Posted on 12/20/2017 2:42:25 PM PST by Kaslin
President Trump is well known for his brash and confrontational style of governing – but it could be the more diplomatic side of his administration generating some of the biggest victories in 2017.
Amid all the debate over issues like the travel ban, the border wall and health care, senior officials in the White House and State Department have quietly worked behind the scenes to resolve a major concern of the president: securing the release of American citizens detained by foreign governments and terror groups.
“Immediately after President Trump took office, he told Secretary [of State Rex] Tillerson to prioritize bringing home Americans who’ve been wrongfully detained or held hostage in foreign countries,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told Fox News in an email. “We are proud that we’ve been able to secure the release of several Americans as a result of U.S. diplomatic efforts.”
While the administration has been successful in securing the release of numerous Americans held abroad, officials noted there are at least 10 other U.S. citizens – like Joshua Holt in Venezuela – who are being wrongly detained.
“The work, however, is not complete as we continue to press foreign governments for the release of other wrongly held U.S. citizens,” Nauert said.
From college students who ran afoul of the law abroad to a family held for years by a terror group, here is a look at some of the most prominent Americans freed from captivity in 2017.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
This also shows that he really did probably get those thug basketball players out of China.
How many did Obama bring home during his 8 years?
Boe Bergdhal, but that was probably just an excuse to release 5 terrorists on the cheap.
Boe Bergdhal, but that was probably just an excuse to release 5 terrorists on the cheap.
Obama was too busy bringing home Muslims.
I’m thinking that Trump saw “The Wind and the Lion” a while ago, and adopted the same attitude as T.R.: “Perdicaris alive, or Raisuli dead!”
Foreigners holding our people have doubtless been informed that Trump is, in this respect, the modern-day version of TR, and have been warned that if they continue to hold US citizens hostage then there will be Hell to pay.
I am not familiar with that movie
Which were the worst terrorists to boot.
Thanks Kaslin.
Made in 1975, based on a real incident where an American citizen (who, it later turned out, wasn’t) named Perdicaris was kidnapped in Morocco by a guy named Raisuli. Raisuli wanted to pressure his government for concessions, and used Perdicaris for leverage. TR sent in a few Marines (like 12, and they ended up just securing the consulate or embassy). In the movie, it was the guy’s wife and kids, and a few companies of Marines we’re dispatched and saw lots of action (that’s Hollywood for you). Sean Connery played Raisuli, Brian Keith was TR. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind_and_the_Lion
Pretty decent movie. I hadn’t seen it for 20 years, and couldn’t find it on cable, Netflix or Amazon prime, so I bought it for about $5 on Amazon.
The most famous line in the movie, as in 1904 right before the election, was “Perdicaris alive, or Raisuli dead. Pity that we haven’t stuck with that attitude over the last 100+ years, we would have had a lot less problems.
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