Senator wins release of US prisoner in Myanmar

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Geeeezus, can't these damn lefties mind their own business?

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Senator wins release of US prisoner in Myanmar
24 mins ago

YANGON, Myanmar – U.S. Sen. Jim Webb won the release Saturday of an American prisoner convicted in Myanmar and sentenced to seven years in prison for swimming secretly to the residence of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the senator's office said.

During Webb's visit to Myanmar — the first by a member of the U.S. Congress in more than a decade — the senator also secured a rare visit with Suu Kyi, who was convicted along with the American, John Yettaw, and sentenced to 18 more months under house arrest. She has been detained for 14 of the last 20 years.

Yettaw is to be officially deported Sunday, when he will fly with Webb on a military plane to Bangkok, according to a statement from Webb's office.

The 53-year-old from Falcoln, Missouri, has been held in Insein, Myanmar's largest prison, notorious for widespread torture and other abuse of both political prisoners and ordinary criminals.

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[Cool Breeze]

They should have left this idiot to rot. He swam out to her house to visit and got her more time.

[cutthemdown]

This man should be sent straight to a mental hospital. He needs help and is a troubled vet who probably doesn't think right.

No doubt he can never be let out of the country again, take his passport.

[cutthemdown]

Yeah but at what cost? Did we promise not to interfere with the cruel Junta? Obviously they get something right? some assurances, money, less sanctions?

[cutthemdown]

If it means that hundreds of thousands remain tortured in prisons then is it worth it?

IMO the UN should be attacking and bombing regimes like this. Why should the only planet we have found with life have crap like this running a country?

At some point don't we go for a whole world where people can live a good life? Isn't that a left and right dream? If it's not then we need a big re-evluation of our govt.

[Rohirrim]

I'm sure that when the Burmese tyrants realized what a moron this guy was, they begged Webb to take him out of the country. This guy reminds me of the town hall screamers: Thinks he's doing a good deed while serving the needs of the tyrants.

[cutthemdown]

Originally Posted by Rohirrim

I'm sure that when the Burmese tyrants realized what a moron this guy was, they begged Webb to take him out of the country. This guy reminds me of the town hall screamers: Thinks he's doing a good deed while serving the needs of the tyrants.

he seems like he needs professional therapy. I feel sorry for him he is obviously crazy.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Originally Posted by cutthemdown

IMO the UN should be attacking and bombing regimes like this.

Ah, that's the spirit, anything we don't like or agree with, "bomb em" to hell!

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US Senator's visit could herald new Myanmar policy

By GRANT PECK, Associated Press Writer Grant Peck, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 36 mins ago

BANGKOK – While U.S. Sen. Jim Webb's high-profile visit to Myanmar offers an opportunity to turn around America's policy toward the military-ruled nation, any real warming of relations is likely to be a slow and uncertain process.

Webb's trip was "an important step, a first step" toward creating change, said David Steinberg, a Myanmar specialist at Georgetown University, adding it is too early to predict its impact.



In this photo released by Thai Foreign Ministry, visiting U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, right, shakes hands with Thailand's Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya during their meeting Monday, Aug. 17, 2009, in Bangkok, Thailand. Webb, of Virginia, is currently on a tour of Southeast Asian countries and was responsible for securing the release of ailing American, John Yettaw, who was spared a seven-year prison sentence in Myanmar.
(AP Photo/Thai Foreign Ministry


He and other scholars believe it is highly unlikely the ruling generals will meet long-standing international demands to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi ahead of elections set for 2010.

Without that, Western nations such as the United States have little reason to come through with any major action of their own, such as easing the political and economic sanctions they have long maintained against the regime.

The generals may be interested in dealing. When Webb, a Democrat from Virginia, went to Myanmar last weekend he was given unprecedented access. He was granted the rare privilege of seeing both the country's reclusive leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, and his nemesis, detained democracy icon Suu Kyi.

His meeting Saturday with Than Shwe was the first time the general has met with a senior U.S. political figure. And even U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was not allowed to see Suu Kyi when he was last in Myanmar.

Webb pulled off a feel-good trifecta, ultimately winning the freedom of American John Yettaw, who was sentenced to seven years in jail for sneaking into Suu Kyi's home. Yettaw's escapade saddled his reluctant hostess with another 18 months under house arrest. Suu Kyi has been detained for 14 of the last 20 years.

The senator, one of the most prominent U.S. advocates of a new Myanmar policy, acknowledged he is not optimistic she will soon be freed.

He said, however, he is "hopeful that, over time, the government of Myanmar will understand that with the scrutiny of the outside world, judging their government very largely on how they are treating Aung San Suu Kyi, that it is to their advantage to allow her to participate in the political process."

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