US govt botched chance to rescue hostages in Pakistan, says American soldier

Amerine’s testimony was in front of a government committee looking into the treatment of whistleblowers

US: A US special forces officer says his attempts to put a rescue plan together for two Canadian hostages being held in Pakistan were scuttled by US government infighting and a lack of policy on how to deal with hostage situations.

Green Beret Lt-Col Jason Amerine had originally been assigned by the US Army in 2013 to look into ways to obtain the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was captured by insurgents in 2009 in Afghanistan.

Amerine told a US Senate hearing Thursday that during his efforts, he obtained details about Colin Rutherford of Toronto; US citizen Caitlan Coleman and her Canadian husband, Joshua Boyle of Ottawa; and US citizen Warren Weinstein.

Amerine fell under criminal investigation by the Army this year after informing Congress about a scuttled deal he tried to cut with the Taliban to free Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl along with all of the American and Canadian civilian hostages held by terrorists in Pakistan.

"Warren Weinstein is dead. Colin Rutherford, Joshua Boyle, Caitlin Coleman and the child she bore in captivity are still hostages in Pakistan. I failed them. I exhausted all efforts and resources available to return them but I failed," Army Special Forces Lt. Col. Jason Amerine said before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Warren Weinstein a USAID worker was killed along with an Italian aid worker by a CIA drone strike in Pakistan, which targeted an al Qaeda hideout in January last year. Joshua Boyle and wife Caitlin Coleman were taken hostage by the Haqqani Taliban in Afghanistan two years ago according to Lt Colonel Amerine. Rutherford, he added, is also a Canadian national.

Amerine’s testimony at the hearing examining retaliation against whistleblowers is startling for dual reasons; not just for his accusation of ‘internal bureaucratic discord’ that failed to free at least five hostages but also because he is a living army legend who appeared before the committee as a whistleblower. He is a bronze Star receiver with “V” for “Valor” device for his services in Afghanistan.

"In early 2013, my office was asked to help get Sgt. Bergdahl home. We informally audited the recovery effort and determined that the reason the effort failed for four years was because our nation lacks an organisation that can synchronise the efforts of all our government agencies to get our hostages home. We also realised that there were civilian hostages in Pakistan that nobody was trying to free so they were added to our mission," Amerine said in his testimony.

Read:NATO soldier killed in firefight between US, Afghan forces

"To get the hostages home, my team worked three lines of effort: Fix the coordination of the recovery, develop a viable trade and get the Taliban back to the negotiating table. My team was equipped to address the latter two of those tasks but fixing the government’s interagency process was beyond our capability," Amerine said.

Amerine and his colleagues had designed a plan to trade an Afghan drug lord, Bashir Noorzai, for the American and Canadian hostages but then the State Department interceded and killed that deal in favor of the one that eventually freed Bergdahl for five Taliban fighters. Noorzai remains in a high-security prison in California.

Amerine told the Senate Committee that he fell under criminal investigation because the FBI was displeased with his criticism of how the bureau and other agencies mismanaged the hostage crisis and for sharing his observations with and helping Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., a member of the House Armed Services Committee draft legislation that streamlined how the government agencies deal with hostage cases.

The army deleted his retirement paperwork and cut off his pay temporarily recently, Amerine recounted.

"It's utterly ridiculous in my mind," Amerine said.

US officials at the Department of Justice and the FBI did not immediately offer comment today regarding Amerine and his claims.

Amerine plans to tell the Committee today, "You, the Congress, were my last resort to recover the hostages. But now I am a whistleblower, a term that has become radioactive and derogatory.

The article originally appeared on ABC NEWS