OH COME ON, GET REAL - AT 10:18 A.M. ET:  This is another one of those "if we engage them, they become just like us" stories that makes the blood boil.  From AP:

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.

Yettaw, 53, is to be officially deported Sunday, when he will fly with Webb on a military aircraft to Bangkok, according to a statement from Webb's office.

COMMENT:  Senator Webb didn't win anything.  The government of Myanmar (Burma) is absolutely repressive, and the United States has taken a tough line toward it.  This "release" is simply a propaganda move by the Burmese thugs to show the value of ending our isolation of them.  Webb is being used, but he seems to enjoy it.  You'll recall that Webb is the former Reagan administration official who became a Democrat and is widely regarded as, to put it mildly, an eccentric.  He was elected to the Senate from Virginia in 2006 on a fluke, after then-Senator George Allen's campaign imploded.

The term "useful idiot" comes to mind.

August 15, 2009