Should U.S. swap ‘Merchant of Death’ for Griner?
by: Elizabeth Jassin, Ashleigh Banfield
In an effort to free U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, the United States government has reportedly offered to swap her for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Bout is best known as “the Merchant of Death,” and he’s currently locked up in Illinois.
Negotiations are in the early stages, according to a non-government source in a position to know, Forbes reported. Russian customs officials accused Griner of carrying vape cartridges with hashish oil in her luggage at an airport near Moscow. The U.S. State Department says she has been “wrongfully detained.”
“National security is a team sport always, but especially in this sort of situation,” national security and global affairs expert Laura Ballman said during an appearance Monday night on NewsNation’s “Banfield.”
Griner’s legions of supporters want her back at any cost.
However, the decision comes with some controversy.
In 2008, he was arrested in Thailand for trying to sell hundreds of surface-to-air missiles, and thousands of assault rifles, that were destined to shoot down U.S. pilots
Bout was extradited to the U.S. where he was convicted and sentenced to 25 years, and he’s been behind bars ever since.
“What we have to understand is that Victor Bout was active reserve. That means he was operating, with the permission at least, of Russian intelligence,” former CIA officer Bob Baer said on “Banfield.”
Ballman added that this situation in particular is clearly a heightened situation.
“Swaps happen all the time. They don’t always happen in times of war,” Ballman said. “If the team of national security experts decides that now is the time to swap him, then they’ve assessed that he has been debriefed. Put him back out on the street, but is he really going to be that useful? Now that we know his entire network?”
https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/should-u-s-swap-merchant-of-death-for-griner/
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