POLL: Should the US trade Viktor Bout for Brittney Griner?

Who will deal in hardware that kills more people this year: a person selling missiles to terrorists in Colombia or the people supplying those same organizations with their guns? Presumably, we didn't catch him before his first missile sale (especially given that nickname, which would be somewhat ironic if we did). And yet, I'd be willing to bet that there is not a year in which grey market guns from the US don't cause more deaths than do missiles sold by guys like this in any of the drug war locations. By orders (plural) of magnitude.

BTW, what you left off there was that it was a sting, run by a paid informer of the US government, not an actual purchase. How many US planes has FARC actually shot down with a missile? And it is not for lack of money or supply.

 

Viktor Bout and people like him don't manufacture arms, they would have no product without nation states like the US or Russia. Every arms sale we makes puts civilians at risk. We've sold arms to the organization that became Al Qaeda (including surface to air missiles). We sold arms to the Contras who murdered nuns (which involved giving Iran weapons under an arms embargo too). We sold them to countries who put them into the hands of death squads. Even if they aren't used in such a way, they eventually become surplus and get sold to someone else, who could sell them to anyone interested in acquiring weapons.

 

17 grams, less than an ounce. Not. the oil Griner had likely contained much more THC than the 17 grams

 

Yeah, my bad, I was thinking 17 ounces.

 

Definitely don't release "The Merchant of Death."

 

I wonder if she is going to kneel during the national anthem. If so, that is the ultimate FU to all Americans for saving her ass. Even you liberals.

 

So basically when America supplies human beings around the world with arms its good, when non-Americans supply human beings around the world with arms, it's bad. Got it!

 

Our guns only go to the good guys!

 

Yes we all played such a big role in saving her ass, we'd be so owned if that happened

 

Clearly. American-provided weapons only land in the hands of people with the purest intentions!

 

If for some reason they do end up in the hand of a bad guy, well its just a lack of mental health services in those countries

 

You are uninformed. The average THC vape cartridge is 500 milligrams.

 

I honestly don’t get it when someone peacefully protests something, how is that a bad thing?

 

And you know what every single one of those guns has in common? At least one felony had to have been committed for it to be there. I’m not suggesting we shouldn’t prosecute people who steal guns or engage in straw purchases.

But I’m also not going to say releasing a guy who literally sells missiles to terrorists in a one-for-one swap to get back an idiot who took hash oil to Russia with her is a good idea.

And the moral equivocation of “well, who are we to really say that someone selling weapons to terrorists is that bad of a guy” is a fairly weak defense of this foreign policy blunder.

 

I have a ways to catch up to this thread but that was something.

 

I didn't vote in the poll because I had mixed feelings, and I think these sorts of issues typically involve various considerations. Analogies are always difficult, but I recall the debate when we got Bowe Bergdahl released in exchange for multiple guys who were seen as enough of a threat to be in Gitmo. People were absolutely furious, and I could see both sides of the debate.

 

I guess you’re thinking people care if they are put on ignore?

 

And planes had never flown into skyscrapers intentionally...

 

Probably should have compromised and released Julian Assange.

 

Their statement is measured so as to not make matters worse.

Ut CNN quotes them as being "devastated"...That doesnt sound "ok" with it.

They havent been thrilled with Biden previously either:

Whelan family 'astonished' after Biden calls Griner's wife:

Paul Whelan's Family Laments 'Inconsistency' In Treatment After Biden Calls Griner's Wife

This American’s Family Wants to Know Why He Was Left Behind

Whelan himself said just yesterday that not enough is being done.