Posted on 11/27/2020 6:03:32 AM PST by Kaslin
Imagine if President Trump could have held the election a week later. The Monday following the vote featured news Pfizer is closing in on a vaccine and that the stock market had reached record highs for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic – both of which could have bolstered Trump’s margins and perhaps spared us the messy court battles ahead.
Perhaps he also could have gotten behind another issue – one in keeping with twin goals of his administration for all four years: Helping black people and freeing Americans held captive in other countries.
He has personally worked to free more than 50 Americans held in 22 different foreign countries, including Andrew Brunson, a preacher who was captured in Turkey, and late last month, Philip Walton, an American missionary who had been captured in Nigeria.
As for black people, he signed the First Step Act, which ended lengthy prison sentences for drug crimes that disproportionately went to black people. He increased funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, declared the KKK a terrorist organization, created opportunity zones and community centers in black communities and proposed his Platinum Plan to create 3 million new jobs and 500,000 new black-owned businesses over the next four years.
But one group of black Americans still needs action from Washington regardless of who emerges as the winner of the presidential race – black Americans imprisoned in Kuwait.
On Aug. 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait and took it over in less than a day. The following January, a U.S.-led coalition invaded and drove out the Iraqis within weeks. The U.S. launched its later invasion of Iraq – the one that toppled Saddam Hussein – from Kuwait in 2003.
Since then, the U.S. military has stayed behind to ensure no further invasions. Since the force is unlikely to engage in combat, at least half its staff are contractors, not U.S. soldiers. Some carry weapons, but most work in support positions, such as food service, transportation and IT. In 2018, the US employed nearly 50,000 such contractors in the Middle East, although that number has fallen some.
Soldiers are protected when they get involved in criminal activity in foreign countries by formal agreements that usually call for them to be handed over to the US and then taken out of the country. But contractors do not have that veil of protection, and it has proved to be quite a problem, particularly for black contractors in Kuwait.
Today, at least 28 Americans have done time in Kuwait for minor drug crimes, such as simple possession of personal amounts of marijuana. The stories, according to the New York Times, bear similarities – American contractors busted in kick-in-the-door nighttime raids, then forced, in some cases, to confess to crimes they did not commit. They were then convicted, often with files showing they did not receive due process, and then sentenced to lengthy terms in Kuwaiti prisons.
One American, Nicodemus Acosta, turned over his personal amount of marijuana upon being arrested after being told he probably would be deported over such a small amount. But when prosecutors weighed the marijuana he gave them, they did so without removing the weed from the Mason jars he kept it hidden in his oven. Instead of a small personal amount, he was charged with possession of 2 ½ pounds because the weight included the Mason jars.
He also talked of being beaten, turned upside down and forced to hang from his bound hands and feet and having been lied to and mistreated repeatedly by Kuwaiti officials.
The problem is that America’s diplomatic community doesn’t spend a lot of resources on resolving situations such as those of Acosta and the other inmates in Kuwait and that Kuwaiti law enforcement officers often receive bonuses for confiscating drugs.
The solution is that if the American government is going to employ large numbers of private individuals in these roles, it has to acknowledge that they need to be protected similarly to soldiers, diplomats and others serving government abroad.
Yes, it will cost a little more to ensure we have sufficient legal representation to help the Nicodemus Acostas of the world. But Americans furthering American strategic interests abroad cannot be left to the whims of the legal systems of countries such as Kuwait.
The problem is bigger than Acosta or the 28 others known to be held in the country’s Central Prison Complex. It involves thousands of US contractors helping our military around the world. Yes, they sign up for dangerous missions because of higher pay. Yes, they are hired because we don’t want to put our military in these situations.
But they are Americans, and we don’t leave Americans behind.
“But they are Americans, and we don’t leave Americans behind.”
Our government is quite clear on this, and we sure as heck do leave Americans behind. If you break the law in another country, and are not part of the US government, you’re pretty much on your own. The embassy will help you find a local lawyer who speaks English and may meet with you, but that’s about it.
So, sorry Mr. Acosta, you should have stayed in Colorado if you needed your Mary Jane that much. The Middle East (and much of the world) treats it FAR DIFFERENTLY.
Didn’t know about this. Thx for posting.
I don’t care who you are, it is a problem to use drugs in other countries.
When I was in the USN back in the Seventies, one of the things they repeatedly stressed to us was the fact that when you are in any other country, and you are not a citizen, no matter how open or permissive the country may seem to be.
You may even see people openly using drugs, but if you use them too, they can and will treat you quite differently and seemingly (to you) unfairly.
Italy was a great example of that-because we made so many liberty calls to Italian ports, it was easy to be complacent. And people did get arrested and thrown in jail for something as seemingly minor as being found with a joint.
And they could be in jail for years. They had one guy from our ship who was busted with drugs, and the next year when we went back, he was still in an Italian jail.
Point is, it is their country. Their law. No matter how unfair it seems, you better not assume they will be as permissive to YOU as a foreigner as they may be towards their own citizens. That is their sovereign right.
I can only shake my head at people being busted for drugs in a foreign country. I cannot think of anything more foolhardy.
I suspect nobody ever told these people this, or they were involved with some citizens who assured them the authorities didn’t really care about a joint...and that may be true for their own citizens.
But I think anyone who uses or carries drugs in an Arab country should have their heads examined. THAT is a recipe for disaster.
Yes. See my post above.
They may indeed be quite permissive towards certain laws for their own people, but foreigners can and are treated quite differently.
It is patently unfair, but, as a sovereign country, that is their right. And using in a place like Kuwait-I just can’t imagine the stupidity of that.
“Imagine if President Trump could have held the election a week later....”
Doesn’t matter.Yes, he could’ve won more votes due to the reasons listed.But due to fraud more illegal votes would’ve been manufactured.
““Imagine if President Trump could have held the election a week later....””
LOL, true. It didn’t matter regarding the vaccine announcements either - the drug companies would have simply put them off an extra week...as they were OBVIOUSLY trying to placate the party that everyone was telling them would win, and win big.
Yep, and I’ve studied other countries - they’re not like the US, where if you’re here illegally, particularly from south of the border, you are LESS LIKELY to be punished in many jurisdictions than Americans, due to our Leftists.
One example is Japan, even something as minor as shoplifting is whole different experience there. Step one (as a foreigner) is that they lock you up for 3 weeks before they get around to charging you - that way you don’t sneak out of the country. Then something like another 3 weeks until a ‘trial’ in which a foreign defendant has about as much chance of winning as in China - so a good 6 months in jail...and then deportation (which is probably a relief, but now you have to disclose all of that to get a visa for ANY other country).
The one good thing about Japan, the shop owner is not going to lie for no reason...that’s not their culture. But if you do feel like making a scene in a shop, maybe because something you bought was a ripoff, be ready for the consequences, as all bets are off with those shop owners (anywhere), if you piss them off enough. Just walk away instead...it’s really quite easy to do.
Yes.
But if you are serving and in a country with a SOFA, then the article is correct—you get arrested by the locals and then you get handed over to US government/military for prosecution stateside or aboard ship.
No idea why that sailor was in an Italian prison, as we had a SOFA and they could only keep him if the US agreed (waived the SOFA).
Who knows, they probably deliberately misrepresented that sailor’s case to us, but I guess it served its purpose, at least to me!
Yup. Heard a few “scared straight” stories myself, and they worked.
I honestly have no sympathy for these people. You don’t go to work in a Third World sh!t-hole and then expect to have the criminal justice system work like an episode of “Law & Order.”
As a guy who lived in 4 different nations in my lifetime and lived in Asian nations like Japan, S Korea, been to Dubai and Kuwait, those countries and even others like Thailand and Singapore dont F**k around when it comes to crimes, drugs being worse. The I’m an American card does not fly and even having money may not fly as well depending, it is not like the west which allows all kinds of crap, I think people back home need to understand the nations they will visit and know the government cannot really do anything to get you out of it, if you mess up.
He violated the USG Article-1 regulation, his employment contract agreement, his security clearance agreement and Kuwaiti law. It’s not like he did not see the DO NOT TAKE DRUGs sign. He SIGNED 3 agreements saying he would not buy, sell or consume illicit drugs! But the Retard thought he was above all that. No sympathy whatsoever. “Entitled LOSER” written all over him.
LOL, 18 year old guys who think they are invulnerable sometimes need that...:)
Got that right. . .LOL. . .
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