Bad move: Obama administration to allow hostage ransoms...

This will undoubtedly cause more to be taken hostage. 

President Barack Obama’s administration will reassure the families of Americans held by groups like the Islamic State that they can pay ransoms without fear of prosecution, the first tangible policy change to result from the deaths of an array of U.S. captives in recent months.
The shift, which has not previously been reported, will be detailed Wednesday as part of the administration’s long-awaited review of U.S. hostage policy, according to two government officials and others familiar with the matter. The White House launched the probe last year after coming under fierce criticism for failing to do more to bring back missing American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and aid worker Peter Kassig, all three of whom were beheaded by the Islamic State. Three other Americans — journalist Luke Somers in Yemen, and aid workers Kayla Mueller in Syria and Warren Weinstein on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan — have since been killed while in militant custody.

Foolish: Family of now-slain hostage Warren Weinstein gave al Qaeda $250,000 in ransom?

I know families are desperate, but you can't trust terrorists. 

Via NY Post:

The al Qaeda captors of now-slain hostage Warren Weinstein pocketed $250,000 in ransom money from his family in 2012, before reneging on the secret deal, according to a Pakistani intermediary.
The captors even continued to negotiate with the intermediary for weeks after the 73-year-old American aid worker was accidentally killed in a US drone strike in January.
After that strike, the kidnappers spoke of handing Weinstein over to ISIS, never hinting he was dead, according to the intermediary, who spoke directly with the terrorists.
The ransom money — in $100 bills — had been handed over to kidnappers in Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan about a year after his capture.
“The money was delivered, but he [Weinstein] didn’t show up,” the intermediary said.
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Fail: Pentagon paid ransom to a con man in failed attempt to free Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl

This is the most clueless administration ever.

Via Washington Times:

The Pentagon is under fire for making a ransom payment to an Afghan earlier this year as part of a failed bid to win the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, according to U.S. officials.
Sgt. Bergdahl was released in May after nearly five years in captivity as part of a controversial exchange for five terrorists held at the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The ransom payment was first disclosed by Rep. Duncan Hunter in a Nov. 5 letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. Mr. Hunter stated in the letter that Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) made the payment covertly as part of a release deal. But the money was stolen by the Afghan intermediary claiming to represent the Haqqani terrorist network.
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