What would it be like to serve two heroic tours of duty for a country that was unwilling to defend you? What would it be like to sit naked and constrained, innocently suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, alone in a Mexican prison cell while your commander in chief golfed and luxed with Hollywood stars and hip-hop rappers?
Countless people could take credit for Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi's release Friday from a Mexican prison. His mother, Jill, was relentless in her effort to get her son back on American soil to be treated for the PTSD he suffered after two tours of duty in Afghanistan. But others helped, too – his lawyer; the Mexican judge who released him; those who prayed for him; countless bloggers and conservative media outlets; the American citizens who wrote letters that his mother told me kept him going each day; the pastor who prayed with him while in prison; congressmen and senators who stood with him; Montel Williams; California Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, who was relentless in Tahmooressi's defense; Tahmooressi himself, who held up despite the fact that the American government he defended wouldn't defend him. That is enough to make anyone cuckoo in solitary confinement!
But no matter what they say, there are certain "others" who cannot take credit for anything.
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The omission of one phone call proves that credit for Tahmooressi's release cannot go to Barack Obama or California Gov. Jerry Brown.
Obama already moved in just before an Election Day that promises to be grim for his party, and credited "his" negotiating team: "I thank the individuals assisting my negotiating team in our efforts to bring closure to this case." He continued from the Rose Garden, "All Americans should join the Tahmooressi family in celebrating his newfound freedom."
In fact, all Americans should instead demand the retraction of such a refutable statement made at a most conspicuous moment in the election cycle. Obama's lack of action is to blame for Tahmooressi's unnecessary stay in hotel Tijuana, suffering 214 days in a Mexican prison, instead of a few hours he should have, for what amounted to a wrong turn.
The real story of why our Marine spent 214 days in a Mexican prison is one of pettiness, power, perception and one phone call never made.
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Corrupt politicians know that you have to defend your power, and the perception that you have that power. People who pose any threat to that power need to be dealt with accordingly. People who have spent time on the inside of politics understand this. The general public doesn't understand it.
Common-sense Americans scratch their heads wondering why an American war hero could languish in jail when everyone knew that the leader of the free world could free him with one phone call. This is such a known political "given" that it insulted our intelligence every time the administration suggested that the president was "doing what he can."
Almost worse, Gov. Brown of California (the very state responsible for the proper signage that would have prevented the entire episode) hosted the president of Mexico with all the pomp and circumstance afforded dignitaries, without a mention of Tahmooressi. Hundreds of citizens showed up outside of the revelry to express their shock at the stunning slap at this Marine. Certainly, the president of Mexico could have freed the Marine with a single phone call, as well.
In reality, Gov. Jerry Brown, head of the greatest trade partner of Mexico (California), could also have freed Tahmooressi with a single phone call.
Why didn't they?
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This brings us back to the political axiom that politicians, above all, preserve their power and the perception therein.
Fox News and patriotic media not associated with the left, made the Tahmooressi issue a huge rallying point. Therefore, Obama, Brown and other media effectively "boycotted" the issue. The left-leaning networks avoided the topic, and the president golfed and talked about racism. To respond to conservative media would have been to legitimize conservative media, in the mind of one so power hungry that it clouds common sense.
At a certain point, after conservatives rallied for Sgt. Tahmooressi's release, if Obama or Brown would have made "the one call," it would have been at the peril of their perception of their own power. The cynical view holds that the powerful person making the call would not receive the credit; the "evil Fox News" would get the credit for pressuring him.
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As a reporter, I can tell you that I have turned down stories knowing that as a conservative, if I write the story, the victim in the case is less likely to get the action needed of the power-grabbing politician who can often make a difference with a phone call. I have tipped liberal news organizations on stories I had, just so the person needing it would get action. I promise you that the same human rights violations would not be turned away by a leftist reporter, and flipped to a conservative. Why? Because conservatives aren't as likely to discriminate in their action to do the right thing based on politics. There is decidedly more tolerance on the right.
We were traveling in Mexico on vacation with some of my friends when I grabbed a copy of a Mexican tabloid and started reading about this American Marine who was being held in a Mexican prison. I decided to write a story about it. That same day, a producer for Greta called to see if I would come on her show to talk about it. The story was getting traction in conservative media. My friend, Wayne Dupree, was on the story and put me in touch with Jill Tahmooressi. I warned Jill that she needed to go to liberal media too if she were to get the attention of the president.
While the president showed utter disregard for the war hero Marine, this case stands in stark contrast to his absolute willingness to micromanage cases that are really none of his business. In the dustup in Ferguson, Missouri, for instance, the damage was done. Michael Brown was dead. Yet Obama jumped into the fray to immediately pontificate on the matter. He dispatched the U.S. attorney general and assigned a staggering 40 FBI agents to fight for something that would save no one.
In the Trayvon Martin case, no effort was too great for the Obama regime. Obama was quoted saying that if he "had a son, he'd look like Trayvon."
Barack Obama (left) and Trayvon Martin (right)
Obama spent exorbitant time and resources. The U.S. Justice Department launched a massive investigation, pressuring the state attorney general to press charges that never should have been brought. The feds pressured the local sheriff and prosecutor to act, and ultimately looked incredibly foolish for persecuting Zimmerman and, in the end, failing to convince a jury of his peers to believe their politicized version of the facts.
Then there was Bowe Bergdahl. Apparently no effort was too great when it came to rescue this traitor. The price was the release of five dangerous Taliban killers and the blood of future innocents who will undoubtedly die for their actions. Bergdahl's father wore a turban and sported a bushy beard and so his son received the hero's welcome.
Neither Brown nor Martin fought a war for this country. Evidently, neither did Bergdahl. None suffered PTSD, as did Tahmooressi. Bergdahl, by most accounts, actually cost American lives. All Tahmooressi ever did was save lives and serve honorably.
I spoke personally with Mrs. Tahmooressi and Andrew, and many times I heard the polite but gutted shock from them regarding the disregard of the American administration that wasn't taking action.
Where was the verbal support? Why didn't Sgt. Tahmooressi remind Obama of his own son? Where was the compassion of a Mrs. Obama for this mother crying out for her son's mental health and freedom?
Who is going to call out the media for what they have done in terms of selective coverage of only those with whom they agree politically?
Where are the humanitarian activists to impugn this president who acted on politics and power rather than basic human dignity?
Why don't the Hollywood elite call for the impeachment of their governor, who welcomed a foreign leader holding an American hero hostage in a prison cell?
Until the public calls out politicians and media elite who put power and politics ahead of human rights, Tahmooressi will not be the last American victimized by his own country's refusal to make "just one call."
