Is Kayla Mueller Really a Hero?

NOTE: My Arizona readers have seen this, as Ms. Mueller was from Prescott,
a local town, where they are considering a statue (or something) in her honor.

The lamestream media told you:

Sweet and innocent Ms. Mueller helped unfortunate refugees in the Middle East and was tragically killed by Jordanian jet fighters, seeking revenge for the horrible televised burning death of one of their captured pilots, after she was held in Syria as a prisoner for a year, after her Syrian boyfriend failed in multiple attempts to free her. Note: There was no debate on whether horrible televised burning death in a cage was torture.

The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:

To: The Arizona Republic newspaper
Dear Ms. Sanders, (and entire editorial staff)

Your lengthy story about Kayla Mueller in today's Arizona Republic has this one tiny mention about how she worked with "impoverished communities in Israel...".

Reports have begun to surface that Kayla had worked with Hamas in that region, a designated terrorist organization according to the U.S. State Dept., and served a role that paints a far less favorable picture than the narrative that seems to be sweeping the nation about this young woman.

Reading from her own writings posted online, if they are authentic, it almost sounds as if she was an ally of Israel's enemies -- our muslim enemies.

This is from Israeli TV, not a neutral source perhaps, but not to be discounted out of hand either:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/16455#.VN-m88YQtlW

"Kayla Mueller was a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) who spent at least two years working with that terrorist support group... As an ISM activist she was a tool for the worldwide jihad. A letter she wrote which appears on the ISM's website describes the usual ISM claims of atrocities that never occurred..." (read that letter at the link above)

Before we end up with stories we may come to regret, her background should be carefully vetted. Have you looked into any of this? There is more on line with a simple search. Can you confirm the veracity of these reports? You know what it means if they're true. Desire to erect statutes and push the popular tale must not supplant real journalism.

Good journalism of course demands that you do the due diligence necessary to keep any potentially unsavory history from embarrassing your organization and our nation's honor before we run off headlong in search of heroes. A starry-eyed optimist can unfortunately be used too easily by those with bad intent, or be misdirected or poorly thought out to begin with. We owe it to ourselves to be particularly cautious when dealing with youthful "true believers" and especially with enemies of the scope we have in the middle east.


With all due respect,
Alan Korwin, Author
Gun Laws of America
The Uninvited Ombudsman

(No reply received)
The Sunday paper had pages of glowing adoration for this young woman.


----:::----


Special note to Prescott, Ariz., residents about Kayla Mueller,
from a correspondent who wishes to remain anonymous;
this will go out nationally soon, OK to circulate:


"I was thinking of sending The Arizona Republic a letter saying that she was a wonderful human being -- a saint, a model child -- who unfortunately was deceived by the propaganda of her liberal professors when they fed her the Clinton/Obama narrative that the Palestinians were the good guys and Israelis were the bad guy 'oppressors.' But they just published a letter from me, so I'm locked out for 30 days [Az Rep policy], so I'm telling you.

"So, Kayla volunteered to help the children of Hamas terrorists instead of Israeli children who had been maimed by Hamas rockets. True, all children are blameless and deserve to be helped, but by associating with terrorists, she put herself in peril. The lesson for other young people is, by all means, follow Kayla Mueller's example. Work to make the world a better place, but choose your friends carefully. If you hang out with murderers, you risk getting murdered. If you take up with radical, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, Islamic savages, don't be surprised when they act like radical, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, Islamic savages."

Lowering our flag

My advice [Alan speaking now], mentioned in a prior note, is that we should be very careful who we honor by lowering our flag. The rules for the flag are precise, though they allow for some judgment, and should be applied with great restraint. [That memo, to The Arizona Republic and a few friends, is reproduced below.]

Etiquette for flying the flag at half staff does not include arbitrary lowering every time a popular figure dies: http://www.usflag.org/nffhalfstaff.html.

The National Flag Foundation points out many "good-faith misunderstandings" where people not authorized, or circumstances not justified lead to half-staff flag postings. "Not to criticize or embarrass anyone, but rather to head off a growing trivialization of this memorial salute, and to preserve the dignity and significance of flying the U.S. flag at half-staff."

And let me [Alan again] add that, according to an IDF contact of mine, working with Syrians raises red flags if you haven't had too much Kool Aid: "...the fact that she ended up in Syria with her Syrian boyfriend made me suspicious regarding her world views... The first American victim of ISIS (the free lance "reporter") was also anti Israel as well as the three American hikers held in Iran when they crossed from Jordan. Apparently being anti Israeli doesn't help you in the end. I am sure they couldn't understand that." Kayla's own letters, posted on the terrorists' website with her approval, recognized that if you don't look Arab, you are subject to death on the spot.