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Steven Emerson,
Executive Director
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June 17, 2016
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Obama
administration's absurd priorities
by Pete Hoekstra
FoxNews.com
June 17, 2016
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first of your friends to like this.
 U.S. leaders have
developed a disgraceful habit of casting aside those who serve their
country with honor and dignity – as well as those from other countries who
worked as foreign assets – when they no longer find them useful.
Portugal will soon extradite former CIA officer Sabrina de Sousa to Italy
for incarceration. Her crime? She executed the orders of her CIA superiors,
who were acting under the direction of the administration with oversight
from Congress.
A dual citizen of the United States and Portugal, an Italian court
convicted her in absentia in 2009 for her alleged role in the kidnapping of
radical Egyptian imam Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr in Milan. De Sousa says
that she was nearly 200 miles away from the incident when it occurred.
Even Nasr, whom the CIA rendered to Egypt where he claimed he was
tortured, said de Sousa is a scapegoat.
De Sousa followed a command issued by her agency and her country. If the
Italians truly believe anyone committed a crime, then they identified the
wrong criminal. Their judicial system should target the officials within
the United States government who directed the operation.
Her spending even one day in a prison cell will stain American
leadership.
I hope frantic diplomatic efforts are underway to prevent her
imprisonment. But recent history does not offer much optimism.
Dr. Shakeel Afridi – the doctor who proved instrumental in ascertaining
the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden – continues to languish in a Pakistani
prison. Official Washington celebrates the great victory of killing the
world's most wanted terrorist, but they left a man critical to the
undertaking in the dust.
Even more outrageous is that those same people boasting about the
operation disclosed highly classified information that enabled Pakistan to
identify Afridi's alleged role. The U.S. left Alfridi behind, and it
appears they will soon leave de Sousa behind.
The rendition program in which de Sousa participated in Italy generated
controversy. The raid in Pakistan remains controversial in some circles.
Both reportedly caused diplomatic friction among representatives of their
governments.
However, controversy does not excuse Washington from dropping like dead
weight those who implement their national security decisions. America's
leaders should be ashamed.
As Afridi languishes and de Sousa likely not far behind, the
"Leavenworth 10" military service members remain incarcerated for
supposed crimes committed during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. To many,
the sentences are unjustified given situations in which they are forced to
make life-and-death decisions within fractions of a second.
Many of those jailed assuredly do not deserve life sentences for erring
on the side of protecting their own when threatened. They were simply
executing the orders of our commander-in-chief – with the full consent and
knowledge of Congress – to the best of their ability.
Meanwhile, the administration works feverishly to release radical
Islamist terrorists from the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba detention facility, and
close its doors forever. Officials believe at least a dozen detainees
released from the facility have launched attacks on allied forces in
Afghanistan that left members of the Armed Services dead.
A March 2016 summary on recidivism from the Office of the Director of
National Intelligence indicates that of the 676 detainees released to other
countries, 118 are confirmed of reengaging in terrorism and 86 are
suspected of doing so.
The administration's priorities are backward.
Common sense would dictate the U.S. rehabilitate those who may have
committed some crimes while serving in deadly combat zones. Common sense
also dictates that the leaders not leave behind those who have sacrificed,
often at great personal risk, to support the U.S. and its interests.
Prioritizing the rehabilitation and release of Islamist terrorists who
have committed themselves to murdering Americans stands at the height of
absurdity.
Who will ever again jeopardize their life to serve their country when
they see how it treats its heroes versus how it treats those guilty of
harming and killing its heroes?
Americans and foreign assets deserve so much better.
Republican Pete Hoekstra is the Shillman senior fellow at the Investigative
Project on Terrorism and the former chairman (R-Michigan) of the U.S.
House Intelligence Committee. He is the author of "Architects of Disaster: The Destruction of Libya"
(The Calamo Press, October 2, 2015).
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