Topic : 11/17 The Search for Natalee and Amy

One of the nice things about living in the US is that you and your children can travel and experience different cultures and beautiful places without ever leaving our borders.  Heck, in New York City, you can do that in a 10 block radius!  You are right when you say that harm can come to you right here at home as well as anywhere else.  But there are certain things you can do to protect yourself and your children from harm.  I don't allow my children to engage in behavior that significantly raises their chances of getting hurt.  I don't allow them to juggle knives.  I don't allow them to play in traffic.    I don't allow them to ride their bikes on the block where a registered sex offender lives, and I don't allow them to travel to a country where young girls get abducted and disappear.  Yes, I know, that can happen here in the good ol' U.S. of A. as well, but it is my responsibility as a parent to protect them in every way I can.  So no, my children will not go to Aruba while they are under my care. 

As far as myself, I wouldn't go to Aruba if it was free.  That is a personal decision, it has nothing to do with the boycott.  Do I support the boycott?  Absolutely.  But I really don't think refusing to travel to Aruba constitutes living my life in fear.  I think that's just inflamatory rhetoric. 

When will Americans understand that the Sex Slave Industry occurs in your own country????   

And your comment: "Why can the US government not go into these brothels where there are known Americans being held and break them out" is so typical.  It's all about the US.  What about destroying the whole industry.  What about freeing every girl of every nationality that is being treated as a sex slave?  Why does everything come down to what's best for Americans.  What about caring for all people who are being treating unjustly against their will.   

I am just blown away by today's show.  I had no idea that these places that are marketed to us as "paradise", and particularly sold to our college-aged kids as great school break destinations, might also be places of such disturbing potential danger.  I helped (and encouraged) my beautiful, totally naive 19-year-old daughter go on a vacation trip to the islands - she would have been such an easy target for anyone wanting to do her harm.......I am sick just thinking about it.  I guess I am just totally naive, too.  And abducted on a cruise ship!!!!!?????  It never would have even occured to me.   I will not travel anywhere again, especially with my children, without thoroughly researching the destination - and I don't mean reading the tourism brochures. 

The information on the sex slave operations was extremely, extremely disturbing.  These crimes against children ARE worse than murder.     The heroic work that  man (Ty?) does finding and rescuing  these kids is unbelievable.   The emotional toll on him must be enormous.   If the slave trade problem is as big as it appears to be, then I pray that there are alot more of him out there, but sadly, I doubt there are.   

Dr. Phil, keep educating us about how to protect, nurture and educate our kids.  And keep making a racket about these issues that need to be addressed, not ignored. 

My heart goes out to the families of Natalee and Amy.  And if there is any chance that these daughters are alive in such a horrible situation, they simply MUST be rescued, and those perverted scum involved (and I mean both the sellers and the buyers)  must be exposed and severely punished. 

Hi everyone, 

I'm a huge fan too!Great show today!My heart goes out to the families and their beutiful daughters.I have a gorgeous 19 yr.olddaughter,who resembles Drew Barrymoore,if any thing were to happen to her I'd be devestated too!What about setting up the guys in Aruba using a wired ,extremely brave girl,agent?Is there a possibility that she may unfold and discover this sex slavery scandall? 

Hopeful they'll find the girls.If anyone can it's you Doc Phil.Ozzie was right,you could run for president! A fan,Mary 

First off, let me say to the people of Aruba--I wouldn't worry about Americans boycotting your country. We can't get organized enough to form a picnic or any other activity, much less a boycott. 

I watched most of the Dr. Phil show today; and I have to say that quite a bit of it was misleading talk. Sentences like, this happens all the time in Aruba--but yet, they can only come up with one other case and the person wasn't even kidnapped in Aruba; the ship had already set sail the night before. 

Then we have the "ace investigators". Yeah, it's real subtle to get off a plane and the guy renting you a car just happens to know where you go to buy underage kidnapped prostitutes. Then when you get there, the "supposed madam" just starts shoving girls at you. Yeah, I'm believing that one. <rolling eyes> 

As for the FBI; there is no reason they could do any better a job than any other police agency. We don't own everything in the world and being an American citizen doesn't mean your so special that we can just send in whomever we want to take care of your case. Besides, those men were held 30 days or longer; the law here is that you have to be formally charged with a crime by a grand jury to be held longer than about 72 hours--which pretty much means you actually have to have SOME EVIDENCE--which the Aruban authorities didn't even have; it just so happens their law states they can be held longer while the authorities decide whether or not to charge you with something. 

I also would like to disagree with something that was said about this "supposed" phone call that Natalee's mother recieved. Dr. Phil stated that his expert analysts could not identify it as her voice because shows like CSI make people think that the FBI can do these things when they really can't and that only the person's mother would know whether or not it was their voice. If that is the case; then how can we trust the government (FBI & whomever else) to analyze these terrorists tapes and say that it is definitely Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden that is sending us the message? (Although I will say that CSI and shows like it do give people the sense of police and agencies being able to do forensics at a record clip when, in reality, that is not the case & also that they do some things that would never actually stand up in a court of law.) 

According to World Vision a quarter of all who travel internationally so that they may solicit sex from children are U.S. citizens. 

Don't for one minute think your children are safe in the good ol' U.S. of A.