And You Want Us to Help?

North Korea recently announced prison sentences of 12 years for two American journalists who entered the country illegally. A spokesman says Americans Laura Ling and Euna Lee were found guilty of a "grave crime." The American Government is working some behind the scenes channels in an effort to win their release. But the Obama administration must be careful that North Korea does not try and link this incident to efforts by Western Powers and South Korea to get the North to curtail its nuclear ambitions. Now this may sound cold and callous-I have a problem with this story. The two women, along with support crew from their American employer Current TV, were indeed on North Korean soil. They were filmed on the other side of the Tumen river separating North Korea from China. Through a translator they were heard on the video as saying they were in a North Korean courtyard and do not have permission to be there. So why should the United States now rush to their rescue? They knew what they were doing. They knew they did not have any permission to enter North Korea. I don't care who is signing my paycheck, you can't ask me (and its still unclear if Current TV ordered the women to make a foray into North Korea) to violate a country's law like that, and especially one as unpredictable and unstable as North Korea. And now we're supposed to bail them out? I feel for them and their families-however they created this mess themselves. And whats worse is now North Korea can use the journalists in a high stakes negotiating game, as they continue to threaten the West with nuclear tests. Just because you're a journalist you don't have carte blanche to wander into any country. Had that been me, I would not have been within 10 miles of the North Korean border. Sources say for the moment the two women are being held in guest houses and probably, despite reports, won't go to the vile and heinous detention camps. But they never should have crossed the river to begin with. And now their families are forced to plead with our government to intervene and win their release. Sometimes when you make your own bed you have to lie in it.