U.S. Pressures Aruba

ORANJESTAD, Aruba (AP)-- Holland will send three F-16 warplanes rigged with search equipment to find Natalee Holloway, Aruban authorities said Saturday, as U.S. lawmakers increased pressure on the Aruban government to do more to find the Alabama teenager nearly five weeks since she disappeared.

The three planes, equipped with infrared and sonar-scanning capacity, were expected to arrive Sunday afternoon, said Aruban government spokesman Ruben Trapenberg.

Trapenberg said the planes were being sent after Aruban Justice Minister Rudy Croes requested more help from Holland, the Dutch Caribbean island's former colonizer.

"Both the justice minister and the prime minister feel that Holland can help us reach a resolution with this," said Trapenberg.

This week both Sen. Richard Shelby, a Republican from Alabama, and Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, wrote letters to Aruban Prime Minister Nelson Oduber urging the government to do more and let the FBI play a larger role in the investigation.

"With every passing day, I become increasingly concerned that the current investigation has reached a dead end," Shelby wrote in a letter dated July 1. "It's unfathomable that the Aruban government would not take advantage of the full spectrum of resources, personnel and expertise of the FBI."

Thankfully, the Alabama governor and an Alabama senator have expressed their concern to the Aruban PM about the course of the investigation into Natalee's disapperance.

Yesterday, when AG Karin Janssen clearly said Joran van der Sloot, and Satish and Deepak Kalpoe had been charged with Natalee's murder shortly after they were arrested on June 9, and then that statement was retracted, with the confusion blamed on issues of semantics, I COMPLETELY lost any confidence in the Aruban authorities. They were not fit to carry out the investigation. They proceeded in the most unprofessional, incompetent way imaginable.
Trapenberg, the government spokesman, said calls for an increased FBI presence don't make sense. "It's fine to have the FBI here, but if you send in more agents are you saying the ones here are not any good?" he said.

This guy sounds like an idiot. Is it any wonder the investigation has been botched so badly? He brags about the Dutch sending planes to aid in the search, but he has a problem with additional FBI agents.

It seems to me that the Aruban authorities are insecure about their own abilities. It's obvious that Trapenberg is being defensive about Aruban inadequacy and that the government is threatened by U.S. superiority. Pride should not get in the way of solving this case. Naturally, Aruban officials have much less experience in dealing with these sort of cases than the FBI. Accepting help from American agencies is nothing to be ashamed of, especially since the missing girl is an American.
"It has become increasingly difficult to simply wait and see what happens," Holloway Twitty, a 44-year-old speech pathologist, said in an interview Saturday with The Associated Press.

The mother said the family was "graciously pleading" with the FBI and Holland to do more to find her daughter.

"It would be comforting for us if they were more active in this investigation," said Holloway Twitty. "We must demand and expect that Natalee be returned to her country."

Natalee's family has gone through hell. It is inexcusable the way they have been treated by Aruban authorities involved in the case. No information. Inaccurate information. Not being forthcoming about suspicions of murder.

The family has been so caught up in picking up the slack of the Aruban government that they have had little time to pray, and now, grieve.

Inexcusable.