Allow me to introduce some people:
Kenneth Bae was born in South Korea as Pae Jun Ho and moved to America with his family, at the age of 18. The father of three who was known as a Korean-American Evangelical Christian Missionary.
Matthew Todd Miller, age 25 from Bakersfield California who had family in South Korea.
Jeffrey Edward Fowle, age 56 married and father of three from Miamisburg, Ohio.
What these three have in common is that they felt the need to travel to North Korea, run by one of the worlds most brutal regimes and all three found themselves running afoul of the law in that country. Considering the secrecy in everything that involves North Korea it’s unclear exactly what they did that led to their arrest, but one was reported to have left a Bible in a nightclub and another was said to have torn up his passport on arrival, wishing to defect. Recently all three of these have been released following intervention by the United States government and being flown back to America on official United States government aircraft.
Next we have Bowe Bergdahl, 28 years old, enlisted in the army after he was discharged from the US Coast Guard in 2006, for psychological reasons. Mr. Bergdahl was stationed in Afghanistan, where, according to his fellow soldiers, he walked off his base and was then eventually taken as a hostage by Taliban forces. Earlier this year, Bergdahl was released in exchange for 5 Guantanamo Bay prisoners, after the intervention of the US government. His family was subsequently feted by President Obama on the East Lawn of the White House.
Finally we have Marine Sargent Andrew Tahmooressi who joined the Marines, where he became a decorated combat veteran, with two tours of duty in Afghanistan, leading to Sgt. Tahmooressi being diagnosed with PTSD. He moved to San Diego for treatment, living out of his truck, camping out in a friends back yard. One day he decided to visit Tijuana, parking north of the border and walking over. After he returned to truck and attempted to head back to his temporary home he found himself in the wrong lane, unable to turn around. When he got to the border he let the patrol know of his mistake and also that he had legal weapons in his truck and only wanted to head back the other way. After discussion he was taken into custody and sent to a Mexican prison with a dubious reputation. To make a long story short he stayed imprisoned for 214 days. During this time our government took no official action to have him released, ignoring pleas from his mother and several Congressmen that serve in border areas. Eventually the Judge in charge of deciding the case gave into the pressure with the intervention of former New Mexico Governor, Bill Richardson and decided to release Sgt. Tahmooressi.
The bottom line is that our Government had no problem intervening in the cases of three who were arrested by one of our biggest enemies, North Korea. They also had no problem with negotiating with the Taliban to gain the release of a soldier that likely deserted. When it came to a decorated Marine, suffering from PTSD left in a prison in Mexico for 7 months, they somehow couldn’t find the time.
**Update: According to The Blaze, Matthew Miller, one the three that was detained in North Korea, in an interview with NK News, said that “my main fear was that they (the North Koreans) would not arrest me when I arrived,” and that he asked “to be detained” so he could “connect with the people.” Mr. Miller also said that the North Korean government tried to send him back on the next plane but that he refused to leave. Thus making the United States government even more pernicious in their efforts to free the trio.
markE watkins 