Is it just me, or does this article sound like something out of
The Onion instead of the real news?
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=515&e=11&u=/ap/20020725/ap_on_re_af/sierra_leone_strasser_3
> World - AP Africa
> Ex-Dictator Broke, Living With Mom
> Thu Jul 25,10:20 AM ET
>
> By TODD PITMAN, Associated Press Writer
>
> FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) - Losing your job, quitting school, going
> broke and moving back home with your mother after living abroad for
> years would be tough on anyone.
>
> It's even tougher when you're a former military dictator who once had
> the power to execute opponents at will.
>
> Valentine Strasser became the world's youngest head of state when he
> seized power in 1992 at the age of 25. But the limelight didn't last
> -- four years later, he was ousted in another coup.
>
> "I'm basically living off my mother now. She's been very supportive,"
> the 35-year-old said at a neighborhood bar on the outskirts of
> Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital.
>
> "It's been tough. I'm unemployed, but I'm coping."
>
> It was well before noon and the former president was doing what he
> often does on weekdays: Joking around with friends, playing checkers
> and sipping diligently on a plastic cup of palm wine -- a cheap and
> highly potent alcoholic brew.
>
> In contrast to the days when he commanded an army and courted the
> favor of foreign presidents, Strasser today seems to have reverted
> simply to being just another neighborhood kid.
>
> Gone are the crisp military fatigues, new suits and wraparound
> sunglasses. In their place: A baseball hat worn backward, a Bob Marley
> T-shirt, dark green shorts and a pair of 'Air' Nike sneakers.
:
> A house he built for himself on the edge of town was burned down by
> aggrieved soldiers in 1999, so he moved into his mother's two-story
> house across the street.
:
> Whatever the future holds, Strasser will always have his high-profile
> past to relish.
>
> "Oh it was good. I was the youngest ... head of state in the whole
> wide world," he said with a guffaw, looking around the bar for
> support.
>
> Then he leaned forward with a wide smile and slapped a high-five on
> the hand of someone sitting across from him.
It reminds me of this for some reason:
Onion: Countries Who Met Over Internet Go To War
http://impressive.net/archives/fogo/[email protected]
--
Gerald Oskoboiny <
[email protected]>
http://impressive.net/people/gerald/