PASTOR - PRISONER - PAWN?

The plight of American missionary Rev. Andrew Brunson has recently come to my attention . . . S.L.

Pastor Andrew Brunson – a U.S. citizen from Black Mountain, North Carolina – was summoned to the local police station in Izmir, Turkey on the morning of October 7, 2016. He believed he would be receiving a long awaited permanent residence card. Pastor Brunson, who is a U.S. citizen, has been living in Turkey for 23 years, running a Christian church with the full knowledge of local authorities.

Upon arriving at the station, he was informed he was being deported based on being a “threat to national security,” a common excuse for deportation in Turkey. It became clear that he was being arrested and would be detained until deportation. He was fingerprinted, searched, and had his phone, pen, etc. taken away. He was denied a Bible. But instead of being deported, he was held with no charges.

During the initial 63 days of his detention, Brunson was denied access to his Turkish attorney. He was placed in solitary confinement for part of this time, with his glasses and watch confiscated.

On December 8th, after being detained for 63 days, things took a dire turn. In the middle of the night, Pastor Andrew was taken to a counter terrorism center in Izmir and then on to court. He was questioned and has been falsely charged with “membership in an armed terrorist organization.” The charging documents state no “evidence has been gathered” against him. A Turkish judge had the option to deport Pastor Andrew, release him on weekly sign-ins at the local police station, or imprison him. The judge chose to remand Pastor Andrew to prison.”

Senator James Lankford (Republican - Oklahoma) traveled to the Turkish capital Ankara in December where he met with the Department of Justice officials, Fox News reported: “For the first time, we learned what these charges are,” Lankford told Fox News. “They were given to me orally.”

Lankford told Fox News that Turkish authorities alleged Brunson had helped Kurdish refugees — Turkey labels the Kurds an insurgent group — and that the pastor attended a conference put on by Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom the Turkish government accused of plotting the 2016 coup from Pennsylvania where he now lives.

Reverend Andrew Brunson remains in Turkish custody at the time of this writing.

STORMBRINGER SENDS

ALLEN WEST

The heroic story of Lt. Col. West is brought to our attention via the worthy blog Weasel Zippers:



Allen B. West is a retired United States Army Lieutenant Colonel and a Republican Party candidate for the United States Congress in Florida's 22nd district. He served in Iraq and as a civilian adviser in Afghanistan.


IRAQ INTERROGATION CONTROVERSY AND RETIREMENT:

While serving in Taji, Iraq, on August 20, 2003, as commander of the 2d Battalion 20th Field Artillery, Lieutenant Colonel West was in charge of an interrogation of a civilian Iraqi police officer who was suspected of having pertinent information regarding attacks on American soldiers. According to the Military Investigation, soldiers under West's supervision assaulted the civilian Iraqi police officer in an attempt to get him to talk.[3] West admittedly fired a pistol near the policeman's head, threatened his life, and allowed his troops to physically assault the man.

West, who at the time was just short of having 20 years of service, was charged with violating articles 128 (assault) and 134 (general article) of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. West was processed through an Article 32 hearing in November 2003, where he admitted wrongdoing, was fined $5,000 over two months for misconduct and assault. He then submitted his resignation, and was allowed to retire with full benefits in the summer of 2004.

At a hearing, West was asked by his defense attorney if he would do it again. "If it's about the lives of my men and their safety, I'd go through hell with a gasoline can," he said. Apparently not knowing West's gun was aimed into a barrel, Hamoodi cracked and gave information about the planned ambush on West's convoy, thwarting the attack. West said there were no further ambushes on U.S. forces in Taji until he was relieved of his leadership post on October 4. Hamoodi was detained for 45 days, then released without having been charged.

After West's resignation was brought to public attention the next fall, he received over two thousand letters and e-mails from the American public offering him moral support. In addition, a letter was drafted to the Secretary of the Army, its signatories being ninety-five members of Congress in West's support.

* * *

You can say whatever you want about what he did with that Iraqi prisoner and in the end you'll just be another armchair quarterback; Alan West was in the heat of battle and while Mock executions are specifically forbidden under the Law of Land Warfare, what he did produced actionable results. My take on it is that I am sure this was not a mock execution - this was the intro to a REAL execution, which of course would have been murder. More to the point, Lt. Col. West was forthright and willing to face the consequences of his actions. - Sean Linnane

STORMBRINGER fully endorses Lt. Col. Alan West for Congress. We need more vets like him in Washington.

Click HERE if you wish to support Lt. Col. West's run for Congress.

SEAL UPDATE

Since my earlier posting regarding the situation with the SEALs charged for turning in a HVT prisoner with a fat lip, a disturbing aspect of this situation has surfaced.




My source is a retired SEAL who like myself still serves in other capacities. The feeling going around the Special Operations community at Fort Bragg is that this latest development is a kneejerk reaction to the situation a couple months ago when SEAL operators rescued Captain Phillips - Captain of the Maersk Alabama - off the coast of Somalia.

At the time of the capture, the media played up the angle that President Obama himself gave the order to the SEAL snipers to open fire. Having done extensive time in anti-terrorist units myself, I can tell you from personal experience this is ridiculous, a total fabrication. Nobody except those with "eyes on" the targeted individuals can make the judgement call to open fire.




The truth of the situation was that the SEALs were held off from infiltrating the AO (Area of Operations) for over 36 hours. There was a lot of resistance from the Whitehouse in letting them in theater in the first place; once they were in place they were given very restrictive ROE (Rules Of Engagement); so restrictive that they really couldn't engage their targets. There were two previous opportunities to rescue Captain Phillips, and they were not allowed to engage their targets.

When they finally did execute, they did it by liberally interpreting the ROE; the onsite commander finally had enough with the situation and gave them a weapons-free command and they were able to engage and rescue Captain Phillips. The fallout from the National Command Authority was immediate and extremely unpleasant; the White House did not want the rescue to be conducted in the way that it was.



Richard Phillips, right, the captain of the U.S.-flagged cargo ship Maersk Alabama, after his rescue with Cmdr. Frank Castellano, commanding officer of the destroyer USS Bainbridge.

I guess the Community-Organizer-in-Chief envisioned some kind of cross-cultural kumbaya-singing group encounter session, followed by photo ops of him hugging the poor, oppressed under-employed Somalis, maybe even practicing his bow on their leaders. Instead what he got was THIS:




So the word on the street is that this latest development is payback for the SEALs violating the ROE in rescuing the captain of the Maersk Alabama. The Chain of Command is asserting itself, letting everybody know what's going to happen to you if you don't follow orders.

As this was expressed to me, this opinion is based on very good, solid inside information. In my personal experience with Navy brass I have found they are very political and very politically correct. The Naval Command's reaction to the prisoner situation was so overblown and out of proportion that I somehow find this latest angle quite believable. Unfortunately.


I'll keep you posted with updates as information surfaces.


. . . S.L.

YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN

UPDATE 21 JUL 09: The captured American soldier depicted in this Taliban video has since been identified - Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl of Hailey, Idaho, member of 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment. He is going through Hell, of course. While Bowe's family and friends go through their personal sort of living Hell, the following stories of Americans held captive overseas have faded from the front pages:


By now most of you have seen this Taliban propaganda video of an unamed American soldier, missing from his base in eastern Afghanistan June 30 and later confirmed captured. The soldier's identity has not yet been confirmed by Dept of Defense, pending notification of the soldier's family. U.S. defense officials confirmed that the man in the video is the captured soldier.



Rest assured the United States is on a full-court press to recover our soldier. Think of him as you enjoy your Sunday morning round of golf, or fishing. Remember him in your prayers at church, or temple.

Our prayers are with him.



MEANWHILE . . .

Two American journalists are still being held by North Korea.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee work for Al Gore’s California-based Current TV media group.

The two Americans were detained near the North Korean border with China and were sentenced last month to 12 years of hard labor for entering the country illegally and for “hostile acts.” North Korean officials may have been angered at the journalists for trying to produce a program critical of North Korea.


Laura Ling and Euna Lee, you are not forgotten.

North Korea may spare the US journalists from hard labor, but the two women still face awful conditions. Even if they have not yet been sent to a labor camp, they are no doubt being subjected to early morning wake up calls, daily interrogation / "re-education" sessions (that go on for unbelievable lengths of time, well into the night), minimal food of poor nutritional value, and every facet of their daily lives controlled. The worst could possibly be the stress and anxiety accompanying the fear of the unknown.

News is difficult to get out of the world's most isolated and repressed society. Their exact whereabouts remain unknown; the latest I was able to glean from open-source is that North Korea has delayed sending the two American journalists to prison labor camp.

North Korean labor camps are notorious: the horrific conditions rival that of the Third Reich, or the torture factories of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. Possibly hundreds of thousands of North Koreans face starvation, filth, disease, hard labor, exposure to the elements, daily "re-education" torture sessions, summary executions and anonymous graves.

Click here to learn how you can help Laura Ling and Euna Lee.


The Korean peninsula by night.