smaller groups, exploring alleys or buildings to get a better feel for the place.

Young people are hungry for alternative histories based on real experiences and the stories become part of the fun

Most importantly, they listen to stories, ask questions and discuss historical occurrences at buildings, street corners, bridges or any other location along the way. In addition to guest experts and organisers, local residents or shop keepers tell their stories, giving personal insights into the past and passing on local knowledge which the participants could never learn from school or in books or on the internet. Young people are eager to learn alternative histories based on real experiences, and both experts and local residents tell them with such enthusiasm that the stories become part of the fun.

The most eye-catching part of the fun is their play with colonial costumes. Onlookers should not be surprised to stand eye to eye with a ‘Dutch Mynheer’ dressed in an impeccable white suit and hat or his lady dressed in an eighteenth century ball gown, a ‘Dutch soldier’ bearing a rifle or trumpet horn, a ‘Javanese princess’ dressed in royal batik, or a miserable coolie or slave dressed only in a loincloth and wearing chains. The young people clearly take pleasure in dressing up this way and it creates excellent photo opportunities.

But this role-play also serves a serious purpose, bringing the colonial past to life in a way that grates with the totalising claims of official national history. Official categories of identity are turned upside down by blurring the boundaries between ‘our’ Indonesian past and ‘their’ Dutch-colonial past, as participants re-imagine a crucial part of Indonesia’s history that the state had purposely made unimaginable. The New Order cast the colonial period in overly simplistic terms of joint suffering and oppression, as a prelude to the great story of National Struggle. But the role-play demonstrates that the colonial era was more complex (and interesting) than that as the fun trips serve to tell different stories of everyday life and the intricate ethnic and class relations that have deeply influenced urban life and relations in contemporary Indonesia.
Fad or future?

This youthful trend has gained the support of some open-minded senior experts – such as the journalist Alwi Shahab, who has written extensively about colonial Jakarta and now regularly joins the fun trips as the invited story-teller – but most professional historians have kept themselves aloof. Critics, including some members of conventional history and heritage societies, say it’s just a fad for a bunch of rich kids playing a lifestyle game that makes a farce out of history. How can such frivolity convey seriousness about the past? What they fail to see is that a sense of fun is also imbued with a more serious purpose.

Many of the organisers are university students or recent graduates – some are part-time lecturers – who spend weeks or months in archives preparing for an event. They rummage through old newspapers and manuscripts, mulling over different perspectives and sharing thoughts with experts. This way, they equip themselves with fascinating off-the-record stories to share with participants, typically in an informal manner that belies the hard work that goes into this. And yes, they like to play. As one organiser exclaimed when I confronted him with the criticism: ‘Why can’t I do archival research and play football games on my Playstation, why can’t I love history and spend time in malls? Just because I’m not a nerd doesn’t mean that I don’t take this seriously. I’m on a mission to build something for the future here! Sure we play, but we also want to make a difference!’





A group photo of some of the 500-odd participants at the Intan Bridge in Kota Tua
Yatun Sastramidjaja


Although the communities tend to reject a formal organisation structure, they do have formal vision and mission statements which typically contain such statements as ‘to make history and culture available for all’, ‘to make people feel that they own their history and culture’ and ‘to nurture critical perspectives on national history and culture’. Such statements express an awareness that official policies have deprived people of their history and culture along with an intent to claim it back. The way to do this is not by replacing one totalising national history with another, but rather by recognising the importance of local histories, which in themselves contain the seeds of ‘critical perspectives’.

Their seriousness is also illustrated in the fact that many groups engage in some form of social action. For example, during last year’s fasting month KHI organised a heritage trail for some 100 street children in Jakarta, leading through the Arabic district and old mosques in Kota Tua. The aim was not just to educate the children or simply entertain (and afterwards feed) them, but also to give them a sense of being included in the atmosphere of Ramadan. There have also been projects to clean up waste in Kota Tua, as well as efforts to ensure that local vendors can profit from the growing stream of visitors.

Such small steps illustrate their hands-on approach. As one organiser put it, ‘The difference between official programs and ours is that, like the Nike slogan, we ‘just do it!’ This statement further illustrates how deeply the new history communities are rooted in contemporary youth culture, in which apparently clashing values (global Nike and local history) are merged into their ‘own style’. This eclectic approach has proven its worth. The communities continue to grow, and their trails have also become popular with foreign tourists and expatriates looking for an insider experience off the beaten track, as well as with parents infected by their children’s enthusiasm. Their success has not gone by unnoticed by the lifestyle industry either. Starbucks and Coca Cola have sponsored some communities, although others reject corporate sponsorship, and their founders have appeared in popular media such as MTV Indonesia, Cosmopolitan Radio and youth magazines, in addition to leading newspapers.

Ironically, the success of the youth history communities may also become their biggest threat. The question is how long they can remain idealistic and resist lucrative offers from corporate sponsors looking to enhance their image in the competitive youth culture market, or from upper class women looking for a credible guide to escort them in now fashionable historical districts. Should they succumb to such offers, their rediscovery of forgotten histories could indeed be reduced to lifestyle games. But if they can resist, they really could make a difference.

Yatun Sastramidjaja (yatunsastramidjaja@gmail.com) is an anthropologist and teaches Indonesian History at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. She has done research on globalisation and heritage in Indonesia, the Indonesian student movement and youth cultures.

Tharman: Singapore is already an “activist” state

Image via Wikipedia

Temasek Review

July 31, 2010

Speaking at the annual dinner organised by the Economic Society of Singapore yesterday, PAP Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam warned that “layoffs will continue in developed economies for at least another five to eight years or possibly longer.”

He also added that income disparity will continue and Singapore needs to provide incentives for ”foreign talents” to come to Singapore in reference to the PAP’s unpopular pro-foreigner and ultra-liberal immigration policies.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal, the relentless influx of foreigners into Singapore has depressed the wages of ordinary Singaporeans, increased the cost of living and led to an overall decline in the standard of living.

While Singapore economy has grown by an average 5 percent for the last ten years, the median wages of the average Singapore worker has remained stagnant at $2,400 monthly.

The income gap between the rich and the poor has also widen considerably and is the highest among developed countries after Hong Kong.

Mr Shanmugaratnam noted that “governments need to question existing policies, re-mould entire social contracts and prepare the ground for a new era of growth” and in order to achieve this, governments needs to be an “activist” state like Singapore.

“An activist state which intervenes with spirit, to promote social mobility especially among the poor. That promotes opportunities for its people, that frees up competition and that is able to sustain optimism in the future,” he was quoted as saying in Channel News Asia.

By Mr Shanmugaratnam’s definition, an “activist” state is one which is completely controlled and dominated by one single political party, broaches no dissent and is active in fixing the opposition as and when it sees fit.

Singaporean wishes MM Lee a happy retirement!

Temasek Review
July 31, 2010

Dear MM Lee,

We Singaporeans are a simple lot: we are merely seeking new management.

If Singapore today is somewhat the same as it was 20 years ago, you would probably be even more popular than Jay Chou, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson & Oprah all put together, period! However, times have changed. Singapore has advanced at such a velocity that even Carl Lewis has a problem keeping up, much less you.

While your methodology & system are sound, it has, unfortunately, become very unsuitable in the 21st & 22nd century’s context. Running a country is much less a single man’s job today. Teamwork is of the utmost importance. If a team cannot work well together, something has to give. Either you change the unhappy citizens (& end up having monkeys for your subjects) or change the mentally-challenged lot that are currently running the country.

Singapore requires the average Singaporean to work his hardest. At the other end, its leaders have to work at their maximum capacity as well. This cohesion of efforts between the two ends of the workforce make up “Team Singapore”.

It is, with bitter regrets, that not everyone is 100% capable of performing their duties. In a profit-driven organisation (which Singapore so obviously is), those who do not cut it are told to leave.

Looking back at recent events, it is very obvious that certain heads should roll. R&D conducted by our Environment Ministry generated findings that were already well-known facts. Primary school students would be able to tell you confidently that floods are caused by intense storms, coupled with drainage issues. The A-star student would even be able to tell you that rain/thunderstorms are acts of nature, not God. The scholar would add that sufficient engineering would be able to avert most, if not all calamities.

With all due respect, the entire department just does not cut it. We urge those responsible for making “ground-shaking” statements be removed from our “board” & replaced with genuine talent.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines “talent” as a natural ability &/or attractive person(s). It will be rather scandalous to have a country run by pretty boys & sexy women. So we are left with the other alternative: leaders with natural abilities. As the current “board’s” only natural ability is to receive obscene pay cheques & humiliate the people who pay them, I sense the time has indeed come for a complete revamp.

Dear MM Lee, should you still insist on working (post-retirement occupation), I’m sure the country is more than gracious to offer you a relatively slow, easy & less demanding job. How does “Facebook correspondence” sound to you? There won’t be the necessity to travel long punishing distances just to attend press-conferences or interviews. However, should you feel the need to be a little more active, how does child-minder sound to you? I’m sure your great-grandchildren will be more than sufficient to cause you to break sweat every once in awhile. The most beautiful thing is, you could work from home!!!!

To be brutally honest, you have little or no talent (if according to the Cambridge’s definition). At 86, you have definitely lost your natural ability (to do anything & everything). On the other hand, you are neither attractive (have you seen yourself of late?).

Hence, the axe should be brought upon you, apart from many others within your cabinet. It is a win-win situation as far as Singapore is concerned (that is the whole point we are arguing about in here). We spend less on excessive employment, & for those that we replace, we get value-for-$ talents. Only thus will Singapore be further propelled into the future – 101% efficiency. This will ultimately pave a golden path for the current & future generations.

They say karma is, more often than not, executed upon our following generations. Let us protect them now. I do not wish for what we do wrong today, to come back & punish our descendants.

Please MM Lee, if forecasting is your forte, keep it to yourself & perhaps forecast how your next medical appointment will turn out. Leave the larger & heavier stuff to the professionals. There is absolutely no sense in overworking yourself.

Singapore will be very upset should you go & wreck your health, doing what is absolutely pointless, for her. Think of the amount of security (apart from costs) required for one of your interviews, which lately have become non quote-worthy. The by product of your speeches is deeper misunderstanding between the common man & the government.

It has long since not been your responsibility (or jurisdiction) to “look after” Singapore & its people. We currently have a Prime Minister to do that job. Should, for any reason(s) he does not live up to the reputation, a replacement should be made ASAP, in the best interests of the country.

Male citizens suffer in the military, learning the various methods to protect & guard our land. Let us not let them down by giving them a worthless piece of land to defend. Keep up the little good work that you all have done & clear up the multitudes of rubbish you all have created.

Redistribution of wealth (your incomes): I am sure every party-member is more than willing to work for Singapore for a much less pay cheque, say SGD 500,000 per annum? We strongly believe that our politicians are not “in it” for the succulent pay. Many CEOs have reportedly worked for their company(s) for a dollar a year. While it may be ridiculous to be earning S$1 per annum, any self-righteous man would gladly carry the load of governing our Motherland for much less than S$500,000 per year. Care to disagree, MM Lee?

In conclusion MM Lee, stay healthy. Stay at home. Stay away from the press (both foreign & local). Stay away from politics already. Singapore wishes you a happy retirement. Thank you!

EDITORS’ NOTE

The above is posted as a comment on our site by a reader

More Job-Seekers Hitch Ride on Asian Economy

NYTimes.com

Bettina Wassener/International Herald Tribune

Jan Mezlik, 29, moved to Hong Kong from the Czech Republic for a job as a trainer in a physical therapy studio called Stretch.

By BETTINA WASSENER

HONG KONG — Shahrzad Moaven quit a public relations job in London and moved to this teeming metropolis four months ago to take up what she saw as a more exciting post: communications director at the exclusive jeweler Carnet.

Jan Mezlik, 29, moved here from the Czech Republic in late April for a job as a trainer in a physical therapy studio called Stretch. For him, the move brought a secure job and the chance to learn to become a yoga instructor.

Charlotte Sumner, a lawyer, arrived eight months ago, thanks to a transfer within her firm. She had spent six months in London and another six in Moscow and had jumped at the chance of a stint in Asia, which she felt would lead to more opportunities than a posting elsewhere.

Before the global financial crisis, none of the three had thought seriously about moving to Asia. But growth in China, India, South Korea and many other countries in the region is outpacing that of Europe and the United States. Many local companies are enjoying rapid expansion, while international employers are shifting positions to Asia and are hiring again. So increasingly, European and American job seekers are hoping that Asia is a place where opportunities match their ambitions.

“Things are just so much more dynamic here,” Ms. Moaven, 28, said. “Back in London, there were fewer resources for P.R. events or advertising. Here, everyone is expanding and spending on marketing activities. That makes my job here a lot more interesting.”

In Hong Kong, the recruiting firm Ambition estimates that the number of résumés arriving from the United States and Europe has risen 20 to 30 percent since 2008. These now make up about two-thirds of the more than 600 résumés its Hong Kong office gets every month, said Matthew Hill, Ambition’s managing director for the city. Similarly, at eFinancialCareers, an online job site, applications for positions based in Singapore and Hong Kong have jumped nearly 50 percent in the last year, its Asia-Pacific chief, George McFerran, said.

Landing a position in Asia, though, is not just a matter of being willing to make a new life halfway around the world. Many employers prefer candidates who have track records in the region and who bring language skills and local contacts to the job.

Mike Game, chief executive in Asia for Hudson, an international recruitment agency, said the number of Westerners actually making the move was still fairly small. Many employers, he said, are more demanding than they were during the economic peak of 2007 and are “setting the bar very high in terms of what they want.”

Nevertheless, many Westerners seem to be looking to make the move.

No wonder. The jobless rate in the United Stands is 9.5 percent, Britain’s is at nearly 8 percent and Spain’s is 19.9 percent. In Hong Kong, by contrast, the unemployment rate is 4.6 percent. In Singapore — another hub of banking, legal and other white-collar positions — only 2.2 percent of people are registered as being out of work. In Australia, the jobless rate fell to 5.1 percent in June, the lowest level in nearly a year and a half.

During the downturn, millions of people in Asia — from factory and construction workers to bankers and architects — lost their jobs as demand for the region’s exports plummeted and multinational companies cut back. But with most Asian countries free of bank failures and the crippling debt loads that governments and households in the West are trying to pay down, economies in the region have bounced back quickly. (Japan is an exception.)

“The speed of the recovery has caught people slightly by surprise,” Mr. McFerran of eFinancialCareers said. “The jobs market is starting to be candidate-driven again.”

Hudson said in late June that the percentage of companies in Hong Kong that planned to hire workers soon was at the highest level since it began monitoring the data in 1998. Two-thirds of companies queried in Hong Kong and in mainland China in May said they planned to add workers in the third quarter of this year. In Singapore, the figure was 57 percent, the highest proportion since 2001, Hudson said.

Many companies in Hong Kong said it was hard to find qualified candidates and complained that salaries were rising, Ambition said in another report.

The renewed hiring has been especially strong in the financial industry and in legal services. But there is movement pretty much across the board — in architecture and engineering, marketing and sales.

Hardly a day goes by without news of expansion in the hospitality and luxury goods sectors, where companies are seeking to tap booming demand in China for luxury handbags, clothes and hotel accommodations.

“You have to staff up now, ahead of the curve, to be ready for the sort of company you will be in five years’ time,” said Pradeep Pant, head of Kraft Foods in Asia-Pacific.

Lauren Kwan left San Francisco to take a position at the global public relations firm Burson-Marsteller in Hong Kong last year.

“I was seeing the hiring freezes and layoffs happening all around me, so I cast my net wider and wider to see what was out there,” she said.

“We’re seeing the beginning of a trend here,” Jeffrey A. Joerres, chief executive of the employment service Manpower, said by telephone from Milwaukee. “With prospects so weak at home, people are considering different options and looking for where the action is. Sure, there is still a lot of hesitation; people want to stay within their comfort zone. But the pressure is on.”

A Westerner hoping to move to Asia often needs to have a profile that fits the region. Employers want people who are familiar with the local culture, as well as the business and regulatory environment. For many jobs — like sales and marketing, or investment banking and wealth management — they are looking for candidates who bring contacts and clients.

Local language skills are a plus — and often a must — for anything China-related, especially jobs that involve interaction with customers.

As a result, local candidates and Asians raised overseas tend to stand a better chance. Ms. Kwan at Burson-Marsteller is just such a person: she grew up in the United States but is fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese.

“Employers don’t want to have to do a lot of baby-sitting and training,” said Matthew Hoyle, who runs his own company, which specializes in hiring senior staff members for banks and hedge funds. “There are plenty of local people with good qualifications who speak Mandarin and Cantonese — you’d have to bring something pretty special to the table to top that.”

Those who have the qualifications to secure a position in Asia will find that jobs are unlikely to come with the sort of lavish benefits they once did. So-called expat packages, which used to include school fees for children and generous housing allowances, are pretty much a thing of the past.

Still, wages in many countries and sectors are starting to rise as the search for qualified personnel intensifies. For example, Ambition found that nearly three-quarters of respondents to its queries had received both salary increases for 2010 and annual bonuses for 2009. In the firm’s previous examination in Hong Kong six months earlier, only 60 percent said they thought they would get both bonuses and raises, indicating that pay had risen more than many expected.

Employers are also increasingly willing to make counteroffers to dissuade important staff members from resigning. Hudson, for example, found in its recent examination that many companies in China, Hong Kong and Singapore were prepared to raise salaries by more than 10 percent to retain top talent.

With taxes rising in other parts of the world — the European Parliament approved one of the world’s strictest crackdowns on bank pay this month, and Britain recently announced tax increases — parts of Asia are beginning to look increasingly attractive in financial terms, too.

Mr. Hoyle’s advice for those interested in working in Asia is to spend time in the region and knock on doors, rather than rely on long-distance networking. If possible, he said, get an internal transfer to build up at least 12 months’ worth of experience in the region.

“Treat Asia as a medium- to long-term project, not just as a stop-gap solution,” counseled Mr. Game of Hudson. “If you’re prepared to learn Mandarin, and if you have a genuine interest in the region, the long-term prospects here are very good.”

Thadar Del Village in Phapun District Burnt Down by Army

Image by TZA via Flickr

scribd.com

Thadar Del village in Phapun district burnt down by army

Report by Nan Htoo San

Saturday, 24 July 2010 11:38 - Last Updated Saturday, 24 July 2010 21:59

The Burmese Army in an inhuman act burnt down Thadar Del village in Lu Thaw Township,
Phapun district. The village was set on fire by a column of the army at 2:30 pm on July 23
afternoon, a local said.

"Troops arrived at the Thadar Del village and set on fire the whole village at 2:30 pm. Before entering the village, they fired mortar shells into the village. Villagers escaped the shelling," a villager said.

Burmese Army soldiers and battalions under KNU Brigade 5 had running gun battles around the village area on July 23. After the clash, junta’s forces fired mortar shells into Thadar Del village. Because of the shelling, villagers fled from the village, Maj. Saw Kaleldo of KNU Brigade 5 said.

"We exchanged gunfire with junta’s forces yesterday. Then they fired mortar shells into Thadar
Del village. Villagers fled and nobody was left in the village. The army column came to the
village and burnt it down," Maj. Saw Kaledo told KIC.

The military column, which set fire to the village, is yet to be identified as to which battalion it
belongs to. Locals believe the column could belong to a battalion under the junta’s Military
Operation Command (MOC) 21 because these forces were patrolling the area.

Junta forces have patrolled the area in an unusually special military operation this month. A medical in-charge in this area said that burning down the village could be part of the special military operation.

Villagers are now heading for the jungle. It's learnt that the backpack health worker’s team (BPHWT) is preparing to provide medicines to the villagers fighting for survival in the jungle during the rainy season.

Thadar Del village is near the Burmese Army military camp and also on the patrol route of the
military column. The military column was in the village till last information received this evening.

Thadar Del village had about 50 houses with 500 people. Thadar Del village is located 40 miles north of Phapun town. The village is in the controlled area of KNU as well as in the patrol area of Burmese Army battalions under MOC 21.

Three Thadar Del villagers were killed by junta forces without reason in the paddy field near the
village in 2006.

Rambo (Extended Cut)

dvdtown.com

" Even with its flaws, Rambo is an entertaining ride.

Extended Cut

APPROX. 99 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 2008 - MPA RATING: NR

FIRST PUBLISHED Jul 26, 2010
By Ranjan Pruthee

When the first movie in the "Rambo" series, "First Blood" (1982), was released, the "Rocky" series was already in its third offering, "Rocky III" (1982). It became increasingly clear that each sequel in the two series was worse than its predecessor. Over the years, the characters of "Rambo" and "Rocky" became fodder for countless parodies. Weird Al Yankovic´s "UHF" (1989) poked fun at "Rambo" by copying Rambo´s action sequences and his dialogue delivery style that now has its own cult following. No doubt by the late Eighties: "Rambo" and "Rocky" were shunned and renounced by critics and moviegoers. Then in 2008, Stallone decided to resurrect his American Hero, John Rambo, in "Rambo," perhaps for the last time. The movie was well received by audiences and became a decent earner at the box office.

In the story, John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) now lives in Thailand in an area close to the Burmese border. He makes his living by hunting snakes and selling them in a nearby local region. Soon, a missionary, Michael (Paul Schulze), approaches Rambo and asks him to take a group of missionaries to a region in Burma so they can provide the needy with food and medicines. Initially, Rambo refuses to take the job, but at the insistence of Sarah (Julie Benz), he decides to help the missionaries. Along the way, Rambo´s boat is stopped by pirates. After getting rid of the pirates, the group arrives at the destination, and Michael tells Rambo that their group will travel by road for rest of the journey.

Upon reaching the village, Michael´s group is attacked by an opposition military leader who later kidnaps the missionaries. The pastor soon comes back to Rambo and informs him that the missionaries have been missing for the last ten days. He asks Rambo to lead a group of mercenaries that will eventually rescue the missionaries. Meanwhile, Sarah and the other members are rescued, but the group is again attacked by the Burmese army. Rambo engages the entire army and saves the group.

I was actually surprised how much I enjoyed this movie in my second viewing. "Rambo: First Blood Part II" and "Rambo III" were downright miserable, and I had no hopes from "Rambo." Surprisingly, I was pleasantly entertained by Stallone´s latest Rambo movie. One thing that struck me about "Rambo" was its serious tone, which connects at an emotional level. Stallone fabricates Rambo´s character in a manner that is, in fact, a continuity of his character from the first movie. Here, Rambo is disillusioned and angry with the world just as he was in the beginning of "First Blood." He retreats to a quite village in Thailand away from his home in the U.S. All these years, he has become emotionally cold and rigid. Considering his past, Rambo´s behavior is completely understandable and realistic. In addition, "Rambo" deals with a similar theme about war and its harmful effects on the community, as seen in the previous Rambo sequels.

"Rambo" succeeds because of the prevailing on-screen tension between the characters, which was also evident in "First Blood." Sarah´s persistence in getting Rambo onboard and Michael´s disapproval of Rambo´s maverick ways inject adequate drama to the story. The action occurs much later in the film, and the buildup to the action is carefully planned and executed. The editing is superior, and the movie breezes fast in its nine-nine-minutes of duration. As an action movie, "Rambo" erases our memory of its dreadful sequels and comes very close in the entertainment value to "First Blood."

Nonetheless, "Rambo: First Blood Part II" and "Rambo III" were both criticized heavily due to the filmmakers´ propensity to show out-of-context and overextended action sequences along with sloppy stories. "Rambo" is no less in this aspect, but the action has a place in the context of the overall story. Then again, the action is overly stylized with a high body count, in which people are blown to bits, not once, but on numerous occasions.

Anger in Cambodia After Sentencing of Khmer Rouge Jailer Duch

NYTimes.com
July 26, 2010
By SETH MYDANS

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Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

Khmer Rouge survivors watched the courtroom proceedings as Kaing Guek Eav, also known as “Duch”, was sentenced in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Multimedia

Photo Essay

A Living Ghost of the Khmer Rouge

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  The Lede Blog: Video of First Khmer Rouge Trial (July 26, 2010)

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  Times Topics: Cambodia | Kaing Guek Eav

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Mak Remissa/European Pressphoto Agency

A Cambodian woman cried after Kaing Guek Eav, a Khmer Rouge leader responsible for more than 14,000 deaths, was sentenced to 35 years Monday.

Enlarge This Image

Chor Sokunthea/Reuters

Journalists watched in Phnom Penh as Kaing Guek Eav, awaited his sentence. It was Cambodia’s first conviction of a major Khmer Rouge figure.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — For 30 years since the brutal Khmer Rouge regime was driven from power, Cambodians have lived with unresolved trauma, with skulls and bones from killing fields still lying in the open and with parents hiding the pain of their past from their children.

On Monday, Cambodia took a significant step toward addressing its harsh past with the first conviction of a major Khmer Rouge figure in connection with the deaths of 1.7 million people from 1975 to 1979.

But some survivors were distraught over what they saw as a lenient sentence, one that could possibly allow the defendant, Kaing Guek Eav, 67, commonly known as Duch, to walk free one day.

A United Nations-backed court found Duch (pronounced DOIK), the commandant of the central Khmer Rouge prison, Tuol Sleng, guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity and sentenced him to 35 years in prison for overseeing the torture and killing of more than 14,000 people. The court reduced that term to 19 years because of time already served and in compensation for a period of illegal military detention.

“I am not satisfied!” cried one of the few survivors, Chum Mey, 79, who had testified in excruciating detail about his 12 days of torture. “We are victims two times, once in the Khmer Rouge time and now once again.”

He was shouting in agitation in the muddy courtyard outside the tribunal building.

“His prison is comfortable, with air-conditioning, food three times a day, fans and everything,” he said. “I sat on the floor with filth and excrement all around.”

It was the first time in Cambodia’s modern history that a senior government official had been made accountable for serious human rights violations and the first time such a trial had been held that met international standards of justice.

The verdict took into account mitigating circumstances that a court spokesman, Lars Olsen, said included Duch’s cooperation, his admission of responsibility and limited expressions of remorse, the coercive environment of the Khmer Rouge period and the possibility of his rehabilitation.

There is no death penalty in Cambodia and prosecutors had sought a 40-year sentence, but many people said they would accept nothing less than a term of life in prison.

“People lost their relatives — their wives, their husbands, their sons and daughters — and they won’t be able to spend any time with any of them because they are dead now,” said Nina You, 40, who works for a private development agency. “So why should he be able to get out in 19 years and spend time with his grandchildren?”

Bou Meng, 69, another survivor who testified at the trial about his torture and humiliation, said he had waited for this day to quiet the ghosts he said continued to torment him. “I felt it was like a slap in the face,” he said of the verdict.

But Huy Vannak, a television news director, said it was enough simply to have justice in a court, 30 years after the killing stopped.

No sentence could measure up to the atrocities Duch committed, he added.

“Even if we chop him up into two million pieces it will not bring our family members back,” he said. “We have to move on now.”

Others still needed more time. “Actually I’m kind of shaking inside at the moment,” said Sopheap Pich, 39, a sculptor. “I’m not sure how I should feel. I’m not happy, not sad, just kind of numb.”

For its symbolism, he said, a life sentence would seem most appropriate. “To come up with a number doesn’t seem to make sense,” he said. “I’m not sure how you come up with a number.”

Mr. Olsen said the prosecution had 30 days to file an appeal. For now, Duch was returned to the special detention house he shares with four other defendants who are awaiting trial in what is known as Case 2.

In that case, four surviving members of the top Khmer Rouge leadership are accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes. In addition to those tortured to death and executed in killing fields, many people died of starvation, disease or overwork or in the forced evacuation of Phnom Penh, in which the entire population of the city was driven out to the countryside.

The defendants include Ieng Sary, 84, who was foreign minister; his wife, Ieng Thirith, 78, who was minister of social welfare; Nuon Chea, 84, known as Brother No. 2; and Khieu Samphan, 78, who was head of state. Several other major figures have died, including the Khmer Rouge leader, Pol Pot, in 1998.

The judicial investigation in this case is expected to conclude in September with formal indictments, and the trial itself is not expected before sometime next year.

Unlike Duch, these defendants have denied guilt, and their lawyers have been active in raising legal challenges.

In their most interesting challenge, they failed in an attempt this year to exclude evidence obtained through torture — in other words, the Tuol Sleng archives of prisoner confessions that contain some of the potentially most damaging testimony about the chain of command.

The four defendants have been in custody since late 2007 and some of them hate each other, according to people familiar with the conditions of their detention.

In particular, these people say, Mr. Nuon Chea refuses to speak to Duch, who implicated him during his trial. According to testimony in pretrial hearings, Ms. Ieng Thirith, who has shouted angrily during court hearings, has been abusive to her fellow detainees on at least 70 occasions.

For his part, Duch is said to be fascinated by the court’s actions and follows reports and analyses closely on television.

U.S. citizen on no-fly list discusses being stranded in Egypt and talks with FBI

Fairfax man finally returns to U.S. after being put on no-fly list in Cairo

After traveling to Yemen to find love and learn Arabic, Yahya Wehelie was stranded in Cairo for six weeks when the FBI put him on a no-fly list.

» LAUNCH PHOTO GALLERY

By Ian Shapira

Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 27, 2010; B01


Yahye Wehelie, 26, born and raised in Fairfax County, was supposed to have been home this spring, telling friends and family about his 18-month stay in Yemen: the technology classes, his quest for a Muslim bride, the wedding and reception that featured a DJ playing music by Michael Jackson and Celine Dion.

Instead, while on his way home in early May, Wehelie was stopped while changing planes in Cairo. It turns out he had been placed on the U.S. government's no-fly list. From that moment until last weekend, Wehelie, a graduate of Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, was stranded in Egypt, shuttling between a $16-a-night Cairo hotel room and a windowless room at the U.S. Embassy. There, he said, FBI special agents fed him Oreos and chips and told him he might never see Virginia again.

In his first extensive interview since his return home July 17, Wehelie said the FBI peppered him with questions about possible ties to terrorists. In about six exhausting sessions over his 11 weeks in Egypt, agents made Wehelie log his daily activities dating back several months. They asked whether he was a "devout" Muslim. They probed about connections he might have to Islamic radicals, including Sharif Mobley, an alleged al-Qaeda recruit from New Jersey whom Wehelie met on a street in Yemen.

And then their tone changed, morphing into entreaties to help protect his native land: Might Wehelie consider being a mole in the Muslim community when he got home?

"I've lived in Virginia my whole life," Wehelie said, dressed in loose jeans and a striped Ralph Lauren shirt. "I listen to rap. I play basketball. I watch football. I wasn't brought up the way these crazy people [terrorists] are brought up. I just want to live on with my life. I don't want to be an informant. I want to work for an IT company. I want to be a normal person."

Wehelie -- who says he was in Yemen because his mother sent him to learn Arabic and find a Muslim wife -- sees his experience as what could be described as a Kafkaesque ordeal in which he agonized for weeks over how to prove that he was no threat to his native land. But the government says it must maintain a tight watch over those who may have had contact with known terrorists, and Yemen has been a special point of concern in law enforcement circles of late.

Since Christmas, when a Nigerian man who had trained in Yemen tried to blow up an airplane landing in Detroit, about 30 Muslim Americans have been restricted from leaving, returning to or traveling within the United States, according to a log kept by the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations.

"Several recent high-profile attempted terror plots against U.S. targets, including the attempted Christmas Day attack and the Times Square incident, remind us of the need to remain vigilant and thoroughly investigate every lead to fend off any potential threats," said Paul Bresson, an FBI spokesman, who declined to address Wehelie's case specifically. "The American public correctly demands that of us."

Bresson said the "FBI is always careful to protect the civil rights and privacy concerns of all Americans. . . . We are very mindful of the fact that our success in enforcing the law depends on partnerships with the Muslim community and many other communities."

Federal prosecutors in Alexandria and the FBI are still investigating Wehelie, according to his attorney, Tom Echikson. The family met Thursday with government officials, but Echikson would not discuss the talks. He said he is trying to get Wehelie removed from the no-fly list.

Peter Carr, a spokesman for the U.S attorney's office in Alexandria, said he could not confirm or deny any investigation into Wehelie's activities.

Wehelie's parents, Shamsa Noor and Abdirizak Wehelie -- Somali immigrants who studied at the University of the District of Columbia -- said they had been worried about the second-oldest of their six children, who they thought seemed adrift.

Yahye Wehelie had dropped out of Norfolk State University. By 2008, when he was working as a DHL delivery man, his parents urged him to learn Arabic so he could launch a more lucrative career and maybe find a Muslim wife.

Wehelie, who likes playing Xbox video games and reading Slam and Sports Illustrated magazines, pushed back.

"I was thinking, no, I didn't want to do it. . . . I didn't need to go to a foreign country to learn no foreign language," he said. "I was scared. I went on YouTube to see some clips of Yemen and didn't like what I had seen. I was like, man, this place is in the Stone Ages. I got mad. I actually got depressed.

"How could I match up with someone in Yemen?" Wehelie remembered complaining. "They won't understand American culture. I was going to have to man up."

In October 2008, Wehelie boarded a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight from Dulles and was soon ensconced in Yemeni society. He enrolled at Lebanese International University in Sanaa, the capital. He rented a one-bedroom apartment, played basketball and visited Internet cafes. Soon, he found a bride, a Somali refugee a few years his junior. Maryam was the sister of a friend of a friend -- a nurse.

He thought she was cute. They both liked spaghetti and walks in the park. More important, she made him curious about his Somali heritage.

"Other women who want to meet Americans are like, 'Oh, he'll bring me back to the States,' " he said. "She wasn't like that. . . . She wanted her Somali culture -- and I wanted to get back to that, too."

A year after Wehelie arrived in Yemen, the couple married. Some of his family showed up, including his youngest brother, Yusuf, who wound up staying long-term. Guests danced to Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean." The couple posed in their wedding attire -- Yahye in a dark suit, Maryam in a gown with flowing train -- for souvenir photographs emblazoned with the words "With Love."

Soon, Wehelie got homesick. He wanted to return to the United States to file for permission to bring his wife home. Early this May, he and his brother boarded an EgyptAir flight to Cairo, where they expected to switch to a flight to New York.

But at the Cairo airport, airline officials told the brothers they couldn't make the transfer. They were directed to the U.S. Embassy.

Mystified, the brothers jumped into a cab, thinking the detour would last half an hour and they'd still make their flight. But at the embassy, they were told to wait, go get some lunch. When the brothers got back from Hardee's, they were told that FBI agents from Washington were flying in to see them.

Wehelie borrowed a cellphone and called his mother to say he might be delayed by up to four days. The brothers shuffled off to the nearby Garden City House Hotel, paying with money the U.S. government lent them. The brothers were given coupons for fast-food restaurants and plenty of time to check out the Nile and the Pyramids. After a few days, Yusuf was cleared to go home, but Yahye had to stay.

Wehelie said he met with two FBI agents in a small room at the embassy. The agents -- a man and a woman -- asked a barrage of questions: Do you pray every day? Have you ever met the following people? He took a polygraph test. He handed over passwords to his e-mail and Facebook accounts.

"The FBI, you think they're smart, but these people . . . they'll ask you the stupidest questions that are so irrelevant," Wehelie said. "I am cool with them trying to make screenings safe for my country and all U.S. citizens. I just think in my case, it took a little longer."

Back home in Burke, where the walls are decorated with artwork featuring the Koran, Wehelie's mother said she "felt guilty. I would wake up at 3 a.m. and pray to God to help me. I sent him there to be a better person for this country."

But in Cairo, the FBI's questions seemed designed to examine her son's possible ties to people with very different loyalties. When they showed Wehelie photographs of radicals, one looked familiar, if only vaguely. It was Sharif Mobley, a U.S. citizen accused of killing a hospital guard in Yemen after Mobley was arrested in a sweep of suspected al-Qaeda militants.

Wehelie told The Washington Post that he met Mobley once at random in Sanaa on Hadda Street, a popular spot for foreigners, but knew nothing about his past.

"I don't consider myself knowing this guy," he said. "I met him outside on Hadda Street. He came up to me and said, 'Are you American?' I said, 'Yeah, I am.' 'Well, cool dude, where are you from?' It was small talk."

As his sessions with the FBI wound down, Wehelie said, agents asked whether he might attend mosque services in the Washington area and report back on potential terrorist plots or security threats.

"I was like, 'Man, I don't know,' " he said. "It was very weird. I don't think that's right."

Finally, on July 17, Wehelie was allowed to fly to New York, but because he's still on the no-fly list, he could not continue on to Washington, so his parents picked him up at John F. Kennedy International Airport and drove him home. By morning, he was back playing video games on his Xbox.

Now he wonders whether he'll see the female FBI agent again. In Egypt, she told him she'd like to take him out for a meal -- "for a chitchat"-- when he got home.

"I said, 'Cool, it depends on if I have free time,' " Wehelie recalled. "I didn't want to be rude. I am willing to talk if it coincides with my schedule."