Bobby just wanted to play chess!

Bobby Fischer hurt no one.  What was his crime?  He pushed a few pieces of wood around on a board of colored squares for two months.  For that, the U.S. State Department persecuted him for 16 years.  Because he openly defied the authority of the great United States of America.  Because, to him, chess was far more important than their stupid war and their stupid attempt to extend their dominance over countries in which they really had no business.  Bobby Fischer had real business in Yugoslavia.  He had a world championship chess match to play and win.  And that truly was important.

Bobby Fischer was insane.  Of course he was.  He suffered from paranoid delusions.  He was loony tunes. That is not a crime.  The persecution of Bobby Fischer wasn’t so much about any crimes he committed; it had a lot more to do with the United States trying to hide the fact that its wealth,its power and its global influence are waning.  The State Department wanted to shut him up, particularly after the 9/11 WTC tower attacks when his vicious vocal attacks on the United States were made public on the Internet.  They wanted him to kneel.  He would not.

Read the tone of the letter below (reproduced verbatim) and tell me … was Bobby Fischer wrong when he said “The United States is out to get me!” ?  This is a direct threat intended to make him cancel the 1992 Spassky rematch.  And when Fischer refused to comply, he became an enemy of the United States, mainly because he embarrassed them and openly flouted their authority.  Incidentally, he never returned to the United States after that match.  Bobby Fischer died on January 17, 2008, at the age of 64, in Reykjavík, Iceland.  He had been granted Icelandic citizenship in March 2005.

They hounded Bobby Fischer for 16 years.  They hounded him till his death. Why? For what?  They intended to make him bend and to make him beg. They wanted to make an example of Bobby Fischer.   He refused to let them humiliate him.  Oh, maybe he made a fool of himself, but by God, he didn’t scrape and bow to any authority he considered illegitimate. Bobby Fischer did not grovel upon command.

ORDER TO PROVIDE INFORMATION AND CEASE AND DESIST ACTIVITIES FAC NO. 129405

Dear Mr. Fischer:

It has come to our attention that you are planning to play a chess match for a cash prize in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) (hereinafter “Yugoslavia”) against Boris Spassky on or about September 1, 1992. As a U.S. citizen, you are subject to the prohibitions under Executive Order 12810, dated June 5, 1992, imposing sanctions against Serbia and Montenegro. The United States Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (“FAC”), is charged with enforcement of the Executive Order.

The Executive Order prohibits U.S. persons from performing any contract in support of a commercial project in Yugoslavia, as well as from exporting services to Yugoslavia. The purpose of this letter is to inform you that the performance of your agreement with a corporate sponsor in Yugoslavia to play chess is deemed to be in support of that sponsor’s commercial activity. Any transactions engaged in for this purpose are outside the scope of General License no. 6 which authorizes only transactions to travel, not to business or commercial activities. In addition, we consider your presence in Yugoslavia for this purpose to be an exportation of services to Yugoslavia in the sense that the Yugoslav sponsor is benefiting from the use of your name and reputation.

Violations of the Executive Order are punishable by civil penalties not to exceed $10,000 per violation, and by criminal penalties not to exceed $250,000 per individual, 10 years in prison, or both. You are hereby directed to refrain from engaging in any of the activities described above. You are further requested to file a report with this office with[in] 10 days of your receipt of this letter, outlining the facts and circumstances surrounding any and all transactions relating to your scheduled chess match in Yugoslavia against Boris Spassky. The report should be addressed to:

The U. S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control, Enforcement Division, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Annex—2nd floor, Washington D.C. 20220. If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact Merete M. Evans at (202) 622–2430.

Sincerely, (signed)
R. Richard Newcomb
Director
Office of Foreign Assets Control

Mr. Bobby Fischer
c/o Hotels Stefi Stefan (Room. 118)
85 315 Stefi Stefan
Montenegro, Yugoslavia

Benjamin Franklin once wrote “Where liberty dwells, there is my country.”   Freedom isn’t a political thing at all.  Bobby Fischer sought freedom.  Not political freedom, he wasn’t an agitator or an activist.  Bobby Fischer sought the freedom to pursue his passion, his art, his genius, of playing chess better than anyone who ever lived.  He put that passion before the arbitrary will of the United States.  So what’s so wrong about that?

Bobby Fischer only wanted the freedom to play chess against the world’s best.  To the extent that Bobby Fischer refused to submit his own will to the will of a State, any State, Bobby Fischer has my undying respect.

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