The United States does not negotiate with terrorists. This has been the official policy of the U.S. government for as long as I can remember. I  recall seeing the movie “Red Corner” in which Richard Gere plays an American lawyer on business in China accused of murder. In one scene he is told by his Chinese lawyer that if he is found guilty there is no appeal, he will be removed from the courtroom and shot and his family will be charged for the bullet. I asked my father, a former Military Intelligence officer with experience in the Diplomatic Corps , “How can they do that? He’s an American!”. His answer was “The United States Government does not negitiate with terrorists or foreign governments unless there are extraordinary circumstances, and those are exceedingly rare.”

Well in the age of Obama, that has changed. How? Well, as any attorney will tell you there is something known as setting a precedent. When the Obama administration released five Gitmo detainees, who were characterized as “planners” not actual participants in attacks on the U.S. Homeland. When Obama exchanged these prisoners in return for the release of Sargeant Bergdahl he negotiated with terrorists.

Now, with the rise of ISIS (aka Islamic State) in the countries formerly known as Iraq and Syria, we have a serious problem that became evident when the list of demands by this group came to light prior to their decapitation of American photojournalist James Foley. You see, ISIS demanded a prisoner swap in return for Foley’s life. They wanted a woman that the press has dubbed “Lady al Qaeda“, real name Aafia Siddiqui, who is currently serving an 86 year prison sentence in Texas released and sent to them. This would be a huge issue were she to be released since she is an Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduate who holds a P.h.D. in neuroscience who was convicted of plotting a mass casualty attack against the U.S. Homeland involving a dirty bomb, ebola virus and a chemical weapon that would kill only adults.

As if that weren’t enough, she is married to one of the 9/11 masterminds who is presently cooling  his heels in Gitmo which just serves to amplify her “street cred” with all the wrong people. In short she is the Betty Page of the jihadi set and a recruitment dream for ISIS. But one has to wonder, would the Administration have given in to the demands of ISIS if they had held an American that Obama felt was worthy of a swap? What if next time they kidnap and ransom a high ranking official, like our Secretary of State for instance? Would Obama trade Lady al Qaeda to avoid having Kerry’s head on the sand?

This is the kind of dangerous precedent that we set when we start negotiating with terrorists and unfortunately I doubt that this is the last American journalist that we will see meet an untimely end at the hand of ISIS. You see in the age of the blogoshere, journalists aren’t as viewed by terrorists as the important communication lines that they once were. Prior to the murder of Daniel Pearl of the Wall Street Journal, journalists were seen as too valuable to execute. Now, they are just another group to be kidnapped and ransomed. This is illustrated by the fact that more than 80 journalists from around the world have been kidnapped covering the war in Syria, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. So that begs the question, who’s next?