U.S. Code Says It’s Obama’s Duty to Release Sgt. Tahmooressi from Mexican Prison
This past Saturday I subjected myself to an opinion piece involving Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, USMC written by Robin Abcarian of the Los Angeles Times that is so filled with inaccuracy and obvious biased distortion that I reached the endpoint of patience regarding his outrageous predicament. The proverbial straw has broken the back of this particular camel in my herd.
Today Sgt. Tahmooressi is spending his 170th day in a Mexican prison, not a jail, for the egregious offense of making a wrong left turn on U.S. soil. The picture Ms. Abcarian depicts with her snide tone is wholly inaccurate, but as she replied to a commenter on Twitter: “I do it because it’s the truth as I see it.” Sorry dear, you do not get to choose truth; that stands as is, whether or not you believe it is another item altogether.
In an earlier PolitiChicks piece entitled “Juan Williams Cannot See The Reasoned Forest For The Obama Trees” I did a compare and contrast essay regarding Williams’ similar disdain toward the plight of Sgt. Tahmooressi vs. the left’s newest military ‘hero’ in confessed deserter Bo Bergdahl. In it I laid out the detail of the driving mistake Sgt. Tahmooressi made in San Diego, including a photographic map. The only thing Williams, and now Abcarian, offer is snotty commentary, and in the case of Ms. Abcarian, ridiculously hyperbolic speculation. They both go to limitless ends to excuse the negligence of Barack Obama, both unaware that he had a duty under U.S. Code to see to it that Sgt. Tahmooressi was released immediately:
Whenever it is made known to the President that any citizen of the United States has been unjustly deprived of his liberty by or under the authority of any foreign government, it shall be the duty of the President forthwith to demand of that government the reasons of such imprisonment; and if it appears to be wrongful and in violation of the rights of American citizenship, the President shall forthwith demand the release of such citizen, and if the release so demanded is unreasonably delayed or refused, the President shall use such means, not amounting to acts of war and not otherwise prohibited by law, as he may think necessary and proper to obtain or effectuate the release; and all the facts and proceedings relative thereto shall as soon as practicable be communicated by the President to Congress.
I realize Obama is juggling a great deal these days, after all, he only got in two rounds of golf on Saturday, followed by only two rounds on Sunday, but since he has no time to even mention his Marine’s name nor make reference to his situation, he ought to have directed his personal representative to Mexico, Ambassador Earl Anthony Wayne to obtain the just release of Sgt. Tahmooressi. If Andrew had not been abandoned by his Commander-in-Chief, he might not have spent a single night in that hellhole, let alone the 168 he has had to endure.
Ms. Abcarian ends her op-ed piece with these sentences: “That’s not just the American way. It’s the Mexican way as well.”
I do not know the extent of her study of Mexican law but would respectfully suggest she do a bit more research into United States law, not to mention the easily-discovered facts to a story before she so blithely opines on it; she makes it too easy to call her on the many errors her essay contains.
