← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · toddbrendanfahey
Thread ID: 17938 | Posts: 6 | Started: 2005-04-24
2005-04-24 11:20 | User Profile
2005-04-24 12:12 | User Profile
All work & no play makes Todd a dull boy.
2005-04-24 12:33 | User Profile
Those Buddhas are really impressive.
2005-04-24 13:38 | User Profile
Having recovered from getting my skull bashed in last June, am just happy to have taken what I think are some pretty good amateur shots, both in Thailand and Laos (about 1000, of which I've whittled down to 250 above-average images).
Those Buddhas in a temple region of Sukhothai were among the photographic highlights of the trip; the gal at bottom was another bright spot, ho ho...
2005-04-24 14:40 | User Profile
[QUOTE=toddbrendanfahey]Having recovered from getting my skull bashed in last June...[/QUOTE]
Geez! What happened last June?
2005-04-26 12:54 | User Profile
A long, tangled story, that's been published widely over the 'net. Some think I'm full of beans; others know who I am. So, whatever you want to think:
In sum: I worked for quite a few years for the late Lt. General Daniel O. Graham (Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and Deputy Director, CIA), architect of Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative; for Major Gen. John K. "Black Jack" Singlaub, and for CIA officer Theodore L. Humes. I've gotten my hands a little dirty, and can say that I enjoyed it.
While as a Professor of English at Koje College, South Korea, turns out the Dept. Chair had been (or still is) KCIA. He got wind of some of the political writings I was doing as to South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and former President Kim Dae-jung (both communists), and hell came down upon me. Was simultaneously fired, just after returning from vacation in Thailand and signing a 2nd-year contract at Koje College; my apt. was searched thoroughly, the locks changed (locked out wearing only what I had on), and was told that I would be deported within 48hrs as a threat to the security of the Republic of Korea. I'm a pressure-cooker: I like to work under extreme pressure, and get my best work down in hairy moments.
This was too hairy. Was tailed 24/7 for two days by plainclothes persons--everywhere I walked, there would be well-dressed men (totally out of place in the shipyard area where I worked and lived) walking close behind me, and nodding when I made eye contact. I returned with my office key in the middle of the night and yanked out my office computer's hard drive, which held quite a lot of shit that could have gotten friends and family in trouble, and frisbee'd it into the sea, causing the Dept. Chair to almost have a stroke in his office. He could not believe my audacity. I was threatened with arrest outright, then.
Managed to play a very dirty blackmail card, which I'd been holding in my hand for over a year, and was still ejected from Korea but not under deportation. Was escorted by military guard through Busan International Airport.
Breathed relief when my passport was not stamped: "Deported," and went back to Thailand.
Things got weird immediately upon entering Chiang Rai. First, an American "teacher" who I'd met only once (at some random nightclub) turns up at my guest house coffeeshop at 9:00am and starts goading me with really strange questions and taunts. He would not quit, and very unwisely shoved me from behind while I was arguing with the guest house owner about this strange f**ker's presence; I caught myself in the fall, but broke one of my fingers badly; then I tossed a scalding black cup of coffee in his eyes, and the guest house owner punches me square in the face, shattering my glasses. I decked the guest house owner and ran faster than I've ever run in my life, barefoot, down a slick street (raining) with a knife I'd grabbed from the guest house wall, and caught up with this dodgy American and ended up slitting his face from earlobe to chin, plus all the webs between the fingers of his right hand.
Cops came, we were both taken downtown. I told my side of the story; but the other Yank wouldn't talk. Weirdest thing I've ever seen. He just clammed up. The cops interviewed people who were sitting in the guest house coffee shop and who saw everything, and it was determined that I was justified in my actions, and I was not even arrested. (I agreed to pay the American US$100 for the many stitches he required.) (The guest house owner was forced to pay US$450 for breaking my glasses. Ouch.) Couple nights later, with new glasses, I'm standing across the street from a restaurant at which I ate nearly every night (the owner was a super-cool Thai, whose English is excellent). Some youngish Thai punk guns his motorcycle engine once, disembarks, then runs full-speed across the street, slugging me again in the face, again ruining my glasses. Never met the young f**k before, had no idea what I'd done to deserve it. Ran across the street and kicked his motorcycle several times, until it lay in the middle of the road, damaged. He gets back on it, roars away.
Weird. People in the restaurant run over to me and ask me if I'm okay, and tell me they saw the whole thing, in case I want to file a police report. The sound of a motorcycle engine again, and the punk comes back with a long, nasty curved sword, swings it at my left ribcage. I catch the blade in my left hand (9 stitches, right down to the bone) and would not let go. Should have severed my thumb from my hand. The guy's staring at me, like: "Jeezus, this guy isn't going to make it easy for me," and I head-butted him hard enough to send him to his knees. Kicked him a few times. Then he books back to his moto and rides off.
Cops arrive, reports are made, restaurant owner tells the cops of everything that has just occurred. I get free treatment on my gaping thumb at Chiang Rai Hospital; overnight stay, no charge. Many apologies from police and hospital officials.
The young f**k is arrested the next day, with the promise my police Major Songkran that he'll do 3 months in jail for the attack. He is released after one day.
Toddman is not happy. Makes life a living hell for the Chiang Rai Police Dept.; calls the U.S. Embassy; retaining a Thai attorney, etc.
Three days later, I take a three-wheeled tuk-tuk taxi (open air contraption) to a crowded shopping center in the middle of the day, pay the driver US$1 for the lift, get out of the tuk-tuk, and that's the last thing I remember.
Next thing I remember is the sound of my father's voice in my ear. I couldn't put anything together; nothing made sense; I was barely "there." He asks me if I know where I am, and I say, "I'm in Thailand." He says: "But do you know where you are now?" I draw a blank. He says: "You are in a hospital, Todd; you've been in a coma for five days; we're doing everything we can to get you out of the country and back to the US. You are very badly injured. The whole family is praying for you."
Same conversation with my mom, my sister and my ex-wife, all of who called within minutes of my finishing talking with my dad.
11 broken bones in the skull; 5 to the left wrist; two to the lower left leg.
Then, for some reason I still have no answer to, I am transferred to Chiang Rai Prison Hospital, where I dwell for 11 days, to die. My lower-left leg has been badly broken and is turning gangrenous.
I had been struck with baseball bats by six Thais, all of whom were arrested later that day (the ringleader of which was the same Thai who punched me in the face and tried to slice my innards three nights earlier; he's doing 3 years in prison now).
The only reason I'm still alive right now is, that my father's first-cousin is Head of Security for the US Olympics Committee and retired L.A.-area police chief. He contacted the Thai Ambassador, and that was all that was needed. Did my having been outed as an Intelligence asset in South Korea and ejected from that country have anything to do with the attacks in Thailand? And if so, who ordered it? (KCIA, CIA, both?)
That's what happened to me last June.