www.scaredmonkeys.com/2006/01/19/steve-cohen
Steve Cohen: And the Aruban Spin Game Continues (Statement, lie, retract … oh my)
January 19th, 2006
Does anyone really want to know why Aruba’s tourism is going down the drain? Does anyone really want to know why the Holloway and Twitty family got fed up with the nonsense out of Aruba to even the point that Dave Holloway, a man who said he would not boycott Aruba, ultimately changed his mind?
At what point does the nonsense end? At this point that is all it is. How many times is a statement going to be made officially out of Aruba pertaining to this case and then it be retracted because of some excuse like a language barrier? How many times does “something bad happen” become nothing at all?
Now comes Steve Cohen’s latest SPIN JOB. Yesterday Cohen did an interview with Travel Video TV where he said the following. So much for getting off the roller-coaster:
Aruba believes it is most important to get a hold of her mental state and most importantly, Natalee’s physical state at the time of disappearance. “Two of the boys said they had consensual sex with her. Whether consensual or not, depends on her ability to be conscious and make a choice,” said Cohen.
Not only did Steve Cohen say these words in this interview as they quoted Mr. Cohen, Aruba the Truth, part of the Aruban Strategic Communications Task Force also posted the interview article in full. That is Aruba the Truth and the ASCTF that Steve Cohen is a part of. Rather peculiar that they had no issue or problem posting this article on their web site. An article that is an interview with one of their members.
Then all of a sudden in true “something bad happen” style Steve Cohen and the Aruba the Truth web-site has decided to retract the comment and interpret/clarify it as the following:
There are concerns about the statements regarding the investigations view of whether or not any of the suspects had consensual sex with Natalee Holloway. It was not my intention to suggest that they had admitted any such actions on the official record. The statement was made in regard to why interviewing Alabama teens would be important to the case. However, the Office of the Prosecution believes it is important to determine all details of that night including Ms. Holloway’s physical state.
So somehow, “Two of the boys said they had consensual sex with her. Whether consensual or not, depends on her ability to be conscious and make a choice,” becomes not an action on the official record? Then why say it at all? This is the game that has been played for seven months.This is no different than the comments made that the three suspects were going to be reinterogated. What now? Another communication error? Another mistake? These statements were made by the individual put in place to prevent all those previous communications errors from occurring.
Also today on the Dr. Phil Show Steve Cohen said the following:
Dr. Phil asks him, “From your opinion, based on what you know, do you believe that these boys are guilty of wrongdoing here?” Steve says that he does. “Do the prosecutors believe they are guilty of wrongdoing?” Steve says that they do. “Do you believe that [the boys] have available, intimate knowledge of what happened to her that night?” Again, Steve confirms that he does.
I guess we all must wait for either this evening MSM shows or tomorrow for the retractions and reinterpretations of what was said during The Dr. Phil Interviews. Also from todays Dr. Phil Show comes the following so that no one ever gets confused who Steve Cohen works for and is paid by.
“And, who pays you?” Dr. Phil probes. “I’m actually paid by the tourism industry, which is the Aruban Tourism Authority, and also a group called AHACA, which is an association of hotel owners on the island.”
Steve Cohen then tells Beth Twitty that he regrets the roller-coaster ride. Really? It doesn’t seem like the ride has ended in the slightest. One must remember that the Dr. Phil show was taped that was seen today. Thus the roller-coaster ride that Cohen promised would not happen again last week has just occurred again today.
Dr. Phil acknowledges Beth’s frustration with Steve and asks Steve what he would like to say to her.
“I regret the roller-coaster of December,” says Steve. “I think it was a mistake. I don’t think our expectations were that it was going to yield that much, but I really do regret it. The last thing we want to do is be part of any of the emotional trauma that you’ve experienced up to this point.”
This charade has gone on for seven months. I do not think anyone could comprehend dealing with such back & forth nonsense as the Holloway’s & Twitty’s have put up with. To exacerbate the problem, they are dealing with their missing daughter. As Beth Twitty commented,
“Well, just what I was saying at the beginning,” she says. “As you can see, we’re put through enough as it is.
Instead of the truth, we get comments out of Aruba that there is no effect on tourism. If that is the case that Aruba has not been affected maybe someone from the Department of Tourism would like to post Aruba’s tourism numbers since June? Especially when individuals in Aruba have already gone on record as to the decline at both the airport and cruise ships. Instead, they state the following:
Minister for tourism and transport Edison Briesen said his industry has remained resilient. There has been no impact on economy after the boycott.
www.scaredmonkeys.com/2006/01/19/dr-phil
Dr. Phil Show (Part 1): Steve Cohen, “do you believe that these boys are guilty?” “YES.”
January 19th, 2006
Today on the Dr. Phil Show some interesting comments come from Steve Cohen. Cohen, consultant to the Aruban government, who has gone on TV among the many from The Aruba Strategic Communications Task Force and professed the suspects innocence, now says they are guilty. After all this time that Aruba, the Aruban government and the Tourism industry has defended Aruba and the three suspects at the same time we are now told that they think the suspects are guilty.
Dr. Phil asks him, “From your opinion, based on what you know, do you believe that these boys are guilty of wrongdoing here?” Steve says that he does. “Do the prosecutors believe they are guilty of wrongdoing?” Steve says that they do. “Do you believe that [the boys] have available, intimate knowledge of what happened to her that night?” Again, Steve confirms that he does.
Steve explains, “Forensic materials continue to be collected.
I think we’ve got our hands on some forensic material now that may actually open up the doors to the final results of this case.”
Then comes the amazing statement of the interview with Steve Cohen. Many have questioned from the outset the position that Steve Cohen held and the conflict of interest of the many relationships he had with private sector Aruban Tourism Association, Strategic Communication Task Force, consultant to the Aruban government and access to the ALE information. The comments continue:
Dr. Phil says, “You say that you are a consultant paid by the tourism industry that’s also working in conjunction with the government, and in the same breath you say that you are the ones that had to let these boys out of jail?”
“I was the guy who had to let them out,” says Steve. “I opened the jail door for all three of them. It was nobody else. It was me. And my feeling was that we had lost. And then we didn’t lose because we all sat together and said, ‘We can figure this out.’”
John Kelley speaking in response to Steve Cohen and in reality speaks for the many who have questioned and scratched their heads at the conduct of Aruban officials covering the Natalee Holloway disappearance. There is a reason why tourism has taken a dip in Aruba and its because many are just appalled at what has transpired.
John answers for her. “We’re not going to sit here and say, ‘Mr. Cohen’s a nice guy. He told us some nice things. Aruba’s a nice country.’ No! Their daughter’s missing. We don’t have answers. The answers are down there. They have the resources, they have the men, they have the answers, they’ve got the suspects, it’s all down there for them to solve this, and they’re not doing it. We need that done.
One wonders at this point whether Aruba has acted too late and the effects have been set in motion with regards to their tourism decline.