i've read the various news stories and posts about the computer memory chips bought in an afghan bazaar.
SOMETHING IS VERY FISHY!
over the past 25 years i've travelled and worked all over the asian continent as an english teacher. i know bazaars and bazaaris (the vendors) and night markets from turkey to eastern indonesia and from sri lanka to japan.
from my experience i find it impossible that this stolen u.s. military material was just sitting out openly. or that it was available at all.
here's why : the owner of a computer returns to his desk tuesday morning and the flashcard is missing. he looks around and doesn't find it. he is concerned and mentions the loss to a workmate. it turns out another worker has had his card go missing. the word goes out to secure your material and of course the local clean-up crews falls under
suspicion. yet the news stories claim that the cards have been available in quanity and for an extended period of time. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!
here's another consideration : a bazaari is brought this stolen material. he asks its origin and is told the u.s. air base. he is not going to touch it with a 25 meter pole because he knows that sooner if not later someone is going to search for it. and when it's found there's going to be hell, possibly fatal, to pay. if the bazaari is arrested and doesn't talk HE WILL BE TORTURED and he fully knows this. remember this is routine practice throughtout most parts of the world.
although i could go on expounding on this subject, i'll stop here with a question : HOW IS IT THAT IN A CROWDED BAZAAR A WESTERN REPORTER OR TWO COULD JUST HAPPEN ON THESE PARTICULAR CHIPS FILLED WITH VERY SENSITIVE INFO?
knowing asian bazaars better than i know my local supermarket, THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!
this story is akin to the discovery on a street of a passport belonging to one of the 9/11 hijackers after the collapse of the WTC buildings.