House subcommittee witnesses Battle of the Western Sahara Stars

When Chasli of Western Sahara Endgame gave me information about Erik Jensen, I had no idea I was about to find a transcript the ultimate rumble between Morocco and Polisario. Still, that's exactly what happened.

In late 2005, the House Committee on International Relations's Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights, and International Operations held a hearing. The hearing, Getting to "Yes": Resolving the 30 Year-Old Conflict Over the Status of the Western Sahara, featured an unbelievably dishy cast of characters. Here's who showed up:

• Toby Shelley, author of Western Sahara Endgame
  
• Representative Diaz-Balart from Florida, a propagator of the Cuba abduction myth
• Rep. Donald Payne from New Jersey, of Aminatou Haidar reception fame
• Erik Jensen, author of Western Sahara: Anatomy of a Stalemate
• Frank Ruddy, Erik Jensen's evil twin brother
  
• Whacky Senator James Inhofe, who is nevertheless a big supporter of the Western Sahara
• A Moroccan POW

You're thinking that's good (have Erik Jensen and Toby Shelley ever been seen in the same room together before?) but it gets even better. Statements were submitted to the committee from all sorts of ruffians. Suzanne Scholte of the US-Western Sahara Foundation had a statement, as did SADR ambassador Mouloud Said and Morocco's ambassador Aziz Mekouar. Stephen P. Hagens of Homeland International has a speech in the appendix.

Pleasingly, and predictably, the fantastic Erik Jensen-Frank Ruddy beef is on display.

It's hard to believe so much Western Sahara clout could gather in one room and leave the space-time continuum intact. Check it out!