https://townhall.com/tipsheet/...ns-on-trees-n2341673

Earlier this week 22-year-old American Otto Warmbier was returned home in a coma after being taken hostage by North Korea for more than a year. He was held as a war criminal for allegedly putting a government propaganda poster in his suitcase.

During a press conference Thursday, Warmbier's father Fred Warmbier, praised the Trump administration for his son's release and had some harsh words for the Obama administration's lack of action. He detailed traveling to Washington D.C. more than a dozen times with no results.

The last White House, he said, advised them to take a “low profile” while they worked to obtain Otto’s release because doing otherwise would “upset the North Koreans.”

One reporter followed up on this point, asking if the past administration could have done more to secure Otto’s release.

“The results speak for themselves,” Warmbier said.

Warmbier also revealed he and his wife were told by Obama administration officials not to hang ribbons representing Otto's captivity in their community because it would have been offensive to North Korean officials .


Doctors said they have very limited information about Warmbier's condition before his arrival in the United States and have not had any contact with North Korean medical officials. It is estimated he has been in a coma since April of 2016. They said there is evidence Warmbier suffered a respiratory arrest, which led to a lack of oxygen to the brain. This could have been caused by a traumatic injury or an overdose in medication.

"There is severe injury to all areas of the brain," Dr. Daniel Kanter said, adding Warmbier has lost a significant amount of brain tissue.

I am SO glad that Former President Obama is no longer running things!

Just sickening!

I’m glad for the family that North Korea finally released him for whatever reason(s), but I can’t see anything wrong with a representative of the previous Administration recommending not doing anything that might have annoyed his captors further. Poking the dragon is never a good idea, and poking a fanatical, possibly crazy dragon that is highly sensitive to the smallest slights is even more dangerous. If one’s wife was being held captive by Muslims, would it be a good idea to hold a public Qur’an-burning?

I have nothing but contempt for the Obamanation and many of his appointees, but that doesn’t make everything they did worthy of criticism. Advice to avoid stirring popular opinion is actually commonly given to friends and relatives of people who are in trouble in foreign countries, and has been for as long as I can remember. “Going nuclear” with the press, especially if one is cute, pretty, and female, might work to help get someone out of jail in this country, but elsewhere? Not so much.

If this young man has lost significant brain tissue, as stated, then his prognosis is quite grim.

The nokos would never have heard of it if it were not for the enthusiastic blabber mouths in the media, in their pell mell rush to holler "oh, lookie here!"

More and more I am being compelled to think that publicity is the problem.

Look at the widow of the Alexandria shooter. Look at her neighbors, friends, relatives, et al. Their lives are being ruined at least temporarily by the media clamor for scoops, details, tears on camera, exposes. Dozens and even hundreds of media reporters, producers, camera and sound men are choking the neighborhood, pestering their grocery store, school, church, bowling alley, looking for an angle.

The FBI is as well, hopefully with somewhat more dignitude, in their investigation. But the media is following every move, like pilot fish around a whale or shark, hoping for a tasty bite.

what the hell was he doing in North Korea in the first place?

Tour group, I think

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
what the hell was he doing in North Korea in the first place?

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
what the hell was he doing in North Korea in the first place?

Sightseeing.

He apparently was convinced it was a good idea by a Chinese travel agency that organized the trip. Very naïve of him.

I believe he was snagged for trying to swipe a political picture/poster.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
I’m glad for the family that North Korea finally released him for whatever reason(s), but I can’t see anything wrong with a representative of the previous Administration recommending not doing anything that might have annoyed his captors further. Poking the dragon is never a good idea, and poking a fanatical, possibly crazy dragon that is highly sensitive to the smallest slights is even more dangerous. If one’s wife was being held captive by Muslims, would it be a good idea to hold a public Qur’an-burning?

I have nothing but contempt for the Obamanation and many of his appointees, but that doesn’t make everything they did worthy of criticism. Advice to avoid stirring popular opinion is actually commonly given to friends and relatives of people who are in trouble in foreign countries, and has been for as long as I can remember. “Going nuclear” with the press, especially if one is cute, pretty, and female, might work to help get someone out of jail in this country, but elsewhere? Not so much.

Agree to a point, but I think a true leader of the United States would be able to come up with a well thought out plan to negotiate with the dragon vs poke him and get an American citizen back home. My mind tells me at the time the magic negro was thinking more on how to redistribute my tax dollars than getting this naive kid back home.

I agree with Sifreund. The objective is to get your kid home so offending the NK's aren't gonna help in furthering that objective. Plenty to criticize the last administration about that has merit. There is no end to it in fact.

Now that he is home F-NK!

quote:

Originally posted by Strambo:
I agree with Sifreund. The objective is to get your kid home so offending the NK's aren't gonna help in furthering that objective. Plenty to criticize the last administration about that has merit. There is no end to it in fact.

Now that he is home F-NK!

So how did the current administration get him home? Did they double the radius of ribbons on trees zone and limit the number of NORK spies assigned to monitor the number of ribbons on trees? Did the current President bow to the NORK leader? Think about this, LOGIC says it was done by leadership.

What year did "offending" come into negotiating international policies for US citizens?

My email is in my profile, lets compare notes about interaction with people trying to kill you.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
I’m glad for the family that North Korea finally released him for whatever reason(s), but I can’t see anything wrong with a representative of the previous Administration recommending not doing anything that might have annoyed his captors further. Poking the dragon is never a good idea, and poking a fanatical, possibly crazy dragon that is highly sensitive to the smallest slights is even more dangerous. If one’s wife was being held captive by Muslims, would it be a good idea to hold a public Qur’an-burning?

I have nothing but contempt for the Obamanation and many of his appointees, but that doesn’t make everything they did worthy of criticism. Advice to avoid stirring popular opinion is actually commonly given to friends and relatives of people who are in trouble in foreign countries, and has been for as long as I can remember. “Going nuclear” with the press, especially if one is cute, pretty, and female, might work to help get someone out of jail in this country, but elsewhere? Not so much.

Well, I might agree with you IF, and only IF the obama administration were actually doing anything (productive or otherwise) to secure his release. I bet zippy the wonder turtle never so much as gave this American family a second thought, other than to see how he could ignore them until he left office and it wasn't his problem anymore.

And, no offense intended, but hanging ribbons is a far cry from your example of burning qurans. I think THAT was done to tone down media interest in the case, to get them off zippy's back. How would the NorKs even KNOW if there were ribbons hanging in a random US town? Ribbons would remind Americans, however, that one of our citizens was held captive in a hostile foreign land while president sparklemuffin exerted 99% of his efforts improving his golf handicap. . .


Now, I think the guy was an idiot for going to, and then stealing ANYTHING from North Korea. However, I don't really believe that the former administration really tried to secure his release.

Obama never learned that giving a bully his lunch money is not a successful tactic for eliminating bullying.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
I’m glad for the family that North Korea finally released him for whatever reason(s), but I can’t see anything wrong with a representative of the previous Administration recommending not doing anything that might have annoyed his captors further. Poking the dragon is never a good idea, and poking a fanatical, possibly crazy dragon that is highly sensitive to the smallest slights is even more dangerous. If one’s wife was being held captive by Muslims, would it be a good idea to hold a public Qur’an-burning?

I have nothing but contempt for the Obamanation and many of his appointees, but that doesn’t make everything they did worthy of criticism. Advice to avoid stirring popular opinion is actually commonly given to friends and relatives of people who are in trouble in foreign countries, and has been for as long as I can remember. “Going nuclear” with the press, especially if one is cute, pretty, and female, might work to help get someone out of jail in this country, but elsewhere? Not so much.

This was my thinking also. Sometimes it's best not to make waves even if you want to.

My thoughts are similar to Hound Dog's

Anyone going to NK as a tourist is foolish
Stealing a banner (or anything) in NK isn't smart either. (a theft claim made by NK, so who knows if true)

But being foolish doesn't equate to having your brain destroyed by NK goons.

The family said the obama WH advised them to take a “low profile” while they worked to obtain Otto’s release because doing otherwise would “upset the North Koreans.”

the Warmbiers realized that strategy was not working.

“The time for strategic patience was over,” he said, as he and his wife began to grant media interviews.

I don't cut obama the slightest slack because he doesn't deserve it. Pandering to NK at the expense of an American citizen fits the Obama profile quite accurately.

quote:

Originally posted by comet24:

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
I’m glad for the family that North Korea finally released him for whatever reason(s), but I can’t see anything wrong with a representative of the previous Administration recommending not doing anything that might have annoyed his captors further. Poking the dragon is never a good idea, and poking a fanatical, possibly crazy dragon that is highly sensitive to the smallest slights is even more dangerous. If one’s wife was being held captive by Muslims, would it be a good idea to hold a public Qur’an-burning?

I have nothing but contempt for the Obamanation and many of his appointees, but that doesn’t make everything they did worthy of criticism. Advice to avoid stirring popular opinion is actually commonly given to friends and relatives of people who are in trouble in foreign countries, and has been for as long as I can remember. “Going nuclear” with the press, especially if one is cute, pretty, and female, might work to help get someone out of jail in this country, but elsewhere? Not so much.

This was my thinking also. Sometimes it's best not to make waves even if you want to.

And again, the current administration pulled this off without creating waves how?

My point wasn’t about what the US should have done or what the foolish victim of a despotic regime should have done. If someone I loved was being held incommunicado and being abused and probably tortured, I’d sacrifice a kitten to Kim Il Sung to get them back, and that’s what the advice about the ribbons was about. Would the Koreans know if the ribbons were being displayed? If they attracted enough attention they would. In fact, if The New York Times thought it would sell some extra papers, they’d probably run it on the front page (if they could somehow use the story to the embarrassment of the current Administration).

And my example of burning the Qur’an was to make my point about the dangers of annoying people who have a reputation of despotic ruthlessness and no respect for human life who nevertheless have the life of someone we love in their blood-drenched hands: The principle is exactly the same. It’s their perceptions of the matter that count, not the perceptions of the civilized world, no matter how much we might wish it were otherwise.

The victim in this case was indeed reportedly caught with a propaganda poster, and if the North Koreans were willing to arrest, abuse, and torture an American who was there on an approved tour for such a trivial offense, does anyone really believe that they might not act even more savagely and irrationally if they were annoyed by what the parents were doing? Whether they would is obviously unknown (unless the parents ignored the advice), but what sensible parent would ignore it—and why? To say, “I’m not afraid of you; do your worst to my son”?

I have no idea how the man’s release was obtained, and assuming it was due to some new pressure that was applied by the current Administration is very satisfying, but only an assumption. The regime hasn’t thus far demonstrated much concern about our big sticks over much more important matters. For all we know they may have simply come to the realization that the issue was a loss in the propaganda wars and that they should drop it.

quote:

But being foolish doesn't equate to having your brain destroyed by NK goons.

well, if he had gone to Arkansas I would agree with you, but he was stupid from the gitgo and you can't assume that the NorK's are ever going to behave in a manner approaching civilized

its too bad, but he made a bunch of bad decisions - any one of which going the other way - would have ensured that he would not have ended up in his current state

He may have been released simply because he had served his purpose and was now just costing the NKs more in care than political gain. If Trump got it done, terrific.