Now that President Barack Obama has traded five high-level terrorists for an American soldier who reportedly deserted his troops five years ago, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said it was time for Obama to bring back the U.S. Marine who is rotting in a Mexican jail.
On March 31, Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi accidentally crossed the Mexican border with guns in his truck. He was promptly arrested, chained, and beaten by Mexican authorities.
“Meanwhile, we have a U.S. Marine detained in Mexico who is ignored by Obama – it’s like someone said: ‘our Marine is the ONLY one Obama won’t let cross the border,'” Palin said on Monday. “Obama needs to hop on Air Force One and visit our neighbors to the south to seal THAT deal because surely the Commander-in-Chief lives up to his word and 230 years of U.S. Military ethos promising we ‘leave no one behind.'”
Palin reminded Obama that the POW exchange violated “America’s agreement with our allies that we would not be so reckless, short-sighted and stupid as to negotiate with terrorists – and now these Islamists who hate us are free to go about their business of killing us.” She indicated that freeing Tahmooressi would cost much less.
On Monday, Tahmooressi told Greta Van Susteren that Mexican prisons were worse than Afghanistan.
“When I was put in a cell with 15 strangers who didn’t like me… that was one of the hardest experiences I’ve ever been through,” Tahmooressi said on Fox News’ On The Record, noting that unlike in the Marines, there was nobody who had his back.
On Friday, a White House petition that demands Obama bring back Tahmooressi reached the 100,000 signatures required for an official White House response.