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Journalists Ling And Lee Now Home

NYTimes:

Former President Bill Clinton arrived in Los Angeles Wednesday morning after a dramatic 20-hour visit to North Korea, in which he won the freedom of two American journalists, opened a diplomatic channel to North Korea’s reclusive government and dined with the North’s ailing leader, Kim Jong-il. The private plane, carrying Mr. Clinton and the journalists, Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36, landed at 5:50 a.m. Pacific Standard Time at Burbank Airport outside of Los Angeles.

The two women stepped off the plane in jeans and sweaters, rushing down the stairs to be reunited with their families, who clustered around them. Ms. Lee, in tears, picked up and embraced her five-year-old daughter, Hannah. Mr. Clinton stepped off the plane a few moments later, embracing Al Gore, the founder of the media company that employs the journalists. “Thirty hours ago, Euna Lee and I were prisoners in North Korea,” Ms. Ling said in brief remarks to reporters, blinking back tears. “We feared that at any moment we could be prisoners in a hard labor camp. Then suddenly we were told that we were going to a meeting. We were taken to a location and when we walked through the doors, we saw standing before us President Bill Clinton,” she said, recounting the final moments of her ordeal. “We were shocked, but we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end. And now we stand here home and free.”

A happy ending.

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  • Display: Sort:
    from STINQUE (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by Capt Howdy on Wed Aug 05, 2009 at 09:11:24 AM EST
    Oh, Dick Morris.

       It was wrong to do it. This trip gives North Korea the ability to act like the good guy in world public opinion by releasing people they shouldn't have seized in the first place. Considering their record, bomb explosions, and missile tests, we should not be in the business of letting North Korea score propaganda victories.

    One: the two people released were journalists.  Don't you think that they would have some decent reporting to do about the justice system of North Korea, and areas of improvement with regard to, um, justice?

    Two: Bubba got a free-roll on intel regarding the health (physical, mental, otherwise) of Kim Jong-il.  That might be somewhat useful to Barry et al.

    Three: See that picture up there?  That's the photo going to 99.9% of the world right now.  Pictures speak louder than words.  In particular, yours.

    So: a propaganda victory?  Dude.

    Dick Morris? (5.00 / 2) (#2)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Wed Aug 05, 2009 at 09:13:29 AM EST
    Who cares?

    Parent
    no one of couse (none / 0) (#5)
    by Capt Howdy on Wed Aug 05, 2009 at 09:20:47 AM EST
    but he keeps getting a platform.  I just think its funny that if one of the Clintons found a cure for cancer he would  be concerned for all the doctors and health care professionals who would lose work.

    although John Bolton (who care #2) agrees with him.

    Parent

    What platform? (none / 0) (#7)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Wed Aug 05, 2009 at 09:24:20 AM EST