The daughter of the first American killed in Afghanistan just learned that one of the Taliban leaders freed in the Bowe Bergdahl swap was her father’s killer. Alison Spann was only 9-years-old when her father, a Marine turned CIA operative, was killed in the Afghanistan war. Michael Spann was killed during a prison uprising while interrogating Al Qaeda fighters in 2001.
Mike Spann , 32, was buried at the Arlington National Ceremony. During the memorial ceremony, then-CIA Director George Tenet heralded the first American killed in Afghanistan for his service and said that the Marine was trying to make a “better, safer world.”
Alison Spann was quite shocked and upset when she learned that Gitmo detainee Mullah Mohammad Fazi was included in the Bergdahl swap with the Taliban.
Mike Spann’s daughter had this to say about the deal the Obama administration struck to retrieve Bowe Bergdahl:
“It does become harder and harder to have faith in an administration that is played with scandal after scandal. My initial reaction was shock. I was shocked that our president would release five of the most high-risk prisoners being held in Guantanamo in exchange for one American. As a whole, my family was extremely upset and saddened that our government would do something like this, especially in light of the fact that it seems that people in the intelligence community are fairly united in their belief that these terrorists are likely to seek to further harm Americans in the future.”
The former Marine was attacked by Taliban prisons at the Qala-i-Jangi compound in the Mazari Sharit region of northern Afghanistan. It was the early weeks of the war and Mike Spann was questioning detainee Mullah Mohammad Fazi, who has been accused of war crimes by human rights organizations. Fazi was the deputy defense minister and commander of all Taliban troops in that region of Afghanistan, according to his Gitmo case file. Fazi is also accused of “personally supervising” the killing of thousands of Tajik Sunni and Shiite Muslims.
Alison Spann does not appear to agree with Secretary of State John Kerry’s view on the potential dangers posed by the Taliban detainees traded for Bowe Bergdahl. As previously reported by The Inquisitr , when asked if he thought the Taliban leaders would once again take to the battlefield, Kerry called such an idea “baloney.”
The daughter of the slain Marine also said, “You cannot release someone of such a high caliber within the Taliban community and expect him to suddenly emerge as a peaceful being. These prisoners had one goal when they went into Gitmo and I feel that they left Gitmo with that same goal.”
What do you think about the Taliban leader who killed Mike Spann being a part of the Bowe Bergdahl swap?
[Images : Honoring Mike Spann website and Wikipedia ]