OK. Tom Cruise is having a mid-life crisis. That is the only answer. Not only is he grabbing his much younger sweetie and making out with her on Oprah's couch but now he's doing Howard Dean impersonations!!! 

If you can't get the job done...

It's becoming clearer to me this morning that Natalee Holloway is not going to be found at the hands of the Aruban authorities. The FBI has agents on the island, "assisting" in the search. Of all the work they have be doing, the only thing reported to use is combing the island. Made me scratch my head and wonder, "Why aren't they taking over this search? This is an American!" Then I get up this morning, come to work, and find this story on this Caribbean Net News:

FBI playing second fiddle in Aruba

by Norman 'Gus' Thomas
Caribbean Net News Senior Regional Correspondent
E-mail: rc@caribbeannetnews.com

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

ORANJESTAD, Aruba: Top sleuths from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Miami have been slithering through the grass on Aruba for the last 14 days but the role these highly-trained agents have been forced to play is that of “second fiddle" to the Aruban police, who have been struggling to crack the case of the missing 18-year-old Natalee Holloway, whose disappearance on May 30 has drawn the international media to this Dutch Caribbean island of just over 97,000 people.

Officials at Aruba's Foreign Affairs office told Caribbean Net News that the Miami-based FBI agents were invited to the island as observers only, and the Aruban police are the ones "calling the shots."

That's my first red flag.

This has annoyed FBI brass in the US, prompting one senior FBI agent to wonder aloud: "Are they having an election down there or are they looking for a missing person? What's this observer status stuff all about?"

According to Judy Orihuela, FBI spokesperson at the Miami office, the government of Aruba has only asked for minimal FBI help from the organisation.

FBI sources told Caribbean Net News that there is one agent from Barbados, along with six from Miami, who are on the ground in Aruba and will "help" when they are asked to.

Police in Aruba confirmed to Caribbean Net News that the FBI are here as observers and were part of a team that was allowed to watch from behind a glass when Aruban police interviewed five men held in connection with Holloway's disappearance.

Limited in technology, the Aruban police have also sought the help of the FBI in analysing a DNA sample that was removed from the rear seat of a vehicle belonging to one of the suspects. Caribbean Net News has learnt the DNA tests came back negative when tested for blood.

The slow pace of the investigation has angered many, forcing Holloway's mother to make public criticism of the slow pace.

The case has caused great embarrassment for the Aruba authorities. In one instance, the Deputy Commissioner told the media that there was a confession and that one of the accused was leading the police to the scene of Police. Minutes after, that line was changed and officials had no more to say about the “confession”, saying rather that they had reached a "critical" point in their in their investigations.

No one has made any further comment on what the Deputy Commissioner had said earlier.

However, Holloway's mother is of the view that the authorities could be seeking to protect the three young men who were last to see her daughter. The trio told police they had dropped off the 18-year-old at her hotel following a party session.

Police, when pressed, told Caribbean Net News that video tapes from surveillance cameras at the hotel show no evidence of this.

Meanwhile, FBI agents will stay in Aruba and continue to observe from behind the glass, until they called upon to run any further errands.

For the first red flag, it's time the FBI stepped it up a bit and told them what they are doing wrong if they have to play second fiddle. The second thing I have is when the Aruban authorities are tellingl the FBI they are invited but can't help -- but then turn around ask for their help with DNA, they are only proving they have no idea what they are doing and they ARE embarrassing themselves.