October 3rd, 2007 8:26 PM Eastern

Watch at 10pm tonight! And Don’t Kid Yourself: Aruba Tried to Make This Show Not Happen

by Greta Van Susteren

I just spoke to my executive producer and tonight’s show - the tape part - is almost done…it has been a technical nightmare. As you know, it will have lots of tape from our 28 or so hours in Aruba last weekend — but handy cam tape, not professional tape since the Aruban Customs and Immigration would not let us bring our professional cameras into Aruba on Saturday. Our technical staff and editors have tried to fix the quality of the tape - both lighten (we had no lights…they got those, too) and boost the audio (they took that and you know how bad the mikes are on amateur handy cams…) I will see the taped pieces when you do…not before.

And now to the problem that occurred before I arrived in Aruba but that I began to hear about as I changed planes in Miami headed to Aruba:

First, I have read all the comments posted criticizing my crew for not filling out “paperwork” to get the cameras in….but for 2 1/2 years they have been bringing professional cameras in and out of Aruba without the so-called “paperwork.” The crew was told when they tried to enter the country that they could not bring the cameras in and that the rule had been a pre-existing one. It had NEVER been enforced against our crew before and they had been in and out of Aruba so many times…in fact we had equipment coming in almost daily the summer of 2005.

When the crew arrived on Saturday they were shown paperwork - in Dutch - but not given any to fill out since they were told it could not be processed until Monday. The crew was told that it would be considered on Monday..but no guarantees it would be granted.

My producer traveling with the crew reached out to others in the government to help but he was told by a high ranking government official that because “Fox had s**t all over Aruba that they would not help us.

Plain and simple: they didn’t want us in Aruba and tried to make our jobs very hard. It was an easy fix if they wanted to fix it. They did not.

By the way, the media (yes, news agencies from all over the United States) spent tens (hundreds?) of millions of dollars for 6 months in Aruba - hotels, food, cars etc - and they were happy to take our money. In fact, they were elated and I don’t know of one instance when we got a “deal” — we paid full freight on everything and we paid every dime and we paid on the spot. Yes, they loved having us…don’t let this history be re-written…they wanted the media there spending money.

It was only after it became plain that the Aruban authorities had bungled the investigation and the spotlight turned on THEM and HOW THEY HANDLED THE INVESTIGATION that suddenly this rule was enforced…and one that only meant someone had to look at our two cameras and audio equipment and just say “ok.” We were not bringing drugs, food, contraband into the country….just two cameras and audio equipment.

Finally when I write above about “they” or “Aruba” — I mean only those in power, those who run Aruba, those whose jobs included running the investigation and making decisions…yes, they are the ones who made a mess of this investigation and now run for cover. They want us in the media (and Beth) to be the “bad guys.” We are not. Our sin? asking for information about an investigation into a missing American.

One very important point: I DO NOT include in my criticism THE THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of WONDERFUL ARUBANS who only wanted this case solved ….and many of whom even helped look. Many, many, many had open arms to the media. More importantly they KNEW and FELT the pain that Natalee’s parents were experiencing. They wanted to help. The ones I am writing about know who they are.