Crooked in Canada

Call me a skeptic.

I’m having a tough time believing a Red Deer, Alberta meat cutter’s story about the seven months he says he spent in captivity in three different countries, after the group of people he was travelling with between Sudan and the Congo were set upon by the LRA (Lord’s Revolutionary Army-or something like that), a brutal rebel group known for slaughtering  those who are not one of them.

I’m struggling with the idea that Bako Dabi was actually able to escape his captors, who undoubtedly would have been keeping a close eye on him 24/7, and would have chased him down the moment he bolted from their clutches.

Nevertheless, if his story turns out to be true, what a story it is going to be when it hits the “small screen” in a made-for-TV movie, which I’m sure CBC is already in the process of making.

That would explain why the article I read in the Calgary Herald didn’t go into detail about his “daring escape.”

The other thing that makes it hard for me to believe his story is that the Department of Foreign Affairs hasn’t been able to independently verify Dabi’s claim.

Gee I wonder why, could it have something to do with the fact that proving his story would be impossible, unless of course they can find witnesses, like the people he said he was captured with.

Find some witnesses and maybe I might start to believe his story.

It’s wishful thinking on the part of the  Canadian government if they think they will be able to verify his story one way or the other.

Foreign Affairs did confirm that they recently assisted an unnamed Canadian citizen in Sudan.  I think what they mean by that is,  that they helped a Canadian citizen with travel arrangements, and documentation so that that person could be flown back to Canada.

They didn’t identify the person to whom they were referring however.

The fact that the foreign affairs ministry says that it  is unable to confirm the story Dabi tells me  that although they tried, they just can’t find any evidence to support his claim. That despite their best efforts,  they haven’t been able to find any proof (witnesses for example) who can back up his claim.

That’s cool, because I don’t think there is any proof to be found, nor are there any witnesses.

Then again, who knows,  maybe an LRA rebel will come forward to back Dabi’s claim, making me look like a fool for doubting Dabi’s story.

Dabi can put any spin he likes on the tale he is telling, and nobody would be the wiser, unless of course somebody came along and said something to the contrary to discredit his story, which is highly unlikely in my opinion.

Can you say, “Checkbook journalism?”

Dabi has to know that having a story to tell like the one he is telling could be financially rewarding for him, and if he tells his unbelievable tale to the right people, the gullible ones anyway, he could cash in big time.

Say goodbye to that meat cutting job-huh Dabi?

Outright lie or not,  embellishing the truth a little or not, whatever the case is, I don’t believe he spent seven months in captivity, nor do I believe he was able to escape his jungle captors.

I think he would have ended up hacked to death or shot in the back, and not sitting comfortably in his Red Deer home, where he is now.

The LRA would have hunted this guy down in the jungle, and they would have caught him, I’m sure of it.

After spending seven months living in brutal conditions, being all but starved to death, and being used as a pack mule, he expects Canadians to believe that he was healthy enough in body and mind to formulate a plan to escape, and then outrun machete-wielding, and gun-toting rebels through the jungles of Africa. Get real man.

Call it my suspicious nature, but my gut is telling me that Dabi is making a lot of his story up, that he is running some sort of scam.

I could be wrong, and if ever there is “real proof” presented that the story he is telling is true, I will make my apologies here in Crooked in Canada.

I can’t wait to see the movie by the way.