I’m glad to read that another American “hostage” has been released:
Burmese authorities have released the American whose uninvited visit to the home of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi led to her being sentenced to 18 more months of house arrest, allowing him to leave the country Sunday with Sen. James Webb (D-Va.)…
John Yettaw, 54, a Vietnam War veteran who suffers from epilepsy and post-traumatic stress disorder, was sentenced last week to seven years in jail for swimming across the lake behind Suu Kyi’s house to warn her that he had had a vision in which she was killed by terrorists.
Webb, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs, is the most senior U.S. official to visit Burma in more than two decades. He used his rare meeting with the government’s leadership to ask for Yettaw’s release on humanitarian grounds, for a visit with Suu Kyi and for her release.
“They granted two of those three requests in the meetings. They have not yet communicated on the third,” Webb said Sunday.
Let us all hope that Webb’s third request will be granted. Aung San Suu Kyi really, really doesn’t deserve to be punished any further because, gosh, us Americans just love to be helpful, whether or not the targets of our helpfulness appreciate it.
But I’m curious: Why do some news stories turn into Major Media Narratives — for example, North Korea’s recent release of two American journalists — while fairly similar stories like this one remain under the radar? Is it because two female journalists are more interesting than one aging nutter-cum-missionary? Is it North Korea’s status on the “Axis of Evil”? Is Bill Clinton just sexier to the Media courtiers than Jim Webb?
And if “we”, including Suu Kyi, are still paying for America’s disastrous incursion into Vietnam… what kinds of wonderfulness do future generations look forward to, as the veterans of our current Iraq and Afghanistan deployments return home, many of them (we have been warned) with subtle forms of brain injury?
meisterbator
Great post, Anne.
SiubhanDuinne
I haven’t paid a whole lot of attention to Webb in the past, except for the anecdotal stuff that everyone knows, but I’m going to start paying more attention to him. I really like what I’ve seen and heard. Good on him for what he accomplished. I also hadn’t heard before this that Yettaw suffered from PTSD. You are too right about the unknown long-term unintended consequences of Iraq and Afghanistan. The evil that men do lives after them . . . indeed.
Ash Can
I’d like to think that future generations will be able to explain to their kids that, like 9/11, the Iraq invasion and Afghan misadventure were disasters of epic proportion, but fortunately all of those responsible in all three cases were eventually brought to justice…
Hey, it’s first thing on a Monday morning. I have to be upbeat. I have too much to do today to crawl back into bed and pull the covers over my head.
bob h
Yettaw was hardly worth it, was he? I lost a lot of respect for Webb when he got hysterical about the prospect of the Guantanamo Uighers hitting the streets in Virginia.
serge
I’m sorry that the Burmese thugocracy was given an opportunity to re-incarcerate Aung San Suu Kyi. This fucked-up American, poor man, gave the dick-wads what they needed.
I believe though, that they would otherwise have made something up, however implausible, to enable then to lengthen her house arrest.
They cannot let Suu Kyi go free. If they do so, their end is written.
Awesom0
Is it because two female journalists are more interesting than one aging nutter-cum-missionary? Is it North Korea’s status on the “Axis of Evil”? Is Bill Clinton just sexier to the Media courtiers than Jim Webb?
Ugh, yeah it is. It’s probably because – at this point at least – the situation in N. Korea has FAR FAR more geopolitical importance than does Burma. Given that both of these detentions (Burma and N. Korea) are nothing more than political proxy fights in a larger narrative, it’s quite obvious why the Ling and Lee got far more attention.
In a strict moral sense, you could make an argument that the cases are not different, but we’re not talking morality here.
Now, if you will excuse me, I will excuse myself from pointing out the obvious.
lotus
Webb probably suits some Virginians a lot more than he does me. His misogynistic history settled the issue, as far as I’m concerned, many years ago.
(P.S. He was especially full of it that time.)
PaulW
I think it was Bill Clinton: not that he’s sexier, but that he was and still is a very high target for the far right crazies who can’t stand the fact that Clinton can actually get things done.
Just look at all the horrendous statements the Fox crowd made, cracking jokes about what Clinton could be doing with two Asian babes on the flight home.
Jinchi
Aung San Suu Kyi really, really doesn’t deserve to be punished any further because, gosh, us Americans just love to be helpful
Aung San Suu Kyi has been under nearly continuous arrest for over 10 years now. They extended her house arrest last year for no reason at all.
Helpful American guests are just the latest pretext to keep her locked away. She isn’t being “punished any further” on his account because she isn’t going to go free as long as the current regime is in power.
Roger Moore
@Jinchi:
This. There’s an “election” coming up, and the junta doesn’t want anyone spoiling their nicely scripted results. They’re going to crack down twice as hard as usual until after it’s over.
BC
Aung San Suu Kyi has been a liberal rallying point for many years, evidence that she is a creation of the dirty fucking hippies, so the traditional media cannot possibly take up her cause as they would validate the DFH position. Also, John Yettaw should eat shit and die. He had no reason to endanger her like he did. I was happy he was in jail in Burma and hoped he rotted there, so this “rescue” by Webb doesn’t do anything for me. There are times Americans overseas deserve to be in jail overseas. This was one of them.
Betseed
Lisa Ling is a celebrity journalist, and there were articles in People Magazine and similar outlets about her sister and Euna Lee. That’s part of the reason the story got so much more attention.
matoko_chan
Yettaw is a mormon.
that should explain everything.
Violet
Yes, definitely. But Bill Clinton is also a former president. If any of the other former presidents had gone to help negotiate their release, or had gone to Burma to negotiate Yettaw’s release, it would have been bigger news than Jim Webb going.
@Betseed:
Absolutely right. The Lisa Ling, celebrity journalist angle kept the focus on this issue.
Excellent question. There will be many problems. I guess it’s somewhat good news that PTSD isn’t something people completely push under the table and deny, as it was in many previous wars. Things certainly aren’t where they should be, but our culture as a whole is making strides in recognizing that mental illness is just that, an illness, rather than a problem with willpower or some such.
Still think we’ll be paying for these two wars for a long, long time.
Rosali
Lee and Ling crossed a border and hurt no one but themselves. Yettaw basically committed a home invasion in the private property of a peace activist and imperiled her safety and freedom. He’s not sympathetic.
Martin
The audience has heard of North Korea and knows it is bad. If they mention the word ‘Burma’, it’ll take time to explain that Burma is a country in Asia, and to take a cue from helping my kids through movies, tell the viewer if Burma is a ‘good guy’ or a ‘bad guy’.
The media doesn’t want to take the extra seconds to explain all of that because it would cut into the story about a virgin mary image sighted in a pool of urine in the Meadowlands 3rd terrace mens room.
ominira
I was really mad at Yettaw for giving the Burmese regime the excuse they needed to lock Aung San Suu Kyi up for 18 more months, which means she can’t participate in the upcoming elections, but I guess serge and Jinchi are right. The junta would have made up some other excuse to keep her shut out of the process. Now I hope Yettaw gets the medical help he needs for his visions, etc.
Fern
@matoko_chan: I also believe he is not a well person.
Brachiator
Bill Clinton is to big for anyone to ignore. HOWEVER, the media has been remarkably silent on noting how both of these rescue missions are victories for the Obama Administration’s approach to foreign policy and diplomatic relations.
The Republicans in general, and conservative pundits in particular, continue their war against Obama by either criticizing anything he does (e.g., Bolton’s ridiculous criticism of the North Korean rescue) or simply pretending that it never happened.
The media and conservatives would be having orgasms had the following happened while Dubya was president: a ship captain is rescued from Somali pirates; two journalists are freed by North Korea, an American is delivered to a US Senator in Burma. There’d be opinion pieces 24/7 on American power and prestige, and the quiet expertise of the White House and other agencies in laying the groundwork for these stunning successes.
But it happened on Obama’s watch, so the result is an odd silence about actual achievements, with the steady drumbeat questioning his legitimacy and the hope of wingnut fools everywhere that a defeat of Obama’s healthcare plans might mark the first victory in rendering his term in office a failure.
Eh? I don’t get this reference at all.
Paul in KY
I’d have liked to see this idiot do a stretch in the Burma jail for what he put that poor lady thru.
Jon H
@SiubhanDuinne: ” I also hadn’t heard before this that Yettaw suffered from PTSD”
No he doesn’t, he never saw combat. He wasn’t in Vietnam. He was in Germany.
Jon H
I wrote: “No he doesn’t, he never saw combat. He wasn’t in Vietnam. He was in Germany.”
From Newsweek:
IMHO, he probably has some sort of mental illness which emerged during his service, leading to his discharge.
dc
54 year old Vietnam vet? He would have been 14 in 1969 and probably 17 in January 1973 when the Paris “Peace” Accords were signed. Possible he was a Vietnam vet. but it must have been part of the ‘secret’ air war afterwards.
Eli Rabett
Yettaw should be shit canned.
stch
I thought it was actually the reverse situation. Although Yettaw’s “rescue” was not primetime news, neither was it a point of criticism from the right wingers. There were some ridiculous criticism about how Clinton damaged American interests in N. Korea by his trip. Yet strangely quiet re: Yettaw, although as noted by others, his actions were much more damaging than the 2 journalists.
I think that the fact that the 2 journalists were asian-american and not blond/blue eyed, had something to do with the fact that 1)their capitivity was not front page news, and 2)their release was a point a criticism by the right.
stch
I thought it was actually the reverse situation. Although Yettaw’s “rescue” was not primetime news, neither was it a point of criticism from the right wingers. There were some ridiculous criticism about how Clinton damaged American interests in N. Korea by his trip. Yet strangely quiet re: Yettaw, although as noted by others, his actions were much more damaging than the 2 journalists.
I think that the fact that the 2 journalists were asian-american and not blond/blue eyed, had something to do with the fact that 1)their capitivity was not front page news, and 2)their release was a point a criticism by the right.
stch
Why have the “advertise liberally” badge on left and then have big banners of “read Ann Coulter” on the top and left?
Jon H
@stch: “I think that the fact that the 2 journalists were asian-american and not blond/blue eyed, had something to do with the fact that 1)their capitivity was not front page news”
I don’t know about ‘front page’, but it seemed like they got plenty of coverage, at least initially. It wasn’t a “REPORTERS HELD HOSTAGE: DAY 21” story, but CNN.com and other sites ran a good number of stories. Certainly more than Yettaw, or the hikers picked up by Iran recently.
IHeartUrbanPlanning
They went to this guy’s hometown (below) and no one knew what he was trying to do!
newsy.com/videos/u_s_senator_wins_release_of_detained_american_in_burma
What was this guy thinking… this is like the plot hole in “The Day After Tomorrow” were the dad goes to save the son just by going to him… he doesn’t bring any kind of aid to the son and a bunch of people die along the way… but the movie ends with him “getting there” like he has done something helpful.
Kewalo
Betseed, although you are right about Lisa Ling being famous there’s another dimension to it. For those of us that watch The View she feels like a friend of ours. So when her sister was arrested it felt like it happened to a family friend.
Personally I was worried about her long before Clinton got involved. Having Clinton get involved was wonderful but it wouldn’t have mattered who got the gals released, it was just wonderful that they were released.
Maybe that sounds a little silly, but Lisa is so darn likable that I am just delighted when they came home and I’d never heard of the people involved in Burma.
Jack
Another case of the racist xenophobic mor(m)ons getting involved in other people’s business and creating undeserved problems for others. Their filthy little ranch of pedophiles in San Angeles, Texas exemplifies this disgusting cults’ total disregard for the welfare of others in order to fulfill their own selfish sick fantasies. The problems this sicko caused for poor ASS Kyii exemplfy this perverted cult’s modus operendi. May they all eventually rot in hell!!
As for Jim Webb, I’m am sure that he was a fine shoe shine boy for General Shwe!!