It was the best of times - today one military man savoring all that is good and decent about America: free to visit with his parents and free to chose to not meet with them; free to watch the glorious fireworks displays almost every community in the Nation will hold to-nite; free to attend patriotic parades and picnics and free to enjoy the National Symphony entertain the country from the steps of the US Capitol.
Yes, we can all be grateful that Sgt. Bowe Bergdaghl has been released from his long, most probably harsh, custody by the Taliban in the wilds of Afghanistan. The political debate over the terms of his exchange for five commanding Taliban terrorists and the legal consequences of his walking away from his Army post after being in Afghanistan for less than sixty days must be pursued, but these appropriate inquiries to establish personal accountability for the then private, first class, Bergdahl and political accountability for the Obama Administration should not diminish our compassion and relief for the Bergdahl family - they have been joyfully delivered from an agonizing five year long family nightmare.
It was the worst of times - today one military man is enduring all that is evil and indecent about Mexico: he is imprisoned for making a wrong turn and mistakenly driving his pick-up into the "Nothing to Declare" Customs entry lane at the Mexican border, where the green light signal was given allowing him to proceed into this foreign country without stopping for a vehicle inspection. Realizing his error, Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, a decorated veteran of not one, but two, year long combat tours in Afghanistan, stopped his pick-up and requested Custom's officials help in immediately making a u-turn, as he had not intended to enter Mexico then. Even after Andrew Tahmooressi told these Custom's officers of the presence of three legal guns in his truck, they were willing to allow his return to America, but were overruled by the arrival of Mexican Army officers.
I have read a number of different MSM news accounts, seeking to discredit Andrew's story, even avowedly supportive of the Mexican government's harsh handling of this error in missing the turn around exit, as being appropriate and just in view of the seriousness of the criminal offense of being in possession of deadly weapons inside Mexico. I find this logic to be sadly flawed and the judgment of "right on/go get him Mexico" to be troubling in the extreme. First, as a factual matter, Andrew had not moved beyond the Custom controlled inspection station, which he had the full freedom of movement to do. Thus, his declaration of the intention NOT to enter Mexico is more than adequate to exonerate him from any criminal motive, thereby eviscerating an essential element of the crime at issue. With his green light to proceed into the country w/o. a vehicle inspection, had Andrew possessed these rifles/pistols for any nefarious purpose in Mexico, he had the unabated opportunity to do so and he did NOT.
Irrespective of our government leader's evaluation of the present bona fides of Andrew Tahmooressi, his honorable, even heroic, service in the US Marine Corp. for more than two years in Afghanistan surely qualifies him for inclusion in the resolute national policy of leaving no man behind. Let's put this "transgression" by Andrew into its historical context to evaluate factually how this Administration deals with its law enforcement personnel and our military service man here. President Obama's DOJ, through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, secretly shipped thousands of untracked deadly weapons, including military style assault rifles, into the possession of the Mexican Drug Cartels. These thousands of illegal weapons have been used by the vicious criminals (to whom they were willingly given by US government officials) to murder hundreds of Mexican citizens, and will be fully available to continue this murderous carnage unabated for decades to come.
Now, this criminal enterprise, called "Operation Fast & Furious" by its DOJ/ATF sponsors indisputably violated the same Mexican gun possession laws misapplied to Andrew Tahmooressi, but with this huge difference - the DOJ gun runners in F&F intended to flood Mexico with thousands of illegal, deadly weapons and their successful delivery has caused hundreds of innocents to be murdered. Mexico initially demanded the ATF culprits' extradiction to face criminal charges for these henious actions, but President Obama personally intervened with his counterpart in the Mexican Presidency to curtail completely any criminal proceedings against his own lawless subordinates. Andrew Tahmooressi's care and protection by this Administration - not so much.
On this sacred day of celebration for America's freedoms, in which it is not far fetched to envision Andrew Tahmooressi tied four points to the metal frame of a Mexican prison bed, I ask for your fulfillment of only one obligation of our mutual citizenship in the greatest country in the world - help return our nation to its proper role of true exceptionalism. We must all make the immediate safe return of Andrew Tahmooressi an urgent, top priority for President Obama, as it was with his boundless commitment to Bowe Bergdahl.
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