End the “Catch-and-Release” Tomfoolery NOW!
End the “Catch-and-Release” Tomfoolery NOW!
This is a link to an article that is about a month old. In fact, I have probably provided a link to it in the past, but it deserves a second look.
The post is called “Gates of Fire” and it was written by war-correspondent extraordinaire Michael Yon.
This particular post was written near the end of his recently-ended eight-month tour as an embedded reporter in Iraq – much of that time spent in Mosul with the Army’s “Deuce-Four” Stryker boys.
As one reads Yon’s posts, one picks up quickly that he empathizes deeply with both our soldiers and the friendly Iraqis. You also pick up on the fact that – albeit expressed very gently – Yon sees some serious flaws in the way that top US political and military leadership are prosecuting (or, perhaps NOT prosecuting) this war.
In this installment of his war-dispatch blog, the leader of the “Deuce-Four”, LTC Erik Kurilla is wounded by a terrorist who had been previously arrested, tried (by the Iraqis), and eventually released. In other words, if this terrorist had still been in prison, Kurilla would not have been shot!
In fact, the blog post under discussion makes it clear that this “catch-and-release” treatment of known and suspected terrorists happens all too frequently in Iraq.
Now the “Bush/Rumsfeld-can-do-NO-wrong” crowd will find excuses for this saying that we need to let the Iraqis run their own country, try their own criminals, etc.
My reply is POPPYCOCK: This is OUR war, too, and we are losing boys and some of our boys are losing limbs, etc.
The “catch-and-release” of terrorists is happening in Iraq because WE AMERICANS (read: Bush-Rumsfeld-Military Commanders) are PERMITTING it to happen. We need to lock these guys up and throw away the key until the war is over. If the war goes another 10 years, oh well. We lock up Americans for that long for selling drugs. Should we not also lock up our enemies intent on killing our troops?
Let me suggest that this “catch-and-release” policy constitutes NOTHING less than CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE on the part of those calling the shots in this war.
If the media were doing their job as well as Yon does his, we would have reporters yelling at us nightly NOT about the (alleged) “abuse” that our soldiers mete out against Iraqi prisoners, but rather about the ridiculously LENIENT treatment that our enemies our receiving at our hands.
Indeed, Yon notes more than once in his blog entries that we give wounded Iraqi terrorists first-class medical treatment – as good as the treatment that we give to their wounded Iraqi victims.
Now I am not saying we shouldn’t give them some medical care – but to put them in hospital beds RIGHT next to those that they have wounded? That is INSANE!
What is WRONG with this picture?
As Michael Savage so often says on his radio show: A lack of leadership. There is a vacuum at the top.
This is a link to an article that is about a month old. In fact, I have probably provided a link to it in the past, but it deserves a second look.
The post is called “Gates of Fire” and it was written by war-correspondent extraordinaire Michael Yon.
This particular post was written near the end of his recently-ended eight-month tour as an embedded reporter in Iraq – much of that time spent in Mosul with the Army’s “Deuce-Four” Stryker boys.
As one reads Yon’s posts, one picks up quickly that he empathizes deeply with both our soldiers and the friendly Iraqis. You also pick up on the fact that – albeit expressed very gently – Yon sees some serious flaws in the way that top US political and military leadership are prosecuting (or, perhaps NOT prosecuting) this war.
In this installment of his war-dispatch blog, the leader of the “Deuce-Four”, LTC Erik Kurilla is wounded by a terrorist who had been previously arrested, tried (by the Iraqis), and eventually released. In other words, if this terrorist had still been in prison, Kurilla would not have been shot!
In fact, the blog post under discussion makes it clear that this “catch-and-release” treatment of known and suspected terrorists happens all too frequently in Iraq.
Now the “Bush/Rumsfeld-can-do-NO-wrong” crowd will find excuses for this saying that we need to let the Iraqis run their own country, try their own criminals, etc.
My reply is POPPYCOCK: This is OUR war, too, and we are losing boys and some of our boys are losing limbs, etc.
The “catch-and-release” of terrorists is happening in Iraq because WE AMERICANS (read: Bush-Rumsfeld-Military Commanders) are PERMITTING it to happen. We need to lock these guys up and throw away the key until the war is over. If the war goes another 10 years, oh well. We lock up Americans for that long for selling drugs. Should we not also lock up our enemies intent on killing our troops?
Let me suggest that this “catch-and-release” policy constitutes NOTHING less than CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE on the part of those calling the shots in this war.
If the media were doing their job as well as Yon does his, we would have reporters yelling at us nightly NOT about the (alleged) “abuse” that our soldiers mete out against Iraqi prisoners, but rather about the ridiculously LENIENT treatment that our enemies our receiving at our hands.
Indeed, Yon notes more than once in his blog entries that we give wounded Iraqi terrorists first-class medical treatment – as good as the treatment that we give to their wounded Iraqi victims.
Now I am not saying we shouldn’t give them some medical care – but to put them in hospital beds RIGHT next to those that they have wounded? That is INSANE!
What is WRONG with this picture?
As Michael Savage so often says on his radio show: A lack of leadership. There is a vacuum at the top.
posted by GunJam at 6:24 PM
2 Comments:
Michael Yon is the very definition of the word hero. I don't agree with the catch and release program either and have heard good points both for and against it. Some of the ones that have been let go have come back and divulged vital info that saved many US lives..then there are the others. I think this would be a tremendously hard call for anybody to make.
Hi, sk! Thank you for the thoughtul post. I don't think you can find two better men (as you say) than Yon and Kukilla -- both of whom despise the catch and release policy. It has been said that about 12 of the "harmless" prisoners released from Gitmo have gone BACK to the battlefield. On this issue, I say it is "no-brainer" -- keep them locked up. -- Gunjam
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