Juan Williams slammed for dismissing jailed Marine in Mexico as not ‘serious’

Former Rep. Allen West had some harsh words of criticism for Fox News commentator Juan Williams, saying the pundit ought to apologize for dismissing the Mexico jailing of U.S. Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi as politically insignificant.

Mr. Williams made the comments about Sgt. Tahmooressi — which sparked immediate backlash in the military community and from Mr. West — during an appearance on “The O’Reilly Factor” with Bill O’Reilly, while discussing whether or not the United States appeared weak in the eyes of the world under the Obama administration.

First, Mr. O’Reilly’s remarked: “Tahmooressi in prison, Mexicans not going to let him out. Any president would have had him out based on humanitarian [reasons]. He has post-traumatic stress disorder. Let him go ± he can’t get him out. Obama can’t get them out.”

Then, Mr. Williams interrupted, saying: “You are going off in the weeds here. Come on, that guy is not a serious issue. Let’s get back to ISIS, let’s talk about global policy,” Newsmax reported.

Mr. West slammed Mr. Williams on his blog for the comment, saying the pundit needs to apologize and posting a letter that he received from one in the military community who took immediate offense.

The letter from former Vietnam War pilot Roger Herman read: “Well, Juan, I’ve got news for you. Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi is a serious issue! And the current administration has done nothing to get him released. The Sgt. is 100 times the man that you could ever hope to become. He served his country doing two tours in Afghanistan. How many have you done? Well, I guess when you were in the service, you must have always served stateside. What’s that? Oh, you never served in the armed forces. That’s right, you used to work for NPR before they fired you. … You are a complete fool!”

Mr. West then added his own two cents, writing: “Needless to say I think Juan Williams may need to issue a statement of apology — unless this is truly how he, President Obama and the liberal left feel about Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi.”