Dec. 9, 2022

by R.Harris

President Biden's prisoner-exchange of Russian-captive American basketball player Britney Greiner, for imprisoned Russian arms merchant Viktor Bout, was wrong -- on so many levels. And a symptom of a fundamental, dangerous weakness in Biden, echoed in previous presidents, from both parties, as well.

Catastrophic Swap

First, Greiner was, apparently, quite guilty of the charges for which she was convicted and imprisoned. So, although Russia's sentence of her was apallingly egregious, and transparently political, the fact remains that she, an adult, took an action that would hardly be forgiven if a foreigner had come here with illegal drugs in THEIR luggage.

Second, Greiner is, younger, athletic, and more likely to survive a 9-year Russian prison sentence, than Russia's other hostage: the middle-aged, ex-Marine Paul Whelan, who is serving a 16-year sentence in Russian prison.

Third, on a truly objective comparison, getting a minor sports figure in exchange for a global arms trafficker, known as the "Merchant of Death," is not, under any circumstances, a "fair trade." We get to watch someone dunk hoops, while Russia potentially gets a revitalization of its arms supply, in the middle of its war on Ukraine.

A few Americans will feel good for a moment. But it's concievable that, with a Merchant of Death back in Russia, hundreds of thousands of Ukranians will suffer, thousands will be injured, and at least HUNDREDS will DIE.

To save an obscure basketball player, and score a few political points, the President of the United States has escalated the very war he says he wants to see end. So Biden could have a nice little "Christmas present" for America, still more billions (with a "B") of America's treasury will likely soon be needed in the escalating conflict.

Biden's Personal Myopia

But this is not the first such catastrophic act of stupidity by this President in the international arena.

The classic was his fiasco of sudden retreat from Afghanistan -- brought on, ironically it seems, by his prioritization of "get our boys home". This attitude in Biden was a case of PERSONAL priorities taking precedence over PRESIDENTIAL responsiblities.

For the last couple of years, at least -- and especially since the death of his son Beau, a Marine veteran of our recent wars -- Biden oddly ended his speeches and pronouncements with, not the traditional "God Bless America," but instead the rather oddly exclusive "God Bless our Troops." Why his well-wishing of them, to the exclusion of all other Americans? Seeing in each, perhaps, a bit of his treasured, lost son. Understandable. Not Presidential.

His urge to get them home, then, seemed the reflex of a grieving father, not the strategic judgement of a wise and responsible President.

As president, it is not his responsibility to keep our troops safe, but, rather, to ensure that our troops keep our nation safe.

..........

Political Capital

To be sure, this Greiner-for-Bout swap was probably more than a strictly personal impulse. Biden is a politician, and has made it clear he intends to run for re-election. The clearest sign, lately, was the move to push the key first primary election to his stronghold of South Carolina, where a heavily black population of Democrats voted for him in the last primary, turning around a losing campaign.

And, to guard against progressive challenges, and court their votes, he has packed his White House and cabinet with visible minorities and women -- regardless of competence. Vice President, black/woman Kamala Harris, who never headed anything larger than the California attorney general's office, and never even served a full term in Congress. Similarly unqualified Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, never in charge of anything but the mayor of a small town -- but gay.

And the visible icon of the White House, Press Secretary Karine Jeanne-Pierre, who is all these -- yet is similarly, even conspicuously, inadequate to the job. Likewise, Brittney Greiner, too, checks all these political-faction boxes -- but without being individually important enough to sacrifice America's national interest, Ukranian lives, or global security.

.......

Not the First Mistake

Moreover, this grossly unfair prisoner/hostage swap echoes prior recklessly shallow and short-sighted conduct by other presidents who have allowed the personal case, or cases, of a handful of Americans to trump the national interest and global peace and security.

The Second Iran Hostage Crisis

Clearly, the most legendary of these was the Iran Hostage Crisis, where President Jimmy Carter let the media suck him into making a Presidential issue out of a student-protest stunt at a U.S. Embassy in Iran, in 1979.

Too often forgotten, even by historians, is that this was NOT the first such incident. Several months earlier, the same thing, essentially, happened. But, at the time, the matter was kept at the State Department level, and handled, gracefully it seems, by legendary diplomat Amb. William Sullivan, who was in the embassy at the time, and among those taken hostage. The White House ignored it, and made no great noise about it, and the whole thing blew over. The hostages from the Embassy were released, the students went home, and the U.S. Embassy in Teheran went back to business as usual.

But 9 months later, when it happened again, the President and his staff allowed it to become a White House matter. Rather than deferring questions to the State Department, and downplaying it, Jimmy Carter wanted to assure all Americans how much he loved and cared about Americans in distress (he stupidly stated that the hostages were the first thing on his mind in the morning, and the last thing on his mind at night, mistakenly alerting the captors that they had his attention).

And Carter capitulated to a White House press corps eager for a dynamic story to generate some drama at the White House, in place of the boring, tedious and depressing "news" common during the Carter presidency.

Carter also wanted (some say "needed") to show strength that critics said he, and his administration, lacked.

To be sure, there was more mischief afoot, as the corporate governance of the major networks had become more focused on making money out of their news programs, and staffs. And a human drama, of foreigners vs. Americans, was a drawing card.

The CBS Evening News, usually anchored by Walter Cronkite, opened or closed every evening newscast with the anchor intoning the number of days since the hostages had been taken -- such as, "Day 135," emphasized in a giant graphic -- followed by the latest "Crisis" news.

Most infamous of these newsroom-moneymaking schemes was ABC's reassignment of their successful sports-promoter, Roone Arledge, to head the news department. Arledge had boosted ABC's sagging ratings with his "ABC Wide World of Sports," which became a weekend-ratings darling, with its promise to vividly present a human drama showing "the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat." To Arledge, the news was just another big drama.

With the "Iran Hostage Crisis," he had one, and hyped it -- not only with the usual evening newscast, but by inventing a whole new late-night newscast in competition with Johnny Carson's popular NBC "Tonight Show." The result: "The Iran Crisis: America Held Hostage" (later renamed "ABC News Nightline" to embrace other topics) -- with ABC's lead anchor Frank Reynolds (later suceeded by veteran foreign corrrespondent Ted Koppel) -- gravely revealing every discernable detail of the unfolding "crisis," of "America Held Hostage," day-by-day.

So, now, it was no longer just the dozens of embassy staff, but all 300,000,000 Americans, who were metaphorically -- and eventually psychologically -- held hostage by the Iranians (and by their own TV).

Now, a President could NOT ignore it.
But if only he had, at the start.

The Iranians now had a powerful tool to torment America, and even bring down a President. And, with the eager assistance of the leaders of American media, they used it -- with devastating effect.

Since Iran

In the years, since, similarly short-sighted presidents have allowed hostage-takings -- by Iran, North Korea, China and, now, Russia, among others -- to rise to the White House. Families, personal supporters and attorneys of the hostages now routinely appeal to the White House for a Presidential intervention and solution.

And the press corps plays it up, knowing that a personal drama is more easily saleable on the evening news than boring statistics on transportation infrastructure or complex long-term negotiations on climate change or nuclear arms control.

And our adversaries have learned that the way to bring the leader of the Free World to his knees, and get him to sell out the interests of the rest of his country, its allies, and the world, is to simply kidnap a single American.

The Quick Fix that Breaks Everything

So, now, all-too-often, Presidents of the United States get involved in the cases of individual American hostages -- often, but not always, securing their eventual release, usually at some great cost to the country.

President Reagan meets with families of U.S. hostages held in Lebanon, 10/28/1985. (White House photo)

Does this work out for the hostages? Yes, sort of, but ironically, NO -- because this is why they became hostages in the first place. Had Greiner been ignored by the White House, she might not have faced nearly the ordeal that she faced as a geopolitical pawn. Had the Embassy hostages taken by Iran -- and other individual cases -- been ignored by the White House, such stunts would have lost their luster, and the hostage-taking would have been limited to the routine family-extortion crimes of the regime.

And, had not generations of Presidents involved the Presidency in these individual predicaments of no importance -- thus MAKING them important, and making the captors momentarily powerful -- taking Americans hostage would remain the infrequent crime of petty criminals, instead of the routine, cheap, power-grab of lesser nation-states, undermining American global power.

The Hard Choice
that Prevents
More Hard Choices

When Americans choose to go abroad, into dangerous places, they should not be empowered to drag the rest of us with them. Their courage and/or folly should not result in another case of "America Held Hostage." The surest way to prevent this, is for the President to firmly ignore such cases, deferring them to the State Department, where a less-noisy press corps can treat the case as the annoying trivia that it is.

If the media, and reckless political opposition, are hell-bent on dragging the Presidency into it, a strong President will make a passing, disciplined, careful remark about American NATIONAL interest taking priority over INDIVIDUAL cases, and that -- while the President condemns any unjustified imprisonment of individual Amercans abroad -- the White House has far more people to think about than the handful taken hostage.

A responsible President of the United States balances a soft heart with a hard head, and does not negotiate the fate of hostages with terrorist-kidnappers, not even if the criminals are rulers. He has much larger decisions to make -- for us ALL.