FBI Said To Become Fully Involved

This below courtesy of ArubaToday, who emailed it to Scared Monkeys and me.

With all due respect to our Aruban neighbors, why only now? I can understand the challenges in preserving the integrity of one's justice system. And this is a very positive move ... just would have liked to have seen it sooner. Also, the report states, "within the boundaries of our judicial system," I hope that isn't too broad a qualifier.

The Government of Aruba would like to confirm by legal means necessary to guarantee the involvement of the FBI in regards to the investigation about the disappearance of Ms. N.Holloway.

This involvement is to be all levels, which means that the FBI must have complete access to the dossier, including transcripts, audio tapes or video registration of interrogations, plus all materials that are connected to this case, in as much as our judicial system allows. In case the current phase of investigation limits mentioned involvement, than the instruction is to use all legal means necessary to allow and even guarantee complete access to the FBI.

If external expertise in reference to above is required, you are hereby authorized and instructed to do so. Lastly, it is imperative that there should not be any doubt at all that Aruban authorities guarantee full cooperation in this case with the American authorities, as has been the case since the beginning, within the boundaries of our judicial system.

Comments

[Kay]

Thank goodness it's about time!!!

Keep up the Great work Dan!!!!

[proudredneck]

'S'bout time.

[*SouthernBELLE]

Dan,

Does this mean the FBI can interrogate or just merely read documents? (blonde stare)

[JimmyJoeBillyBob]

Oh yeah, two months of rehearsed alibis, cover-up of all physical evidence, etc etc etc - this is a great time for Aruba to admit that Van der Straaten was not following up on the case. That guy should be investigated himself. There's something very very wrong with his role in this. he IS the police boss after all.

[fokje]

I guess they do this now because it's almost obvious Natalee is not in Aruba and therefore investigations could take place more properly outside Aruba, f.e. Venezuela? Although I read somewhere once Interpol was involved already, but I'm not sure.

[Rammstein]

no, this does not mean the FBI can question or interrogate Joran van der Sloot

[kerrilynn212]

I hope the family gets some answers now. According to BHT, the FBI has been available to her 27/7. YAY!

[kerrilynn212]

oops, i mean 24/7!

I hope the family gets some answers now. According to BHT, the FBI has been available to her 24/7. YAY!

[Coolbeans]

Great so when the FBI turn up bupkus, the Arubans can say we did shit,wasted time and distracted the investigation.

They are as pathetic as they are transparent. They want the end game on us.

If they wanted help to solve this, 7 weeks is a little late. The sites have been trampled and ruined, searched and through a tropical storm. Joran has an attorney when being questioned and why would he cooperate with the FBI? Watch him pull the old I don't speak english routine! lol

The rub is, nothing they find or use is admissable and worse according to the Arubans, can get the case tossed. Now there is a conspiracy theory for some of you! lol

Aruba sucks. Personally I liked The Cayman Islands better. Who wants to party with 17 year olds when your 37.

Coolbeans-and yes my day sucked. lol

[THolloway]

I hope it isnt too late.

[RealPotential]

this is FABULOUS NEWS and it is not too late I don't think. At least it HAS HAPPENED and the HT's investigator WILL investigate VdStratten....I'm sure of it. I trust AbleAdvocateDan on his background and means.

These Blogs aren't just sitting here un-noticed and unwhatched. We, as a whole, the bloggers, media, leakers of info, Holloway's, Twitty's, family and friends, WE ARE making progress as long as we refuse to give up until a reasonable conclusion has been hunted down and justice is done.

We have at least gotten close, and they DO have SOME EVIDENCE I am sure, that we don't know about... if we haven't outright figured it out unknowingly.
:)

I'm a HappyChicaTOO this evening!!

[Coolbeans]

I wonder if the FBI will tell us what they have. They are always good for leaks. I dont mean to bash, but a fact is a fact. Right now, we need a leak to keep hope.

I really feel these guys are going to walk free. It sucks. I see that poor woman and I feel for her. I feel for Dan. Sometimes more for him. I feel for Anita, I dont think she knows anything. (I wouldnt tell her crap. too emotinal and a blabber mouth.) I think the Kalpoe mom knows the dealio. She is a little arrogant too, no?

One moment in time. That is all it took. One momentary lapse of reasoning and so many lives changed forever. The Holloways, the Twittys, The VDS's, The Kalpoes, The Croes (which is half the island), the MB teens, her friends and even our bloggy little lives.

I'm going to get a drink. A good one.

Coolbeans

[TJ]

I think shortly everyone will walk free ...including Natalee. I would not be surprised if this will be the ultimate outcome...

[JustMe]

Coolbeans:

You nailed this one dead solid perfect.

"as much as our judicial system allows"

"within the boundaries of our judicial system"

Those are things that are open to interpretation and get settled countries' supreme judicial venues.

My view is that the Aruban PM purposely left an escape hatch large enough sail an aircraft carrier through.

[calista]

it is imperative that there should not be any doubt at all that Aruban authorities guarantee full cooperation in this case with the American authorities, as has been the case since the beginning, within the boundaries of our judicial system.

AS BEEN THE CASE SINCE THE BEGINNING??? ARE YOU JOKING ME? THEY WOULD NOT LET THE FBI DO SQUAT

[calista]

Get the really big boots out.............the bull sh@* just keeps getting deeper and deeper

[RJ]

About Shango

Could he be someone involved in the music scene himself, like Croes? Shango the King, God,deity, whatever.. was said to lead the music & dance with a wand or staff. Just a thought

[Coolbeans]

And if by the smallest possible chance Joran is guilty of being a cad who would leave a young woman on the beach, then Aruba really is really in trouble. They seem so one dimentional in the way they investigate.

First they hear about 2 black security guards. It is all go then. No additional invesitgating, it was the Holloways who investigated and noticed problems with the idiot-three.

Then they go after these three, still not investigating the party people on the beach. At least rule people out. We never leave a case with a loose end. My old boss used to say Never give them wiggle room. It makes me sick how bad they are doing this. There is no reason for the incompetence of the police, except corruption has made them lazy.

I want JUG to look into the police staffs backrounds, how did they get there jobs, training any Kalpoes relatives on staff??

I guess they never taught investigation techniques in Police School there. It was probably replaced with "how to roll a decent blunt".

Coolbeans

[Jessie]

All this likely means is that the investigation has gone as far as it can go without some evidence
(of which there likely currently little or none)and the Aruban Gvt. does not want it said that the FBI was not given access to all the data that Aruban law allows. That Aruban Prime Minister is one "kick in the head". He may have been kicked in the head by a Donkey when he was a child.

[homcarern]

The Alabama House of Representatives are meeting for a special session. Today, they issued a suggestion that all Alabamians boycott travel to Aruba.

I hope the good people of Aruba realizes that this is not aimed at anything they did and that the Aruban Authorities investigating and prosecting this case have caused such drastic measures from one of our State's House of Representatives.

I do not live in Alabama however what I have seen going on with their Polis, Prosecutor and lead investigator makes me uneasy to return to Aruba on vacation. From what I read in this blog, there are quite a few that feel equally as uneasy.

I am trying to understand the letter from Aruba's Prime Minister who is now inviting the FBI and asking that Aruba's authorities turn over what they have to the FBI. BUT, then comes the clincher... "within the boundaries of our judicial system." Heck, after 7 weeks we have been told hundreds of times that their system does not allow anything to be told. I am not understanding this, someone explain this to me as if I am a 5 year old.

I am so happy a private investigator has been hired by the family. I hope there has been some undercover ones penetrating the unknowns of this case and getting the Family's questions answered.

[DennisAOK]

Access is nice, but we must be able to interrogate persons of interest, particularly the suspects!

[Jessie]

Private Investigators are largely a waste of time unless they are working for the defense in a case.
The police have the power and they do not need a PI. The police can lock someone up and grill them for days or weeks or months. A PI will get his butt locked up by the police if he resorts to those tactics. Now bounty hunters are a different matter. They have some of the same powers as the police in their own country. But even a bounty hunter can find himself in jail in a foreign country if operates outside the law of the counry he is in.

[Jessie]

And before one gets too excited about the FBI involvement in this case, just remember that it was probably and FBI suit that ran this case in the ditch early on with his "we have a confession" back on the 2nd day of the 3 boys detention and (according to the bother of BHT on Larry King) was telling the family of Natalee that.

[k.jeanne]

Hmmmm...don't you wonder "why now?" Very puzzling...at least to me. It is a very good turn, but why not sooner?

[homcarern]

Thank you, Jessie for the information on bounty hunters.

One can email, Dog, at the following web site, urging him to contact the parents in the Natalee Holloway Case.

http://www.aetv.com/dogthebountyhunter/

His show is real life cases. Maybe it has not crossed his mind on how much he is needed there.

[Texas Joe]

"as much as our judicial system allows"

"within the boundaries of our judicial system"

Are these not the same tired excuses the Aruban authorities have been using to hide this sham of an investigation and cover-up from the beginning.

Real co-operation would start sometime after the US marines land.

F#*k Aruba

[Sarah #1]

I am trying to understand the letter from Aruba's Prime Minister who is now inviting the FBI and asking that Aruba's authorities turn over what they have to the FBI. BUT, then comes the clincher... "within the boundaries of our judicial system." Heck, after 7 weeks we have been told hundreds of times that their system does not allow anything to be told. I am not understanding this, someone explain this to me as if I am a 5 year old.

I am so happy a private investigator has been hired by the family. I hope there has been some undercover ones penetrating the unknowns of this case and getting the Family's questions answered.

Posted by: homcarern | July 22, 2005 08:42 PM

I am hoping this means that the FBI has to abide by their "rules" ; but can still see all the evidence and question the suspects, otherwise I thought they were already involved subject to staying within the boundaries of their judicial system. This would be nothing new.

I think Aruba is feeling the affects of their tourism dollars dropping and the government feels they need to get involved now. I understand their is conflict on the island between the "government" and the LE.

[realitybased]

Well, if the FBI is allowed full access to the Aruban investigation, then turnabout is fair play. All other foreign countries should have the right to come into the US and demand to have access to any investigation the US is conducting on one of its nationals.

Don't claim it's only fair that the FBI have access to this case and then bemoan any other country having the same rights in this country. No double standards allowed.

Once the FBI has access to the file do you really think the American public is going to get any information? Do you really think Beth Twitty is going to give the MSM any more information?

[Rammstein]

I am soooo sorry Texas Joe that the legal system of another country seems so bothersome to you.

And it's nice to know that voilence seems the solution to you for the simple fact that Aruba seems to be unable to solve a case for which there is no physical or circumstancial evidence. I bet you were as violent and agressive towards Florida when it could not arrest mr. Peterson because the body of his wife had not been found yet.

And yes, withing the boundaries of the dutch legal system because if the FBI does it in FBI style (interrogation and perhaps a confession by using US style interrogation) then Joran could not be proscecuted because his confession and all evidence leading from it would be inadmissible because the rights of the suspect were violated.

And a sham??? Because they can't find evidence out of thin air?? Because of what exactly do you say there is a cover-up???

Oh yeah and about the F*ck you Aruba, right back at ya Texas.

[Rammstein]

where I said Florida in the above posting it should say California (sorry for that).

[realitybased]

Rammstein,

Haven't you realized by now that the vast majority of the American public doesn't care if there's evidence of a crime? They just want to string someone up. It makes them feel better. Most of them can't think outside the box, so they have to follow the mantra of "cover-up, bungled investigation, incompetence, etc." Don't you know that once someone is arrested they are automatically guilty?

Why would anyone care that Aruba is a soveriegn nation and doesn't fall under the auspices of US rule? By george they want it done the American way or else. Next thing you know they'll be demanding troops to go into Aruba.

[Kelley]

Screw you, realitybased. We want the truth. And we want a mother to be reunited wth her daughter. That does not make us eager to string anyone up who hasn't already hung themselves in the eyes of the law and/or their country.

[Rammstein]

and if there happens to be one country famous for it's legal achievements and it's standing in the world of justice, let's just remind ourselves that the Netherlands is not only the seat of the UN international court of justice, but also the place where the seat of the new war crimes court will reside, the place where the current war crimes tribunal from the yugoslav war is being held and where Scotland and Lybia came to try the Lockerbie case.

[Texas Joe]

Hey Let's just put this in simple plain English

The reasons why this investigation has been a sham are:

When the last three people who were known to be with Natalie Holloway were identified by her mother's investigation the day after she disappeared the Aruban police did not

1. gather the clothes they were wearing the night she disappeared to look for her blood.

2 Did not take footwear into evidence for traces of blood and soil indicating what part of the Island suspects had visited recently.

3 Did not impound cars that may have contained evidence

4 Did not search residences of suspects

5 Did not immediately separate suspects and interviewed them immediately before they could practice details of their accounts... that they have admitted were lies.

6 Head of Police unit did not remove himself from the case despite his obvious close personal friendship with one of the suspects father. Have you ever heard the term "conflict of interest"

7 the suspects were allowed 10 days to get rid of evidence

Shall I go on!

Oh and bye the way they had no problem arresting two unemployed security guards who's only crime was being poor while black!

And as for the "secrecy" required by aruban law so as not to prejudice any possible trial of suspects you may recall they had no problem releasing stories about the security guards being linked to that bloody mattress found on the beach.

All this from an Island that is well known to be 60% owned by the sicilian Mob. Where banking secrecy and mob owned casinos are used to launder drug profits. Where free trade zones are a major trans-shipment point for heroin and cocaine smugling into north american and european markets. And where drug money has bought most of the elected officials, police, and judiciary.

Did you know that Aruba was to become a totally independant state in the 90's Untill the US, UK, France, and Venezuala pressured the dutch not to allow this to happen as Aruba would have become the first independant state completely owned and controlled by the mob!

But don't believe me... read the following:
http://www.tni.org/archives/tblick/aruba.htm

When communist gorillas invaded Grenada and held American medical students hostage the marines straighted out that situation didn't they.
So I would like to suggest that
1. we have the right to intervene in countries where our citizens are attacked or held hostage
2. we have the right to remove the Governments of corrupt Narco states that exist in OUR hemisphere.

Oh and if you weak spineless european liberal pussies don't like it
THAT's TUFF

[realitybased]

Kelley,

If my memory serves me correctly NO ONE has been charged in this case, nor has any evidence been released to the public. Innuendo and rumor is all there is to go on, but it hasn't stopped anyone from accusing Joran, his father and the Kalpoe brothers of committing a heinous crime has it? Where's the proof? There isn't even proof a crime has been committed.

[Texas Joe]

And bye the way

GOD BLESS AMERICA and

GOD BLESS GEORGE BUSH!

[Rammstein]

answer to 1,2,3,4,5 and 7 suspects of what crime???

There is still no indication of any crime having taken place. Only a missing persons report.

To do what you expect the police to do there has to be a reasonable suspicion of foul play regarding these youths and untill that suspicion arose the police (just like in the USA) does not have the right to search houses and impound cars.

and with regards to item 6. What does the chief of police have to do with this investigation, the investigation is not being led by him. That is not how it works with dutch murder investigations.

>

did you know that what you posted with this quote is absolute BS?? That this link is absolute fabrication and lacks any truth with regard to the US/France/UK and Venezuela pressuring the dutch not to let Aruba go independent in 1996???

Because the request to get independence was already halted in 1990, the request to halt it was made by Aruba. So the writer of this story is wrong in his remarks.

>>Aruba seceded from the Netherlands Antilles in 1986 and became a separate, autonomous member of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Movement toward full independence was halted at Aruba's request in 1990. (CIA world fact book)

>>Movement toward full independence was halted at Aruba's request in 1990. (Wikipedia)

>>Jun 1990 The movement toward full independence, that was to have occurred on 1 Jan 1996, is halted at Aruba's request. (worldstatesmen.org)

>>In 1986 Aruba seceded from the Netherlands Antilles and became a separate, autonomous member of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Movement toward full independence was halted at Aruba's prerogative in 1990. (US State department).

--> and with regards to Grenada, we are not holding any students hostage. We did not act agressively towards the USA. There are just a bunch of whining / disgruntled idiots who are calling on revenge and violence against a tiny island because a US girl went missing and there isn't any evidence of foul play. Yes, that really compares to Grenada.

And bye the way.

Long live the Queen and you can keep your George Bush because we wouldn't have him if he were coming with truckloads of gold.

[Rammstein]

and one more thing about the US students that were supposedly held hostage by the Grenadian troops/people, that story is about as believable as the story about the dutch being put under pressure in 1996 to deny Aruba independence (something that Aruba had already halted in 1990).

Some this week have quoted one of America's other recent invasions - that of Grenada in 1983. The prime reason for the invasion, they remind us, was to rescue a group of American medical students who were being held hostage on the Caribbean island.

Well, they were apparently being held hostage. An internal military coup was under way on the island, and the students had phoned home with news of the fighting in the streets. Their worried parents called the State Department, and one well-connected family even phoned the Secretary of State, George Schultz. As journalist Matthew Wall notes in a piece in Slate, the information then passed through the hands of Oliver North, John Poindexter and the national security adviser, Robert MacFarlane, before eventually reaching President Reagan.

By that time, the students' apprehensive calls home had transmogrified into a full-on Tehran-style hostage crisis. Send in the troops!

As Wall notes, the phone lines to the island continued to operate during the three-day invasion, but no one thought to phone the students to discover if they were in fact being held hostage. Before you laugh, I should mention that 23 US soldiers died, along with hundreds of Cubans and Grenadians.

(source Sidney Morning Herald)

[Texas Joe]

So you were saying that there is no evidence of a crime so the police could not investigate.

Hmmmm

Well they had no problem arresting and investigating those two security guys did they! How are they any different?

Oh and as far as Aruba's drug connections so you don't believe the report I reffered to above...most of which took a Canadian Mountie five years of his life to investigate.

Well why dont you just surf on over to the DEA website and check out
the threat assesment of the caribean drug trade.

Be sure to scroll down to the section on Aruba it is right here:
http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/intel/01019/index.html#a.

To quote from the DEA website:
"Smugglers generally move large loads of cocaine into Aruba on fishing vessels, private yachts, and go-fast boats; and out of Aruba inside maritime containerized cargo and airfreights. Drug trafficking organizations continue to exploit Aruba’s air and sea links to the CONUS, South America, Europe, Puerto Rico, and other Caribbean nations. Most of the cocaine transiting Aruba is destined for European markets (primarily the Netherlands).

Aruba has large free-zone facilities (areas that allow goods to be held and then re-shipped elsewhere without paying an import or duty tax) providing opportunities for bulk shipments of cocaine to transit the area without the scrutiny of local officials. Cocaine shipments in containerized shipping increasingly are transiting the area, specifically the free-zone. The free-zone facilities on Aruba are conducive to transshipments, not only of drugs, but also essential chemicals. In addition, some firms in the free-zone are suspected of involvement in money laundering activities.

Couriers on commercial flights and cruise ships smuggle small (usually 1- to 10-kilogram) amounts of cocaine, and, to a lesser extent, heroin into and out of Aruba, either concealed in their luggage or taped to their bodies. Commercial air couriers, sometimes swallow up to 1 kilogram of cocaine or heroin per trip. Drug couriers easily blend into the hundreds of thousands of tourists who visit Aruba each year.

The proximity of Aruba to South America, its high standard of living, and its underdeveloped law enforcement infrastructure make the country an attractive meeting place for South American, European, and U.S. drug traffickers. Colombian traffickers play a major role in the shipments of cocaine and heroin that transit the island, having forged trafficking relationships with local Arubans. Airline employees and cruise ship personnel also smuggle drugs through Aruba.

Aruba plays a significant role as an offshore center for drug-related money laundering. Money laundering organizations are well established on Aruba and enjoy protection from considerable bank secrecy laws and a stable currency. The organizations use Aruba’s offshore banking and incorporation systems, free-zone areas, and resort/casino complexes, to transfer and to launder drug proceeds. Although money laundering was made illegal during 1999, the legislation requires a provable underlying crime with a penalty of at least 4 years."

But I'm sure you don't accept that report either

After all what would the DEA know about drug trafficking?

[Texas Joe]

And as for the fine Dutch legal system..correct me if I'm mistaken but don't the dutch allow naked prostitutes to perfoem sex acts in store front windows?

Doesn't the fine dutch legal system allow coffe shops to openly sell soft drugs like marijuanna?

Isn't it true that the Netherlands is the worlds number one supplier of ecstasy?

There's a role model for ya!

[Roy]

Texas Joe, the more you write, the more you show how stupid, uninformed and biased you are.
I guess you can't help. It's not your fault.
But if this makes you feel good, everything is okay.
God knows what you would do if you don't feel good.

[Roy]

And by the way, Rammstein do you really think that this texas guy can understand what you are trying to tell him. Even the stuff he reads is completely outdated.

[Texas Joe]

Well you may call me stupid, uninformed, and biased but I notice that you did not dispute the published assessment on the Drug Enforcement Agency website.

I guess that's because you have no argument.

As for me not being able to understand what the brilliant Rammstein writes
I would like to point out that people in Texas are as bright as anywhere else. I guess you are showing your bias and confirming your steriotipical view of us.

By the way Nasa operates the Johnson space center in Houston but just because they are in Texas I guess to you they are no rocket scientists.

Oh and IBM and Texas Instruments has been here for decades... I guess they are all dummies as well.

Let's not forget the University of Texas researchers who have successfully cloned more species than anywhere in the world.

Your ignorance is just amazing!

[proudredneck]

and if there happens to be one country famous for it's legal achievements and it's standing in the world of justice, let's just remind ourselves that the Netherlands is not only the seat of the UN international court of justice, but also the place where the seat of the new war crimes court will reside, the place where the current war crimes tribunal from the yugoslav war is being held and where Scotland and Lybia came to try the Lockerbie case.

Posted by: Rammstein | July 23, 2005 01:31 AM

How's Milsovich's trial coming along?

[Texas Joe]

now as for me I guess you would call me a slow learner as well... even though I attended University in a foreign land for nine years
hold three university degrees
and work as a pharmacist in a 450 bed hospital

Yup just another straw chewing cowboy out roping all day!

Ya'll be sure to write back now Ya here!

[Texas Joe]

As for the Netherlands being the seat of the International Court of justice... don't you mean they are merely the LOCATION of that court.

Would you say that New York is the seat of the United Nations? Does that mean that every diplomat at the UN is a native New Yorker.

Jeez give me a break!

[Roy]

Texas Joe,I am not talking about texans. I am talking to you. I guess texans also think you are a disgrace.

[Roy]

As for your schooling.
Get back your tuition and college fees.
Or were you talking of the cracker jack universities.

[Roy]

For now have a good night, I am going to bed.

[Texas Joe]

Your response is noted:
more meaningless personal attacks
you are unable to refute any of my statements above.

...........................

Would you like a reference for my statement that the Netherlands is the worlds largest producer of Ecstasy:

check these out
can be found here:
http://www.usembassy.it/file2001_04/alia/a1041901.htm
US State department released April 17, 2001

Fact Sheet: Production, Use, Health Effects of Illegal Drug "Ecstasy"

Production:

Most of the world's supply of ecstasy is produced in clandestine laboratories in the Netherlands. As a center of the international chemical industry, the Netherlands is an attractive location for criminals to obtain or produce the precursor chemicals used to manufacture ecstasy and other synthetic drugs, and the country's modern transportation infrastructure and busy ocean ports offer ideal transit routes for traffickers moving their illicit wares

and again from the DEA website:

http://www.dea.gov/pubs/intel/01008/#production

"An estimated 80 percent of the world’s Ecstasy is produced in clandestine laboratories in the Netherlands and, to a lesser extent, Belgium using a variety of precursor chemicals, such as safrole/isosafrole, 3,4-MDP2P (3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl-2-propanone), methylamine, etc., in combination with common chemicals"
...............................

But the Netherlands is not only known for their drug production. We would be remiss if we didn't another of their exports... KIDDIE PORN

be sure to read the following history at:

http://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume4/j4_2_1.htm

The Trade in Child Pornography
Jan Schuijer and Benjamin Rossen*

The Shock

The first media expos?s about a purported massive trade in child pornography started in the U.S.A., England and Scandinavia at the end of the 1970s. They reached the Netherlands for the first time in 1984, causing shock and fascinated indignation, in part because of the claims of the enormous volume of business. In the Netherlands, child pornography had only appeared in the media as incidental to other stories. An example is the so-called "Mini-love affair," where a complaint was lodged against parents who had permitted a pornographer access to their children, and against the photographer himself.1

However, child pornography was not a public issue in the Netherlands, even though photographs of children were openly for sale in most pornography shops. In the classified advertising section of Vrij Nederland,2 undisguised offers of child pornography regularly appeared.3 That changed in July 1984, when police raided a number of Amsterdam sex shops. The raids were featured prominently in press and television news. Police spokesman Klaas Wilting said the situation had "completely run out of hand." He said the market for child pornography was large, representing millions of guilders. He claimed the sex shop owners told him child pornography was half of their turnover. Also, contents of the confiscated material were described as shocking. "On the films and videos you can see that the children have been used against their will. The horror radiates from their faces."4 The media reported eight cubic meters of child pornography was seized. This was repeated as fact in the Lower House5 and not questioned by the Minister of Justice,6 although the quantity was actually a small fraction of that.7 Most of the media, knowing nothing about the subject, accepted the information as true.

In November, 1984, at hearings in the U.S. Senate the claim was made that child auctions for the purpose of sex slavery and pornography were held regularly in Amsterdam. In the same month a group of American Senators visited the Netherlands to show their dismay and put pressure on the Dutch government to act. Disbelief and indignation mixed with the suspicion that some of the stories must be true and that a serious response to the American allegations was needed to prevent an impression of laxity. Of print media, only Vrij NederLand8 published a critical article expressing skepticism over the claim that 50% of the total pornography trade was child pornography".

Another example of the fine Dutch legal system you so admire.

Sweet Dreams!