The top US hostage affairs official on Sunday reflected on conducting the prisoner swap that led to brittney griner's release, saying the WNBA star e=immediately thanked the crew returning her to the United States.
"When she finally got on the US plane, carstens said, 'Brittany,you must have been through a lot over the last 10 months. Hears your seat. Please feel free to decompress. We'll give you your space.' " She said, 'oh no. I've been in prision for 10 months now listenig to russian, I want to talk, But first of all, who are these guys?' And she moved right past me and went to every menber on that crew,looked them in the eyes, shook their hands and asked about them adn go their names, making a personal connection with them. it wa sreally amazing," Carsten recalled
she was given a sense , he said, that she would be going home that day, and it felt real the moment he wa able to board the other plane adn tell her that, "on behalf of the President of the United States, "I'm her to take you home.
"At that point, we have to go through a little more of the choreography to get her on the plane, it usually takes about three minutes," Carstens said.
While he said Griner talked about her ordeal during the trip, he declined to elaborate on the details."But know this, even as we are welcoming someone home, we still have work to do. So as I am shaking Brittneys hands and we are going to the aircraft and having this great conversation, my brain is already thinking about Paul Whelan.
What do you think happend to Paul Whelan?
How are Griner and her wife doing right now?
Replies
I feel like Paul Whelan will not be let go easily. Russia suspects him to be a "spy" and they don't want him telling anyone any potential secrets he could have heard. I think that Griner was easier to bring home, as I already said, Whelan, is a suspected spy. I think she deserved to come home as much as anyone, it would be scary being locked in a prison in Russa. I hope Paul Whelan can come back to the US soon.
I think its good that they are doing well but personlly i feel like they made a mistake. i think that the US could of done more to bring both of them home, and was it really a smart idea to bring home a wnba player and give them a actual convict that could hurt the US in the future.
I think that it is amazing that Griner was healthy and was feeling well enough to talk. Being detained in a foreign country, away from family, not knowing when you will get to be home, can take a lot out of a person. I do not believe that the government had forgotten about Paul Whelan. I simply believe that the government made the best choice they could to bring one of our own home and are working a deal to bring Paul home as well.
I think that we made the wrong choice. We traded an arms dealer for an WNBA player. Although she could be impronant I think we should have made it so we could trade for Paul Whelen. I'm glad Brittney got to come home. But it was a dumb trade.
I think that Britney Griner and her wife are catching up and thriving more than ever becasue they have missed eachother so much. I think that Paul Whelen did also commit a crime but I think that they should have traded for equal crimes.
I think we got scammed. We traded a WNBA player for an arms dealer that could have caused many casualties. I think that if we could have traded someone else or maybe tried to negotaite better for Paul Whelen. I'm not saying that getting Griner home was a bad thing but could have atleast done better.
I think Paul Whelan was wandering around, and a Russian police officer just claimed he was spying and then he got put in prison. Griner is now safe, and home for the holidays as the news reporter said, Griner, will be just fine. Paul Whelan on the other hand will have to stay in prison for who knows how long. I personally feel as though the trade was very unfair. We traded "the angel of death," for a WNBA player. It was a very dumb trade. If anything Russia should have traded Paul Whelan for "the angel of death."
I find it kinda dumb that they would let a wnba player go before the marine because sure its one less player tha you have which is whatever but for the marine he could be doing time in anyplace right now defending america but the president decided to get the wnba player back before the marine which i am kinda mad at.
I think that many people are very happy to have Brittney at home. However, there are also many people that are unhappy that the US did not trade for Paul Whelan ( THis is understandable) However, the Russians would not let go of paul and they would trade Brittany or no one. because this was their only option, they took this offer.
I bet that Griner and her Wife are probably thankful or happy that they are back together. I do not like the way the arangment played out. I think that they could have made a better choice on who they would get back. And if they did not agree, sadly we would not have gotten Griner back.
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