Mr. Camara, thanks for your response. I hope you realize that the reason I
did not respond to you as soon as possible yesterday was because I went past
my limit as a non-managing subscriber. I tried replying but got a message
informing me that I was past my limit for the day. Mr. Camara, I will save
you and the List Managers the trouble of going through the archives again by
laying out here what I found offensive about Dr. Jaiteh's postings. After
that, I will also save you the trouble of contemplating 'delisting' one of
your own. I hope by the time you finish reading this posting you (List
Managers) and Jaiteh in particular will have NO doubts about the point I am
trying to make.

As soon as the Cautionary Statements were posted on G_L and people started
discussing them, Jaiteh sent a mail to G_L querying that discussion. I am
not a mind-reader but I can deduce from Jaiteh's subsequent conduct that he
himself even realized that it was ill-advised to do what he did. After
sending the initial query, he sent another mail to G_L saying that he made a
mistake when he sent the query to G_L. He meant to send it to me privately.
I took Jaiteh's explanation in good faith and sent him a 'mild' response
explaining my position on G_L. The past month or so, I had numerous cordial
(private) exchanges with Jaiteh regarding the monitoring of Kujabi's
account. The last such exchange occurred on Monday, June 18, 2001. If Jaiteh
has a 'life and death issue' (as he called it) what was stopping him from
contacting me in private this time around to set me straight?

Instead, what he did was come to G_L for the second time on June 19, 2001
(the day after our last private exchange on Kujabi) still questioning the
wisdom of discussing this case in a public forum like G_L. As I said on
numerous occasions, there is nothing wrong in Jaiteh questioning this
tactic. Even if Lalo was not his family member, he has a right to express
his beliefs in a public forum like this. Bamba laye expressed beliefs more
or less similar to that of Jaiteh. I responded to Laye and I was not miffed
about what he said. I am NOT miffed about Jaiteh's 'belief' either.

What bothered me is the way Jaiteh was going about what he is doing. He
throws accusations at people, i.e. discussing the case in public would hurt
the accused and when you ask him how what I said would hurt the accused, he
does NOT provide responsive answers. He gives a vague answer saying that
accused persons and their lawyers get advantages over prosecutors when they
'surprise' prosecutors in court. The reason I said that this answer is not
responsive is, Jaiteh still CANNOT tell me what secrets I gave to the
prosecutors or I would give them if I keep discussing this case in public. I
have posed him this question on numerous occasions. What did I say that
would jeopardize the lives of these people any further? He said it is a life
and dead issue.

As you demonstrated by saying that you looked at Jaiteh's postings but did
not see anything that might offend me, what Jaiteh did to offend me might
not be obvious to the naked eye. What Jaiteh did was lay the ground work for
people to blame me if and when Dumo et al lose this case. Ah! KB and others
were discussing the case on G_L giving prosecutors all these points and that
is why the government won the case. Nothing wrong with this conclusion if it
is the TRUTH. That is why I want Jaiteh to prove that I am indeed helping
the prosecution in any way. I am sure you will agree with me that this
problem needs to be tackled by me at this stage. Later, when everything is
said and done and the finger-pointing begins in earnest, I might not have
the opportunity to reach people and tell them that it is a malicious and
false allegation to say that I did anything to jeopardize the lives of these
innocent and defenseless citizens. I hope you get my point. If Jaiteh
genuinely believes that we are hurting the defense, let him show us how. If
he does not want to discuss strategy on G_L, he knows our private email
addresses. Let him contact us in private rather than sending these stealth
attacks and this grandstanding. The last thing I want hanging on my
conscience is the notion that I in any way, shape or form helped to put Dumo
et al in jeopardy. Anybody that makes the remotest suggestion to that effect
will have some explaining to do. I will ask them to show me how my conduct
negatively impacted Dumo et al. That is all I am asking Jaiteh to do. If he
cannot do that, then he has to retract his statements.

Like I said yesterday, ordinarily I would not make a big meal about such an
issue. I would forcefully express my ideas and would not ask for a
retraction or an apology. But we are dealing here with Jaiteh (the self
appointed custodian of ethics on G_L). I wanted to show him that what is
considered as 'offensive' is very subjective from person to person. To me,
it is very offensive for anyone to insinuate that I am hurting Dumo et al's
case and putting these citizens' lives in jeopardy. It is doubly offensive
for the maker of those accusations to then sit back and not show me where I
am actually hurting the case.

Forget me for a moment. There are other people (including genuine victims in
this case) that partook in the discussions we have had about this case on
G_L. Did Jaiteh stop to think about those people before he sent his
ill-advised mails to G_L? How would you feel if you are tirelessly trying to
help your brother or your friend to get out of jail and have someone like
Jaiteh come on G_L (for the whole world to see) and tell you that you are
going about it the wrong way; thus laying the ground work for you to be
blamed when things go wrong later? Worst still, Jaiteh does not back up what
he is saying. I hope Jaiteh reads between the lines of what I am trying to
say. I hope he realizes that there are other victims in this case that do
not need further grief; people that do not need to live with the guilt that
they helped incarcerate their friends and family members. Both George Sarr,
Kabir and Ebrima Ceesay can attest to the fact that I do not discuss
everything about this case on G_L. I am NOT trying to give the impression
that I know anything bombastic about the case. What I am trying to say is
that I think about the repercussions of my postings on the case before I
dispatch them. In other words, Jaiteh is NOT dealing here with an
irresponsible person that is indifferent to the plight of Dumo et al.
Nothing in my writings suggest that I have jeopardized this case or would do
so in future. So, Jaiteh's fears are unfounded.

Granted, defense lawyers do benefit from an element of surprise in
courtrooms every day. But touting this advantage at this stage of this case,
tantamount to putting the cart before the horse. We do NOT have a trial yet.
We are fighting to get one; a very tough fight in lawless Gambia. Now, in
order to win that fight, the combatants fighting on behalf of the accused,
have to be convinced of the accused innocence. How can we do that by
allowing only the government's side to be conveyed to the people? Accused
people pay millions of dollars to have people to put across their side long
before any trial. I gave Jaiteh an example by reminding him of the OJ
Simpson case. From day one, the defense were saying that Mark Furman was a
racist. What the defense NEVER said in public was that the Gloves will not
fit OJ if they are tried on him. If they did that, they would have given the
prosecution an advantage and they would not have tried the gloves. Jaiteh's
'element of surprise'. I am cognizant of what Jaiteh is trying to say. While
the racist label on Mark Furman has an analogy in our discussions, the
gloves does not have an analogy in our discussion.

Again, I hope I made my point to you and Jaiteh in particular. Consider the
matter settled on my part.
KB

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