The Trinidad/Guayana JFK Terror Plot
Cultural Learnings of Trinidad for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of USA.
Dear America,
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I know you’ve heard a lot about Trinidad and Tobago in the past three days or so, and for weeks to come you will hear a lot more about T&T accompanied by the words “terrorist”, “plot”, “blow up” and “Guyana”. The only word there I don’t mind being linked to is “Guyana”. You see, America, the Fox News Channel is up to it’s old war-baiting sensational tricks again. It’s reporting that Trinidad and Tobago is the “New Hotbed in the War on Terror”. Now hoooooooooooold on for a just a sec, America. Easy there. Put the safety back on and let’s talk for a bit. “War” is kind of a strong word isn’t it? Countries involved in the war on terror are usually bombing or being bombed, and let’s face it, we probably won’t be good at either. In fact, let’s not use the word “war” and instead let’s call it a “Squabble on Terror”.
Trinidadians and Tobagonians (or Trinis as we like to be called) are really peace-loving, party-going, people. We mean you no harm. We are in love with cricket, football (the one with the guys in shorts running after a ball) and carnival. We don’t know the first thing about terror or terrorizing. We are on peaceful terms with everyone.
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| The Urkel years |
I know it’s suspicious how cozy we look next to Venezuela, but I promise it’s not what it looks like. It’s entirely platonic. In fact, a lot of us don’t even like or trust the guy over there. We do our thing, he does his.
We don’t have leaders with crazy haircuts or resemblances to muppets, as a matter of fact, our Prime Minister at one time looked very much like an American TV icon so much so, that we found it hard to take him seriously. Actually, we still don’t take him seriously. But, enough about Urkel boy.
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As Dirk already pointed out, we are a very creative people. You know the steel pan – the instrument you prefer to call the “steel drum”? That’s us, man. That’s all us. We play tassa, we play mas and we sing funny songs. Remember “Who let the dogs out?” That’s us too.What about the limbo dance? Us again. We’ve been in on your minds and in your living rooms for longer than you know.
We have nothing against JFK. Forget what was said about “killing the man twice”. We even have a JFK auditorium on our campus of the University of the West Indies. We’re down, I promise. Ain’t no thang. In fact, the only airport scandal we’ve been involved in was when a previous administration built us an airport and overcharged us for it, kind of like what Halliburton did to the US Government and just like the U.S. Government, we got our money back.
So come on America, we would rather not have any part in your war on terror. A couple arrests don’t* make us a hotbed. Can’t we all just get along? BFF, America?
The Manicou
*It took the quote in the Guardian this morning for me to realize my subject and verb didn’t agree. Thanks Boysieringo!
34 Responses to “The Trinidad/Guayana JFK Terror Plot”
By boysieringo on Jun 4, 2007 | Reply
I hope yuh just apply for a visa and yuh playing nice.
Seriously this farse is really showing the true colours of our people. Take for instance JA they would be flying their green and gold and standing behind their sons until real facts are presented not just sensational reporting. Still i hear the crying down of muslims on the radio and the foreign-based trinis distancing themselves from their homeland. Really if a man can’t get his paperwork it’s because he’s in the States illegally he’s already a “criminal” and these suspects didn’t just make things worse for him. Let’s stay calm and hold our flag high until we know the facts. Small country big passion!
By Yan on Jun 4, 2007 | Reply
What a way with words. As serious as the story is and the links to JAM leaders, you made me smile when I read this story and agree whole heartedly.
By Chookooloonks on Jun 4, 2007 | Reply
NICE. And so damn true.
(BTW: “Urkel” — BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!)
By ed on Jun 4, 2007 | Reply
Sigh. Time for me to dust off the Bajan passport, yes.
By Colonise This! on Jun 4, 2007 | Reply
When my as yet unborn children, ask me what that large crater in the Caribbean Sea is, I will tell them that’s where the “Old” Hotbed in the War on Terror used to be.
As a matter of fact, I am going to print off a copy of this entry right now so that The Manicou will always be remembered, who knows might even be able to sell it on eBay in the Trinidad and Tobago Memorabilia Section, for a tidy profit.
By wingsfree on Jun 4, 2007 | Reply
Whatever happened to we sovereignty?
These are the same nitwits who said Saddam had WMDs- Weapons mass destruction.
The same people who have kept thousands of people in Guantanamo since 2002 -
Without Trial, Without charging them and probably without evidence.
And here you are just willing to give up your citizens.
By D Trini in Me on Jun 5, 2007 | Reply
Well said Mani…..
What I can tell you is that some of the news outlet up here are downplaying it. One popular radio host (mind you, he’s american) when as far as to say that it was a Public Campaign to justify their means on “War on Terror” and to make the american people feel safe that they are in fact looking out for their safety.
Other news media are calling us, “Extremist” without even knowing our country, our culture and what we stand for. We may have our problems, and crime, but to label us as another Terriost country is so damaging and wrong.
“Trinidad is my LAND of it I am PROUD & GLAD. Cannot understand why some people does talk it bad. All ah them who running they mouth don’t know what they talking bout……..”
By Island Spice on Jun 5, 2007 | Reply
*quietly packs her bags and deletes comments about being a Trini on Mani’s blog…*
Good one Mani! The urkel years live on!!
ps. if yuh don’t see me I in Jamaica relaxing on a beach in a most unterrorist manner
By Anonymous on Jun 5, 2007 | Reply
Trini in the US on WP.
Lets get some concrete facts in. Does any one know the value of US investment in the oil industry in Trinidad and other industries. How can Trinidad ever be a hot bed. But if you want to be realistic we have a hot bed in the Jamat and we seem incapable of managing them and this is the result. I strongly recommend that this event will drive the government and opposition to get together put shame aside and ask the US to assist us with that group. That will also take care of the other crimes like kidnapping etc which is driven from the same area. A lost opportunity cannot be recalled lets clean it up now.
By UglyAmerican on Jun 5, 2007 | Reply
“We’ve been in on your minds and in your living rooms for longer than you know.”
Uh, oh, sounds like a conspiracy now. Too late for apologies, a squadron of John Wayne impersonators driving H2’s with .50 caliber freedom-makers are already on their way to ‘liberate’ you.
Just kidding, your country actually sounds awesome. Imagine, a country with a sense of humor. I hope to visit someday.
By nbrown on Jun 5, 2007 | Reply
Cool. It’s nice to see you have the leftist, demoslob Halliburton conspiracy down. At least we know you’re stupid enough to be a blue state American. And you be cool too, “Bro”. We just want to make sure there aren’t anymore hate America filth running around your country. You sound like a harmless little fella (after all, if you are like the left in our country, we definitely don’t have to worry about you ever doing anything violent, even if you are attacked). So get off the hate Fox rant, and return to your bong. Sorry, you’re just not that important.
By Tel on Jun 5, 2007 | Reply
Hey guys, no worries. I think most people here in the US have pretty much figured it was a couple of idiots who really didn’t have much of a chance of actually doing any harm. Fox News likes to make a big deal out of any story like this that they get their hands on. Nobody outside of really diehard Bush supporters believes a word they say.
But even if worst comes to worst, you still have a decent shot. You’d have maybe two, three weeks head start while we try to figure out the difference between Guyana and French Guyana; and which island Trinidad is. If you use that time to change all the signs to say “Barbados,” our army would get hopelessly lost, and never find you. By the time we figured it out, we’d have forgotten why we were upset in the first place.
By Elderta on Jun 5, 2007 | Reply
nbrown… chill out, my fellow american, it’s a joke. you know, funny haha? I know your people are jokeaphobic, but take your meds and go lay down.
By bookworm on Jun 5, 2007 | Reply
Loved the Muppet link! Your country sounds much nicer than mine, just remind the Foxnoid that bombing you might hurt the Cruise Ship industry (they are very against anything that might hurt industry.)
Love Ya!
By Mani on Jun 6, 2007 | Reply
Boysie, really and truly, I just waiting to see what will come out of this. This post is really meant to be more light-hearted than anything else.
Thanks Yan, I did mean to make people smile a little even though this matter is so serious.
Thanks Chookooloonks! Don’t tell me you never saw the resemblance before, lol.
Colonise This, lol. Well you make sure to do that. I’m not sure how tidy the profit will be though.
Ed, lol, yuh had meh cracking up boy.
Wings Free, I guess this is where all the extradition treaties come into play. I hear that the process is very long, but I’m not sure how many, if any, checks and balances there are in place.
D Trini, well that’s thing that got me a little mad at the Fox News Report, they’re calling us a “hotbed” and they don’t know anything about us.
Island Spice, lol. Oh gosh gyul, doh abandon we just yet nah, lol. Well relax in Jamaica, but make sure to come back eh. You could use your Jamaican passport, I eh go hate yuh, lol.
Anonymous 3:22, sadly I think that this is going to increase the membership in the Jamaat with more wayward, misguided and wanabe youth.
UglyAmerican, lol. Thanks for the laugh. Do come visit, but be prepared to be profiled in the future, lol.
nbrown, for your information I’m more of a centrist, than a leftist. Secondly, I’m sorry that you completely missed my point. Thirdly, I have a right to dislike any media house that refers to my country that I love as the “New Hotbed in the war on Terror”, when it probably wasn’t till yesterday they learned to spell “Trinidad” and they still haven’t learned that the name of the country is “Trinidad and Tobago” and not “Trinidad”. So if you like the FNC, that’s fine with me, but I’m offended by the 24/7 regurgitation of an unproven allegation as if they were fact.
I feel sorry for you because you really don’t know anything about me or my country, and the only way yo comprehend me is either to place me into a “blue state” “leftist” mold, or to serve up reheated stereotypes about West Indians and weed-smoking. (You know, the whole “return to my bong” comment). I agree with Elderta, take your meds.
Tel, it’s exactly as you say it is. The FNC is running this story with no end in sight, and people don’t realize that it’s part of the fearmongering. lol about changing the signs to say Barbados.
Elderta, forgive nbrown, he’s immune to jokes and differing opinions.
Bookworm, both our countries are nice I think, it’s the people sometimes that ruins it for everyone. I didn’t think about the tourism thing also, I hope it doesn’t have to bad of an impact. Thanks, man.
By Bob in Arlington on Jun 6, 2007 | Reply
Unbelievable. The liberal, civilized West and all it stands for is bombed and 3 thousand killed in one day .. and this columnist tries to distance himself and his country from that war just because the dead happened to be in America. Not all Americans, just in America. If the civilized world will just stand together, Al Quaeda would be snuffed out overnight.
Wake up Trinis!!
By Tanya on Jun 6, 2007 | Reply
Bob in Arlington- once again, I think that you have missed the point of this article, which basically is to say that Trinidad is so much more than the 1 person who allegedly plotted to blow up JFK.
There is a world that is so much bigger out there than just the US- 10s to 100s of thousands killed in a tsunami, people dying from poverty and AIDS on a much larger scale than the 3000+ killed on 9-11. This in no way diminishes the attacks on that day, but let’s all take a look at the bigger picture, rather than maintain an America-centric view of the world.
Fox by their depiction of Trinidad as ‘hotbed of terror activity’ is showing a more sensationalistic view than reality and that is all the Mani tried to convey by this humourous yet true in many respects article.
By JohnBoy on Jun 6, 2007 | Reply
I have a question to media houses and all people who comment on stories by media houses as if it were the bible truth:
Anybody ever here of innocnet until proven guilty? So because ya favorite Uncle Sam so is so is SO? A couple Men in blacks fly down and have de men in grey hop skipping and jumping. Allya jokey oui!
By Crankyputz on Jun 6, 2007 | Reply
That was so beautiful, I shed tears, you must forward this on to the New York Times. You simply must…
By Anonymous on Jun 7, 2007 | Reply
“We don’t know the first thing about terror or terrorizing. We are on peaceful terms with everyone.”
hmmm… seems everyone has forgotten that it was a suicide bomber who drove a car full of explosives into Police Headquarters in 1990.
We’ve never had an inquiry. We don’t know where the explosives and RPGs came from.
We hear about “illegal quarrying”; we never hear that they use high explosives to do this.
And who the $#@! put a bomb on Fredrick Street and by Smokey & Bunty?
To quote Public Enemy:
“Too many of y’all are sleeping while standing up!”
By Mani on Jun 7, 2007 | Reply
Thank you very much Tanya. Some people…
Johnboy, I agree.
Crankyputz, lol. Well I don’t know about that.
Anonymous, this post is not meant to be taken literally or seriously for that matter. (I thought I already said that?)
By boysieringo on Jun 7, 2007 | Reply
Well the Guardian took it seriously! Congrats Mani honorable mention again! I hope the blog is flooded enough for you to run for office. Heard the COP has a vacant chairman position (lol).
By Mani on Jun 7, 2007 | Reply
Well thanks Boysieringo, lol. Unfortunately they got my URL wrong, but no worries. Boysie, no politics for me nah breds. They does pay, by the way? lol.
By FWT (fresh water trini) on Jun 7, 2007 | Reply
This was a very interesting article I must say. I think that we should all take a step back and remember that Americans have been terrorizing America for years… Oklahoma ring a bell… the Olympics in Atlanta….hmm. One thing I’ve learned is that Americans love drama and whenever they get a chance, especially since 9-11, they will blame any foreign country even if they know the information is shakey or flat out untrue, they are going to blow it out of proportion. I think that Americans are organized terrorist in Iraq, and so does 85% of the free world….. how do you feel about that?
By rontnt on Jun 8, 2007 | Reply
Good article Mani
I have also noticed, for such a serious treat to the US, this story has been regulated to the back pages of newspapers very quickly. And every day it changes to the more absurd.
A quick recap of the various stories I read each day:
1 Ten years in planning with not as much as a firecracker secured.
2 FBI Informant joins “cell” and is soon made leader.
3 All give “consent” to be recorded planning this plot, even when first meeting. -????
4 Terror suspect “turns himself in to police” -?? – no real terrorist has EVER done this.
5 FBI informant is twice convicted drug dealer looking for plea bargain.
It looks to me as this informant had to produce, and found some idiots, not terrorists
But on a serious note:
The US “war on terror” is a never ending war, and the biggest mistake the US gov’t has ever made.
Trying to use this as a means to “crack down” on JAM would be the biggest mistake the TT gov’t could make. Especially if they accept US or any outside “help” in doing so.
These old guys really knew what they were talking about…
“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security deserves neither and will lose both.” Benjamin Franklin
By Youknowme on Jun 8, 2007 | Reply
“Never-ending war”?
Like the “War on Poverty”?
Please be serious.
Terrorism is a serious thing that will rise in seriousness in the future.
Fox News can hyperventilate a lot–but just remember that it is all about the ratings. Anyone who knows about Rupert Murdoch would know this. Fox News is the television version of The Sun or the New York Post, both of which he owns.
By the way, I turn to Fox news before any other news outlet for reasons I will not go into now. Suffice it to say that they are the least condescending of the cable new outlets.
I must admit that all the action happened as soon as I cut otu my cable TV. How’s that for luck. I get to miss all the fun!
I will also add that the reflexive America-hating was par for the course in the comments (not the posting). How unfortunate.
(B the way, did you knwo tha the U.S. gets 80% of its natural gas from Trinidad (not Tobago–lol). 80%!
http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/oilgas/storage/index.html
“In 2005, the United States imported 631.3 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of LNG from a variety of exporting countries but primarily from Trinidad and Tobago.”
By TriniObserver on Jun 8, 2007 | Reply
Here’s a story I’d like to comment on one day:
http://movies.monstersandcritics.com/indiancinema/news/article_1315047.php/Trinidad_has_become_a_concrete_jungle_rues_Sushmita
Trinidad has become a ‘concrete jungle’, rues Sushmita
Boy is she right!
trinidad has serious problems I think nobody is willing to address.
By Mani on Jun 8, 2007 | Reply
Thanks, fwt.
rontnt, I agree very much with you. Everyday that I hear and think about this “plot”, it seems like half a story.
youknowme, we will have to agree to disagree about the FOx News Channel. I think that any news organization that hyperventilates the story, is delivering their spin on it, and not the thing itself. “Trinidad is the new “hotbed in the war on terror” after arresting 3 guyanese and 1 Trini with half a plan? and they ran with this for days on end. Seems to me like they were running on fumes more than anything else.
And you said that the “reflexive America-hating was par for the course in the comments”, care to back that up with some examples? That’s a pretty strong statement to make.
By Mani on Jun 8, 2007 | Reply
triniobserver, thanks for that story, it’s very blogworthy.
By Chennette on Jun 8, 2007 | Reply
Hey Mani – I read the post when it first appeared, but no time to comment. Incredibly interesting now reading the comments too. And you make the Guardian and all. Yay for that, because I been reading the Express and amazed at the dearth of opinion columns in respect of this (Rickey Singh excepted). There are so many things people could comment on in relation to this “event” yet nothing. Even apart from making the obvious public statements that these people, if what is said is true, cannot possibly represent T&T, nor T&T Muslims (I don’t count the Jamaat), what about comments on the investigations, the international cooperation between authorities, legal issues…anything…apart from reporting some facts every day, I am disappointed in the lack of real commentary in the Express (will go read the Guardian now!)
And to continue in the light vein (I feel I must be explicit!), anybody notice how scrawny these plotters looking? All of them. Hard work, this plotting for years with no noticeable results.
And, despite being obviously Muslim, a Trini, and traveling from Guyana, I whizzed through US immigration yesterday. Maybe there are rational people at the border
By ed on Jun 8, 2007 | Reply
Well the US Embassy claims that Trinis shouldn’t expect any problems at the border because of this, which is definitely good news. I’ll have to let you know how it goes when I have to come back from Canada next week.
And Fox News defenders crack me up. If you ask me, ALL cable news is pretty much worthless, but FNC is actively destructive to things like “truth”, “facts”, and “rational debate”.
By Vami on Jun 10, 2007 | Reply
mani, i like how fox news report this one….they like bacchanal fuh so and when they dont have enough, they does start making up news! but yeah while we on terror…the fella neighbor say he “not smart enough” for that kinda ting. that was hilarious. imagine, on top of being a so-called terrorist, the neighbor think he dotish and all!!
By Jill on Jun 12, 2007 | Reply
mani, everytime i read you i am so pleased to see such good reporting. love the urkel years picture! just as trinis are not defined by these three cunumunus (i cyah spell it sorry!) neither are americans defined by their president. so bob in arlington, if you want the west to get together and stop al queda, you’d have to start with your own president changing his priorities, b/c many countries see the US as a leader. anonymous, trinidad has their own problems, we need to take care of them, but that’s within our own country… otherwise (i had to comment on those too, maybe its the trini in me) i love up meh countryy
thanks again mani
By Mani on Jun 13, 2007 | Reply
lol, Chennette, it’s amazing they didn’t stop you. And yeah, I’ve never seen such impoverished looking “terrorists” before, with the exception of the Kadir (sp?) guy.
Ed, remember to decline the full body cavity search.
Vami, oh gosh gul, insult to injury, lol….by he neighbour too.
Well thanks very much Jill, I appreciate it very much.