Salsa Dancing Spy Used Voodoo to Protect General From Taliban

[parasearchers]

(I ought to get a Rec's just for the Headline :)

A British Army translator accused of spying for Iran was a voodoo priest who used black magic to protect the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan from the Taliban, a court heard.

Interpreter Daniel James (left) used voodoo black magic to protect Gen Richards Photo: AP
Iranian-born Daniel James, 45, who was the personal interpreter to General David Richards, told the Old Bailey that he used pictures, dust, candles and seashells to cast spells protect his boss.
He also said he did Tarot card readings for other personnel at the Allied HQ in Kabul to predict the future.

James is alleged to have passed on secret information about Allied troop movements to the Iranians - who then passed it on to the Taliban.
Giving evidence, James swore on the Bible but said he embraced all religions before telling the court how he converted to Voodoo while on his yearly trips to Cuba to research salsa (Dancing) in 2003.

http://parasearcher.blogspot.com/2009/08/spy-used-voodoo-to-shield-general-from.html

[Posteritatis]

1. Here's your rec, as requested - that was too weird not to read! (nt)

[ima_sinnic]

2. Vodou, like Wiccan, has been completely misrepresented and reduced to stupid, cartoonish stereotypes

I'm not an expert or anything, but a copy editor who has edited one book on Haiti and two more on Caribbean dance (1 in progress at this moment) and was startled to learn just how warped my ideas about "voodoo" really were. It is a sincere and deeply felt spiritual practice of invoking ancestors for protection and favors, and should not be ridiculed any more than any other spiritual tradition different from "our own" (disclaimer: I am an atheist).

[parasearchers]

3. Oh I dont think it was denigrating the religon. I think

In the context of which it was used, is important. I would view it in the same way that Sarah Palin had ceremonial magik used to protect her against witchcraft.

[parasearchers]

4. Besides the Spy makes me think of a lobotomized James Bond wannabe

[dysfunctional press]

5. actually- all spiritual traditions deserve to be ridiculed.

until/unless the human race lets go of all the spirituality bullshit and faces up to the reality of our situation on this planet, our species is doomed, right along with a lot of the other ones we've done in.

[ima_sinnic]

6. that is true only when the populace is educated

for that reason, I ridicule "religious traditions" in so-called first-world countries, where the people are not at the mercy of natural forces and largely uneducated, who have the luxury of looking beyond their basic needs. Those kept in the dark, so to speak, because of their usefulness as slaves (still, in Haiti, for companies like United Fruit) do not have that luxury. In addition, people without the trappings of "modern" society, which has alienated humans from nature, simply do not comprehend the reality/immediacy of natural spirituality.

[dysfunctional press]

7. populations would be much better served to educate themselves, rather than living with fairy tales.

starting with the uneducated populace here in the u.s.

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. Since when are the Shia Iranians in cahoots with the Sunni Taliban?

Even without the mumbo jumbo, this story is a bit suspect.