Last Sunday on a religious channel, they said God smate them.

Reckon, they better not piss him off again either.


[[[smoke]]]

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Originally posted by occrider A) Diego Garcia is in the indian ocean B) Diego Garcia seems to have survived the tsunami ok C) Therefore the US gov't is behind the tsunami! D) ??? E) Profit!!!

I thought it was

Phase I = Collect Underpants
Phase II = ?
Phase III = Profit

???

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Originally posted by BadBadNeil Here is the answer to the thread. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Garcia

Such great humanitarian history we share with the Brits...

From the Wikipedia link:

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The 70-year agreement between the UK and US for the US to use the island as a military base was made in 1966. Between 1967 and 1973 the British Government forcibly removed some 2,000 Ilois resident islanders to make way for the military base. The islanders were tricked and intimidated into leaving until "the remaining population were loaded on to ships, allowed to take only one suitcase. They left behind their homes and furniture, and their lives. On one journey in rough seas, the copra company's horses occupied the deck, while women and children were forced to sleep on a cargo of bird fertilizer. Arriving in the Seychelles, they were marched up the hill to a prison where they were held until they were transported to Mauritius. There, they were dumped on the docks." (John Pilger) The islanders then were taken to live in abandoned housing where many died of hunger and as a result of the horrible living conditions and lack of water. They now mostly live 2000 kilometres (1200 miles) away on the isle of Mauritius (with a few on the Seychelles or Salomon Islands). These were the descendants of workers in the 19th century, so had lived there for several generations. The British government texts at the time referred to them merely as temporary workers, not indigenous inhabitants.

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In 2000 the British High Court granted the islanders the right to return to the Archipelago. In 2002 the islanders and their descendants, now numbering 4,500, returned to court claiming compensation, after what they said were two years of delays by the British Foreign Office. However, in June, 2004 the British government invoked a royal decree, forever banning the islanders from returning home, reversing the 2000 court decision. Some of the Ilois are making plans return to turn Diego Garcia into a sugarcane and fishing enterprise as soon as the lease expires (some see this as early as 2016). A few dozen other Ilois are still fighting to be housed in the UK[3] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/...ies/3977853.stm). Some human rights groups claim that the military base is used by the US government for interrogation of prisoners (with methods illegal in the US). The British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has stated in parliament that US authorities have repeatedly assured him that no detainees have passed in transit through Diego Garcia or have disembarked there [4]

Diego Garcia: Remembering Paradise Lost

Excerpt:

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Families were accustomed to taking periodic trips to Mauritius by the only boat available. Once there, they - like Oliviers' family - found a return passage was refused to them. This policy continued for several years, until the programme was stepped up. The plantations were closed down, food supplies ended, and then in 1970, the people on Diego Garcia were called together and told they would have to leave. Seewoosankar Mandary remembers that day well. He was working on the small weather station on the island, and took some photographs of the moment the people were told by the British administrator they were being evicted. "He told the people there will be changes in the way the place is run. In a few weeks time you will not be able to stay. The military will come and you will have to go," Mr Mandary remembered. All this was only revealed in 1975, through a United States congressional inquiry into the Diego Garcia military base. But even then, the British government tried to cover it up. They claimed the Illois had no right to live on the islands, and said they were just temporary contract workers from Mauritius and the Seychelles. In fact, declassified Foreign Office documents discovered at the Public Records Office in London reveal the policy of deception.

Yep i clicked on the link provided days ago....there is definatly irony...just couldnt put my finger on it..a message of hope or destruction..still thinking about it...