Posted on 12/07/2013 5:43:21 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Can you blame him? 13 hours on a plane with Joe Biden is not exactly a dream getaway.
85 year-old Merrill Newman, a war veteran, declined a ride home on Air Force Two with Joe Biden.
Newman was deported after being detained over his role in special forces operations in the Korean War six decades ago. (Daily Mail)
The Daily Mail reported:
An 85-year-old U.S. tourist detained in North Korea for six weeks for alleged ‘war crimes’ has landed back in San Francisco after catching a flight from Beijing.
North Korean state media said Saturday that Merrill Newman, a war veteran, was released because he had apologized for his alleged crimes during the Korean War and because of his age and medical condition.
Speaking after arriving at San Francisco International Airport, Mr Newman said he was glad to be back home and thanked U.S. and Swedish diplomats who worked to secure his release.
‘I’d like to thank the Swedish Embassy and the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. It was a great homecoming! I’m tired, pleased to be with my family. Thank you for all the support we’ve had.’
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who is traveling in Seoul, welcomed the release and said he talked by phone with Newman in Beijing, offering him a ride home on Air Force Two. Biden said Newman declined because of a direct flight to his home state of California, which he took later Saturday.
Newman’s son, Jeffrey, said he spoke briefly with his father from Beijing and that he was ‘in excellent spirits and eager to be reunited with his family.’
Why would he want to spend 13 more hours being tortured by a commie?
Why was he in NK in the first place?
-PJ
bump
a nightmare
many dead brain cells from his incessant stupid yacking
I think it's more likely that, after the IRS is done with him, he will qualify for free health care.
That in itself can be a horror movie for the Scfy Channel =)
You call this 85-¥ear old hero an idiot because he went to North Korea; Joe Biden must be your alter ego…and your match in wits.
After 2 hours with Biden he’d begging to be put back in a North Korean cell.
Ive been following this story with some interest and the guy has been a fool throughout.
I don't dismiss his heroism in Korea but its really unfortunate he has so badly damaged his personal legacy now...
> Can you imagine 12 hours trapped with Joe Biden?
Well, it couldn’t possible be as bad as 12 hours with Obama.
Is this the same soldier that went back to N Korea because he promised his fellow downed pilot that he would come back for him?
If this is the same 80+yr old man I thought he came and went without finding his comrades downed plane due to bad weather...
I remember as a kid watching some congressional hearing and seeing this Biden guy drone on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and that was just the first 3 hours.....
Imagine being 85 years old and having to sit next to THAT for 13 hours!!
no thanks
Way to go, Merrill.
rofl
Can you see someone pleading to be allowed to go back to North Korea?
Don't know if that's true, but give Biden props, if he hadn't offered a ride, he would have been a target of ridicule, and he had to understand that the offer might be refused, for whatever reason.
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