In a certain unnamed country, there was an incident a few months ago when the President’s motorcade was bombed as he was driving through the capital. I asked a senior international official about this recently. He said:
“Well, the amount of explosives used wasn’t enough to cause any serious injury to the car or even to bystanders; which is surprising in a country like this, where they know very well how to make bombs.
“And when we got hold of the video from the President’s security guards, who were in the car behind, filming the President’s car and the crowds around it, they wouldn’t give us the version with the sound track. When we did get it from another source, we were very interested to notice that none of the guards reacted – even to the extent of saying “shit!” – at the bomb attack on the President’s car which they were supposed to be guarding.”
“So,” I asked, “your conclusion is…???”
“Our investigations are still ongoing,” the official replied, poker-faced. It’s obviously not in his personal interests to come out and say on or off the record that the President’s own security team bombed their own motorcade, let alone speculate about why. But he was very happy to leave us the impression that he thinks that is precisely what happened.
(This isn’t especially new material, as we had about two thirds of the story in our last report on the country in question published a few months ago; but it’s always good to get it confirmed by someone at senior level.)
Just Catch-22, James and the Gaint Peach and Stranger in a Strange Land for me.