What was the real reason the 5 Taliban terrorists were released?
Posted on June 7, 2014
HUGH HEWITT: Now the news of the week, of course, is the Bergdahl deal. And during the break, you were reminding me you were a national security staff from ’81-’86, and you were a counterterrorism official for President Reagan from ’83-’86. And you were in on a few hostage ceremonies.
OLIVER NORTH: I was indeed.
HEWITT: And how did they compare with the one we saw this week?
NORTH: This week was surreal. I mean, I was there with, we had a unit, and I’ll leave some names out of this, United States Army general was kidnapped by the Red Brigades in Italy, and I was there for that event. I was there when each of the three hostages were brought back from Beirut. I was sent off to do that, and that’s what we did. Now a lot of people have different opinions about whether we did the right thing or the wrong thing, but we got them home. I tried desperately to get William Buckley, the CIA station chief, home. And that failed, because he was murdered, and the same thing later on with Bill Higgins. So I’ve got a lot of experience in dealing with hostage situations, and with welcome home ceremonies. The welcome home ceremony that I saw in the Rose Garden this week was surreal. And unfortunately, what the commander-in-chief has done is invite the kind of criticism that has come out about this case. I know a lot about the Bergdahls. I’ve met the family. I was asked to be involved in some aspects of this situation, because of my experience before. And I did so at the request of a senior person in our U.S. Government. And I’ve heard a lot of things about the young man. I’ve never met him, but I’ve met the family. Some have posited that he’s betrayed his country, that he’s defected, that he’s actually taken up arms against them. Look, here’s my take on that. One, none of us who have ever been hostages understand fully what one goes through under those circumstances. That’s number one. The so-called Stockholm Syndrome is a real thing and we’ll leave it at that. Number three, he deserves justice. Justice can be either to him or for him. Now you as an attorney understand what I’m talking about. That’s only going to happen if some very senior United States Army officer, meaning a general, stands up on his hind legs and convenes an Article 32 investigation, which is the military equivalent of a grand jury. But…and for all those who are out there just raising their hands right now saying oh, there’s no such thing as military justice, or military justice is to justice as military medicine is to medicine, the reality of it is I asked for a court martial when I was indicted by the special prosecutor. And the reason he didn’t want me to have it is because he knew it was going to be a fair trial.
HEWITT: Right.
NORTH: And I’d have a jury of my peers, not a jury with one high school graduate in it.
HEWITT: That’s why Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is actually better off getting military justice than civilian justice.
NORTH: Absolutely. Yes, and you get it. So here’s my take. What has to happen for justice to be done for this young man or agin’ him, whether he’s a knave, a villain or a hero, is going to be determined by someone with guts enough, meaning stars on their shoulders, to convene that Article 32 investigation, and then make a judgment as to whether there should or shouldn’t be a court martial.
HEWITT: Now Oliver North, I don’t know of anyone who has spent more time as an embedded correspondent with the young men and women who are fighting the wars of the last 12 years than you. There might be some, there are a couple of guys out there like Del Wilbur and a few others, John Burns spent a lot of time in Iraq, but you’ve spent a lot of time out there. What do you think about sending back five, in essence, army group commanders? I mean, these are senior guys.
NORTH: Well, one, Hugh, Bergdahl was never held by the Taliban. He was held by the Haqqani criminal gang.
HEWITT: Right.
NORTH: All they ever wanted was money. They never once mentioned in all of the dialogue that occurred trying to get him back earlier, that they wanted anything but money. So somehow, this administration concocted the release of five very senior, very brutal terrorists. Look, the senior guy in that bunch who was once the head of the so-called Taliban Army probably butchered, and forgive the use of the word on our network here, but butchered 100,000 people, Shiites, okay, because it was his mission to do that. And of course, they’re now free, and they’re walking around Qatar, and there’s no real control over whether they go back to the battlefield or not. The record is replete with examples of those who have been released from Gitmo who have gone back to the fight. We know that at least 25% of did, and the only reason we know that for sure is because we found their bodies later on after they’d attacked us. So the likelihood is very high that you’d have them go back to the fight.
HEWITT: So why would he make this deal? How do you figure this deal? I’ve got my own theory, but what’s your theory?
NORTH: I don’t, you know, I’ve given up, Hugh, ever since we’ve watched this thing go on from Fast & Furious to the IRS enemies list to the NSA spying on reporters that I work with, to this whole thing with the Veterans Administration, to Benghazi, I can’t figure out what’s going on with these people.
It's pretty obvious that "our" president is evil and driven by a desire to punish our country at every opportunity. The foolish people who voted for this scum bag will have to answer for that in time. Justice is always meted out one way or another.
