Why Is the FBI Trying to Bury a Special Forces War Hero?

[JJ_BPK]

Lt Col Amerine posted this on FB, It's a good read..

Jason: "Obviously no 'hero,' but that part aside the story gets everything right."

Why Is the FBI Trying to Bury a Special Forces War Hero?
By Michael Ames / September 2, 2015 6:58 AM EDT

Lieutenant Colonel Jason Amerine was one of the first U.S. soldiers into Afghanistan. He landed there with an Army Special Forces A-Team in late October 2001, when everyone agreed the war would be brief and the objectives were clear: Avenge the terror of the 9/11 attacks, depose the Taliban and leave. Nearly 14 years later, he went to Capitol Hill to explain why he’s still fighting his way out.

continue reading:

[Golf1echo]

Originally Posted by JJ_BPK

Lt Col Amerine posted this on FB, It's a good read..

Jason: "Obviously no 'hero,' but that part aside the story gets everything right."

Jason stood up and did his job and was critical of the Hostage Recovery Policies, My understanding was after the greater effort to strip him of benefits and challenge retirement that all that was resolved once matters became public. To see this from the FBI now is ludicrous.

[Badger52]

Link to LTC Amerine's congressional testimony back in June (PDF).

[echoes]

Originally Posted by Golf1echo

Jason stood up and did his job and was critical of the Hostage Recovery Policies, My understanding was after the greater effort to strip him of benefits and challenge retirement that all that was resolved once matters became public. To see this from the FBI now is ludicrous.

The FBI should he ashamed, as should the US Government!!!

Brave SF Men are the best of the best, and these elected folks need to step off, eat some humble pie, and realize that this LT. Is a HERO!!!

JMHO,

Holly

[Golf1echo]

From my perspective I think of the Maersk, when hostages were taken and they needed an immediate response the choice to use Naval Special Warfare was made because they could deploy in far shorter time than the 12 hours it would take to gather resources from the FBI and who better to shoot from craft to craft on the open seas.

So it is hard to understand why Special Forces is not called upon for work of a counterinsurgency nature.......especially one they were already familiar with, we have certainly invested in those skill sets.

[Team Sergeant]

Originally Posted by Golf1echo

From my perspective I think of the Maersk, when hostages were taken and they needed an immediate response the choice to use Naval Special Warfare was made because they could deploy in far shorter time than the 12 hours it would take to gather resources from the FBI and who better to shoot from craft to craft on the open seas.

So it is hard to understand why Special Forces is not called upon for work of a counterinsurgency nature.......especially one they were already familiar with, we have certainly invested in those skill sets.

The only choice was Special Operations, the FBI was never an option.

[craigepo]

Truth and courage are becoming a precious commodity.

[Richard]

Originally Posted by Badger52

[Link to LTC Amerine's congressional testimony back in June (PDF).

The link didn't work.

Here's a video of his testimony which is worth the watch of anyone interested in the hostage recovery program and the career dangers of being labeled a 'whistleblower.'

http://uneditedpolitics.com/u-s-army...hostage-plan/#!

Richard

[JJ_BPK]

The link didn't work.

PDF File:

[Badger52]

Originally Posted by JJ_BPK

PDF File:

Thanks for uploading the file sir. (My original link worked when posted but sometimes they move filenames around.)

[PSM]

Updated | Legendary Green Beret officer Jason Amerine, who was subjected to a nine-month criminal investigation after he criticized the FBI’s hostage rescue efforts, was awarded one of the military’s highest decorations, the Legion of Merit, in a quiet retirement ceremony Friday at the Pentagon.

Updated | Legendary Green Beret officer Jason Amerine, who was subjected to a nine-month criminal investigation after he criticized the FBI’s hostage rescue efforts, was awarded one of the military’s highest decorations, the Legion of Merit, in a quiet retirement ceremony Friday at the Pentagon.

“Intentionally or not, it was an admission of guilt” for subjecting the war hero to a criminal probe last year because he had discussed the FBI’s poor hostage-rescue record with a member of Congress, said an Army officer who attended the ceremony. The officer spoke on a not-for-attribution basis because of the issue’s continuing sensitivity. At the time he spoke with the member of Congress, Lieutenant Colonel Amerine was in charge of the Army’s effort to find and rescue Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl.

Amerine was one of the Army’s most celebrated soldiers for his heroic actions in combat in Afghanistan soon after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Vastly outnumbered by the Taliban, his team earned three Silver Stars, seven Bronze Stars and 11 Purple Hearts for routing the insurgents. His story was immortalized in The Only Thing Worth Dying For, a New York Times best-seller. In January 2002, President George W. Bush made him a guest of honor at his State of the Union address.

But Amerine ran afoul of the FBI when he told Representative Duncan Hunter, a Marine veteran and Republican member of the House Armed Services Committee, how bureaucratic politics had scuttled a deal he had worked out with the Taliban for Bergdahl’s release. When the FBI learned of Amerine’s criticism, it complained to the Army’s chief of staff for intelligence, General Mary Legere, who prompted the Criminal Investigation Command to open an investigation. Amerine’s pay was halted, he was booked and fingerprinted, and his retirement was put on hold. Bergdahl, meanwhile, was released on far worse terms than Amerine worked out, according to a Newsweek investigation in September.

On Monday, Hunter blasted the FBI and top Army brass, saying " the FBI wanted Jason out of the way...and the Army took the bait, investigating Jason for reasons that were unsupported by any of the facts." But in the end, Hunter added, "the Army did the right thing and cleared Jason of any wrongdoing, and allowed one of its decorated heroes to retire” with the Legion of Merit, "an award that is a fitting capstone to his distinguished career."

Friday’s ceremony “was beautiful, just an amazing moment,” Amerine said in an interview with Newsweek. In a statement he was preparing for his Facebook page, he called the retaliation against him “inevitable, because our First Amendment right to speak to Congress is so often disregarded by our own government.” But he also refused to blame the Army as a whole for the “runaway” investigation of him.

“It was Greek tragedy that a senior Army officer dragged the Army ignominiously into this by initiating the illegal investigation,” he said. “The hostage issues I raised had nothing to do with the Army and everything to do with broken institutions at the agency level that refused to admit their faults. At least the fratricide was not lethal this time. But it soiled all of us.”

Upwards of 60 supporters attended Friday’s ceremony, held in a small amphitheater in the Pentagon basement. One of them was Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), a private Washington, D.C.-based group that champions whistleblowers who expose government waste, fraud and abuse.

“For nearly a year, LTC Jason Amerine, a true American hero, has been under criminal investigation for speaking to Congress about the US's totally dysfunctional hostage recovery process,” Brian said in a statement for Newsweek. ”When anyone brings concerns of wrongdoing to Congress they are supposed to be protected under the law. But in fact, it took Jason assembling his ‘last guerrilla army’ of Congressional supporters, POGO, and a few courageous military officers acting behind the scenes to prevent a court martial.”

Brian praised Hunter’s support for Amerine and blasted the Pentagon’s inspector general for “spectacularly” failing to protect Amerine’s whistleblower rights. “It is time to get his mugshot, fingerprints and DNA removed from the criminal database and tackle the organizations and laws that failed him,” she said.

An Army spokeswoman said the Army would have no comment until Monday.
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The Legion of Merit is “one of the U.S. military's most prestigious awards, ranking just below the Silver Star, and ahead of the Distinguished Flying Cross,” according to the Army Times newspaper. “It is one of only two decorations to be issued as neck wear, the other being the Medal of Honor.”

Amerine wrote that he could not thank his friends and supporters “enough for standing by me all these months. Instead of highlighting anyone, I will simply thank everyone. I don’t write this to declare victory; the issue was the hostages and I was a distraction from my own cause.”

“The U.S. ability to free them is finally being repaired,” he added, “but has a long, long way to go before it is more than an ad hoc solution to a crisis we took too long to identify.”

This story has been updated to include Rep. Duncan Hunter's comment on the Amerine case.

Link: http://www.newsweek.com/controversia...h-award-389282

Pat

[JJ_BPK]

Ltc Amerine has been on a bit of a rant about The Donald's selection of Mad Dog Mattis.. Seems there is a little bad blood between the two..

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/poli...icle-1.2896433

http://www.stripes.com/news/retired-...istan-1.442367

[bblhead672]

Does FBI now stand for "Fumbling, Bumbling Idiots"?

[CAARNG 68W]

Originally Posted by JJ_BPK

Ltc Amerine has been on a bit of a rant about The Donald's selection of Mad Dog Mattis.. Seems there is a little bad blood between the two..

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/poli...icle-1.2896433

http://www.stripes.com/news/retired-...istan-1.442367

That due to the ODA 574 fiasco?

[PSM]

Originally Posted by CAARNG 68W

That due to the ODA 574 fiasco?

Yep.

Pat