Joshua Mast
Appearances
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
foreign children, you know, doing very poorly in the Afghan orphanage system or being treated prejudicially, you know, just because of the brutality of the war going on there. And so he had, he'd actually asked some of the ICRC staff like, uh, that were like, Oh, we found somebody who might be able to take her. And he's like, well, are they related? Like, we don't know.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And so he was very concerned that, um, they were having to rely on the word of basically Taliban, uh,
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
local nationals in this taliban controlled area um for any sort of potential claimants and that was that was a huge concern at our level at the headquarters level as well it's like how do we safely vet people so you're walking uh with your fellow marine and he says what are we gonna do with this baby when did it occur to you maybe we should adopt
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Honestly, I think the gut instinct was we wanted to ensure the child's safety. Initially, it was just as an American, anybody downrange, I bet there's a million guys that could close their eyes and say, hey, I can remember someone I was trying to help on deployment. That's what this was for us originally. What happened was is we were trying to, as a legal shop, guarantee a safe outcome for her.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And I think DOD did a great job of doing that initially, and then we hit some interference later on with some other agencies. But what really caused us to seek adoption was getting her a visa.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Yeah, and I would say that we were very aware at the time of the negotiations going on that our presence is going to end very rapidly. And then what's going to happen? Because a lot of the funding is going to be attached to that. And so our concern is just asking basic questions like, how bad is she hurt? What unit picked her up? Why do they say she's foreign?
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And then as I used kind of the skill set that I had to pull some of that information for decision makers, it was very clear exactly who she was and where they came from. And then as you did research on, hey, what does an orphanage in Afghanistan look like? And then add to that, what does it look like when the U.S. leaves?
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
that was especially for a girl yes especially for a foreign child so so she was not from afghanistan yeah so the all of the us intelligence and everything has been declassified and there's a significant amount that's still left that has not been declassified pointed to a foreign origin for her uh the the specific group is a um a turkistani or uighur um al-qaeda branch okay yeah um so you decide to adopt
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Yeah, I say, Glenn, that we initially just advocated to elevate the priority of this child's life in the U.S. government's eyes. So when did you decide she needs to be with us?
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Well, I think it was in the midst of pursuing all the administrative requirements to get a visa. They kept saying, oh, well, she needs a name. how do you get a name for a Jane Doe baby that got blown up on an objective? And that was what the problem was. And then there was like, well, how do you arrange medical care in the US, which was a requirement for the visa? How do you pay for that?
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
How do you authorize surgery on a child, a minor child? Well, you have to have some sort of legal rights. And so as this developed, we're like, okay, well, I'll volunteer to be the financial sponsor for the visa. I'll volunteer to try and get some sort of legal ability to order medical care. And so it really evolved pretty organically from that.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
So I think initially there was a perspective that this is like as an Afghan problem, it's a distraction from operations. And they were trying to use our commands influence to force the Afghans who'd multiple times that we don't have the capacity to care for a child like this. Like I was in some of those meetings, but they're trying to force them to to to take them anyway.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And so that's when we did a little bit of advocacy trying to find. to elevate her, her status, her status. Yeah. Her priority of this life because we had options and, and that was successful. And then the, the administration, the first Trump administration reached out and directed us to act in her best interest and try to get her back to the U S which is pretty reasonable under the circumstances.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And so we were, we were thinking, Hey, that's good to go. She's going to be safe. And as we're working that new direction, that new U.S. policy as an office, and then I was volunteering with some of my skill sets in my free time to get a visa. That's when all of this kind of developed. And then I would report that back to my husband. Hey, great news. We got guardianship. Great news.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
We got her added as a DOD dependent. Great news. She has a military ID. Like, we had everything lined up to get her home. And we just had some significant opposition at some point. Mm-hmm. And that was kind of the first from Department of State.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
so 2020 comes state department gets involved what happens so um i guess it would be important for the viewers to understand is one the trump administration reaching out was like a lightning bolt it was uh i'm a junior officer i'm a captain at the time i kind of got the like don't do that again but you know it's a baby so it's okay we'll keep keep doing this and so um
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
I got yelled at a little bit, which was, it was a relief not to get fired. But we pretty much turned around and said, okay, yeah, that makes sense. We're going to act in this child's best interest. We're going to try to get her to the States. And we were working that problem.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
But to coordinate with the Department of State, because you need that for visas, we had reached out to the embassy and set up a meeting. And I distinctly remember staying up to like three in the morning, pouring over the classified intel, pulling it together for a briefing. And we went to that meeting, DOD did, to brief them on exactly what we knew.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And the reason that was important was because if this is a foreign child, we wouldn't turn a British or a French or a German foreign fighters over to an Afghan orphanage. We would repatriate them at a minimum. And also, if you're going to actually do a family trace, you'd have to go to the country of origin to see if there's anybody alive and who is safe. Because here's the reality.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
We were targeting this group. There was hundreds of them with their families coming back from Syria into this other war zone for a safe space. And we were hunting and killing them. And so our, one of our biggest concern was like, even if you got a family member, if we give this child back to them, is she going to be on another objective and not be so lucky this time?
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
I mean, that's understanding how sophisticated this unit and this intelligence gathering apparatus is. They're, they're killing this entire network and they're doing it that month. And that, that was the priority in Afghanistan. So like, we are very aware, just because of my background, we,
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Going back to that meeting. So instead of what was supposed to happen of an informational meeting, where we're supposed to inform them of what our classified intelligence says, they essentially ambushed us. They brought Afghans to this meeting where we can't brief on a classified level. And they basically tried to do a fait accompli where it's like, hey, how soon can you take the baby?
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
I mean, like two days after the Trump administration reached out, that's what they were doing. I was in the meeting. And there's been a lot of, we'll get to that later in the story, but the Department of Justice under the previous administration has filed court filings saying, oh, Major Mash knew there was known family at this particular meeting. Mm-hmm.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
But in reality, that was the detainee that our guys had taken off of the op. And I was there to tell you that this guy said he brought these people here from a foreign country and has been moving them around and identified these specific people in this compound as foreign fighters. So that was just some rumor because somebody didn't have the right clearance and we were going to clear that up.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And so all of this could have avoided if you're not insubordinate to the administration.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
So Sparrow, There was about a two-month period after that meeting where the State Department kind of was like, we're not going to help you, but we're not going to get in your way. And we had successfully negotiated a recommendation from the then-existing Afghan government to send her to the States. The DOD had done that, and it was ready to go.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And so what happened is the State Department came back in, and I have a colonel-sworn testimony. They lied about me and my family, like, oh, we'd done something improper with this, or we didn't tell people. Literally testified under oath here just in October. that the State Department official had lied about us. Then he said it was the most unprofessional meeting he'd ever been in.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And he's the acting staff judge advocate for a four-star command who's in charge of the theater. And he gets told, stand down. State Department's got the lead. They're going to handle this.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And that's when everybody lost their life.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And I'm not trying to ding the entire State Department. I think that there's a lot of hope for the future in how we're moving forward with this. I agree. And morale's high as far as I'm concerned, at least in our unit. But I will say that there are some people that don't reflect our values and they don't reflect
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
I don't think a proper representation of what America is about sometimes in foreign countries. And we experienced that.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And I would say, Glenn, when I reached out to the hospital and said, hey, we're trying to see if there's other better options for her, they were overjoyed. They were like, let's go. We've been hoping somebody would help. And so we had what we called Operation Starfish, which was kind of a grassroots level to try to get a safe outcome for her.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Yeah, to the point where we were waking up people when the president visited Bagram for Thanksgiving in 2019. We were waking people up like, go find the president, have him meet her. Because it was 100 yards from where she was. And we were so close. And that was when the U.S. policies tried to get her back. So we're like, wouldn't it be cool if they go home on Air Force One? But we were...
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
From, I guess, from an intelligence perspective, there was never a question of where she came from. This is totally like a gloss made up.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Okay, so I think the best way I can explain this is the terms of the peace, strategically what's going on in September 2019 is the peace deal literally blew up. The president said this is a bad deal. The Taliban's not acting in good faith and announced a canceling of the peace deal. Mm-hmm.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And from there, both the Taliban is trying to get back to the negotiating table and the embassy is rightly trying to negotiate a peace, a legitimate peace. But I think we're fed a bad deal in case nobody saw like 2021. But the Taliban is specifically...
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
denying the presence of this group they formally announced it on their website like they're these reports are false this group isn't in afghanistan the weaker group possibly possibly yeah but i guess they called him turkistani but they're this al-qaeda group which is a condition of the peace deal so the taliban's not dumb like they fought us for 20 years right right so they have a strategic interest in this not being a thing
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And so a colonel who was the action officer in the Pentagon testified in our board of inquiry in October. He said that six to eight false claimants came forward. They tested them for DNA, and they were negative. So, Glenn, why would six or eight people who are not relatives of this child come forward? And I think the answer is they were sent forward. Correct. Mm-hmm.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And so our concern at the time was that, hey, this is it could be someone who is being sent forward as a proxy of the Taliban. It could be someone who is just profiting off of like somebody trolling through a non-U.S. controlled area of Afghanistan and saying, want a baby? Mm hmm. You know.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
because at the time there was pretty pretty severe conditions in afghanistan it's getting to be the fall into the winter time and we're getting reports that at least in kabul they were eating cats and dogs they were selling their youngest children to pay for the rest of their family to make it through the winter and so there were some significant you know economic conditions at that time when did uh john and jane doe
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
come into the picture so it really wasn't it was uh john doe's father he was uh these are the people that this is where the real battle begins yes and i and i would say at the outset of this is i don't blame these particular afghans everybody wants to come to america you know sure we blame the americans who know the truth and are covering this up and
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Um, you know, they, they're coming from an environment where you're, you're living a little more hand to mouth and you have to survive. And I don't, uh, I have a lot of great Afghan friends that we've fought with and I respect. And so this isn't about really Afghans, but it's about what the state department did that was dangerous, like objectively dangerous. So here's how it fits in.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Um, we get told to stay. DoD gets told to stand down in December of 2019, um, there is a meeting, a critical meeting on December 31st between the embassy and the Afghan that we've been mentoring to basically have basic child safety procedures. He worked for Ministry of Labor.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And so we've been basically trained and advised and assisting them that you do a DNA test if there's somebody that comes forward and you vet people for terrorism, like not rocket science here. And they were very on board with that. And so they had a claimant come forward. And so they requested the embassy, who's the new lead, to do a DNA test of this person. But somehow...
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
The embassy reports to the Trump administration and their own agency that the Afghan DNA test, I think the white lie was it's not part of the Afghan process. And they've confirmed there's family members. And in reality... We spent two years to get this Afghan to America. He got here three days before our board of inquiry, as far as like, if you want to talk about the providence of God.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
But this guy said the only person in the world who could contradict what the embassy is saying got to America a couple of days before we needed him to be here. And he said they asked for a DNA test and they denied it.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
this he they personally this this particular afghan or embassy employee personally denied a dna test and so he said there was nothing else like they didn't have a photo id it was like some guy saying i'm i'm family and that's what the embassy forced them to go through with and uh So this man ended up being a, his claim was a lie.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Like, over the last three years, we can document, we've documented that.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Well, so the person who claimed to be a relative, who she was ultimately turned over to, claimed to be related to a dead, a person who was killed during that mission. I believe that's a lie. I think we can document that. So he was just lying. That's why you have precautions in place to vet people. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Yeah, they flew a flag over Bagram in her memory because they thought she was dead. It was so dangerous. And there was just no vetting at all. And what I think that sometimes powerful people don't realize is, you know, there's a lot of regular people out there that can show the homework on this stuff.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And I just thought that I don't think they ever thought they'd be held accountable for any of this stuff. And now, oh, fortunately for the last few years and some of the process we've gone through has been brutal, but we have the evidence now. And we're excited about the opportunity to, you know, I guess, what, show that.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Two days before the peace deal signed, the U.S. government, you know, through the embassy's representations, turns her over to an unvetted, what's turned out to be a non-relative terrorist affiliated person. Like the guy's got a Taliban flag on his WhatsApp profile.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And so everything we'd feared, everything we, I mean, as a captain, my wife and I sued the secretary of defense and the secretary of state. That's how convinced we were that this was objectively dangerous. Like I'm, I'm thinking my, my career is over, but I can't like sit here and not do every legal legal guardians.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Well, our government recognized our rights. Right. She was recognized as our daughter by headquarters Marine Corps. I'm calling on the phone explaining what we're doing. I mean, we're talking to the White House chief of staff. We're talking to the director of USCIS. Like as far as for a crazy situation, we're doing as by the book as we can for a unique one off situation.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And I what I think it's very important for the listeners to understand is. If all of the US intelligence was actually correct and the people that we sent our special operators to capture or kill were foreigners, all of this is a lie. Because if she really is who we thought she was the whole time, then all of this gloss is just smoke and mirrors. They had no reason to do what they did.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And the only reason we don't know about the DNA is because these people now won't take a DNA test. And the State Department denied taking a DNA test before. And to me, if you think that there's a valid claimant, the first thing you do is a DNA test. It's the most biometrically enrolled society on earth.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
So he, so John Doe is the son of this older man.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
So he, she was, you know, that's real. I believe that's real. Okay. So this older man gets her and we, um, there's a phenomenal human rights attorney named Kim Motley and she's got experience like, uh, dealing with like traffic children in Afghanistan. She finds her. That's a miracle in itself, but I'll gloss over it for time. Um,
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
This older man says, or we get some information that he's hired a young girl to take care of her. He's paying her a salary.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
A teenager. That teenager is Jane Doe. She's like 16, I think, at the time. She's finishing up high school. But it's a war zone. We're told that it's a slum. It's in southern Afghanistan. It's so dangerous that the ICRC won't go there. And we immediately get reports that she Sparrow starts shaking at night in the day and her eyes are twitching. And so we were very concerned about her TBI. Yeah.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
because like in the military community especially we're very aware like the long-term ramifications getting blown up and so we're like we were even trying to get her taken back to kandar airfield or some of our other hospitals at the time but then covet happens and everything gets like shut down and you can't even go out on the street in afghanistan and all that craziness that ensued and um we were trying to kim was trying to get her brought up to be evaluated at a hospital in kabul that had more capability um
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
The son of the son. And so I think it's very important for people to understand, we only spoke to this guy directly six weeks before the fall of Afghanistan. In 2021. In 2021. And Kim is an expert in Afghan culture and she's been operating there for a long time.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And she's like, look, I think this is a real possibility to send her out because of her needs, but I can't get custody of a child without a way to get her out of Afghanistan. I can't have another child in my care. And so we were just creating a path to the United States for her before the Taliban took over.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Because we were very aware that after that deadline, there's going to be a brutal civil war. And, you know, at best case scenario, maybe there's a shared government. But, you know, that's not what happened. So I talked to this guy on July 2021. First time. You, this is me. Here's who I am. Here's what I did in Afghanistan. We believe she's a foreign child. She was an orphan.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
We sought, you know, legal responsibility for under U.S. law. My interpreter uses the strongest words in Pashto. Wali, Masuliat, Sarprost. And my Afghan friends will probably make fun of me because I probably butchered those. So what does it mean? It means guardian, responsible one, like the strongest legal term for a non-parent being responsible of them because they don't have adoption.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Yeah, we would say an adopted parent in the States, but they don't have a similar legal concept there. And so he's using the strongest terms and this guy's... This guy, I mean, honestly, what he first wanted was a visa. Like, hey, can you give me a visa for me and my brother-in-law? Everybody wants to go to America. I don't even blame them.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
But no, there's no, like, no one could predict the evacuation. I mean, that was a historic event. So we're sitting here saying, she has everything she needs to fly out. We're legally responsible. Send her before the Taliban take over. And so this guy, this is what he tells me. He's like, I'm like, how's she doing? There's a battle going on in southern Afghanistan. There's a campaign.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
There's artillery rounds going off near them. There's people getting shot around them. He's worried about his teenage wife, who's about eight months pregnant, and about the artillery rounds near their house, like, hurting their unborn child. Like, this guy's like... in a bad way. And, and he says, he's bringing tears to his eyes, how Sparrow's condition is.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And, you know, um, and so as this is all happening, I asked like, where is she? Like, that's a pretty good question. Like in a war zone. And he's like, Oh, she doesn't live with me or my family or my dad. She lives with this other family and they become like parents to her. And so like, that's what's so hilarious about not hilarious. It would be funny if it wasn't like tragic.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
So tragic is that this guy tells me she doesn't even live with him. That's the first thing. Well, one of the first things he says to me, he tells me his father is responsible to the Taliban for her. And then, in fact, he's like, oh, I think she should go live with you. You know, that's so kind, that type of thing. And he's like, I have to ask my dad. He's the responsible one.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And he has to ask the Taliban. So during the middle of the war, his dad travels about 100 miles from where they live in southern Afghanistan to where she was picked up. And they talk to that Taliban commander who was responsible for those camps of whether they can send her to be evacuated because they take him a couple of weeks. And of course the Taliban says, no, like not, not a big surprise.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And so he comes back and says, uh, the Taliban said, no, they'll kill us if we disobey them. Sorry, basically. And so, you know, as we're developing, you know, as this is situation developing, there's, there's thousands of IDPs get into place by the battles. They're all centering on Kabul. Like we all know that the history now, right. It's August 16th.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
When this guy comes back to me, the evacuation just started. And I had the privilege of helping a friend of mine with one of his interpreters outside the wall. And he was at the Naval War College and didn't actually have access to a lot of our systems. And I was at a special unit where we could directly call the airport. And so we got this one guy out. Like I saw it on Facebook. Hey, send me that.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
I routed the request ad hoc, right? He gets out. And that hits the news. I wrote a book about it. And so he gets... My friend, who's another Marine officer, gets flooded with requests to help other Terps. And so we get sucked into all the people Mercury Run funded. It was totally ad hoc, totally heroic how these Americans pulled together. It was amazing.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Concilium, No One Left Behind, Pineapple Express, Team America. Yeah. I mean, it was... It was incredible. But as... As that's happening, I'm like, disobey the Taliban, bring her to US forces. She's viewed as a US person because of her US identity. We sent them her military ID to identify her, right?
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
At the same time, the interpreter that I'm using to speak Pashto to this man, he's like, sir, my sister, she's 15. She's in the Northern Alliance areas. They've just passed an edict saying that they have to marry them off to their fighters. Can you help us get her out? So I'm like, this is not my expertise. It's all ad hoc, right? Just like every other like service member at the time.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And so I'm like, okay, man, like we'll, we'll try, but it's super dangerous. Like, are you willing to risk their lives traveling 180 miles? He's like, yes, sir. It's better than it's better than being left to marry the Taliban and take them back to Pakistan.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
So we move his 15-year-old sister, his, I think, eight-year-old brother at the time, and his teenage brother, all three of them, and we rent an Airbnb online in Kabul, Afghanistan during the evacuation as a safe house. I get word that they're bringing Sparrow from Southern Afghanistan.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
We move them 280 miles through Taliban checkpoints and all that stuff in the middle of war, like right around August 22nd or 3rd. As soon as I get word they're moving, that they're disobeying the Taliban, I go to my colonel, like I'm standing on his desk, sir, I got a crazy story for you. The State Department dumped our child two years ago. We've been working to get her out.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
We have all the paperwork. Here it is. Permission to fly emergency leave into Kabul, Afghanistan. And my colonel is crazy enough and a great enough warrior. He's like, that's what I do if I was a parent, permission granted. And so I got a ticket and I was on my way before I got shut down by CENTCOM. They're like, no way. We're not letting people in on emergency leave.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
But we ended up, it was such a unique experience because we were able to go to Ramstein and find her because they got out.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Well, first, thank you for having us on. We really appreciate it. Growing up listening to you and Rush, it's just surreal to be able to sit here and talk with you. Thank you. So I'm an active duty Marine. I'm a major in the Marine Corps. Active duty. Active duty. So all this is my opinion, not on behalf of the government or anybody else.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Like we, we have all the original documents.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And what was so amazing, Glenn, is this same little girl that got carried off an objective by a special mission unit in 2019, it happened again in the evacuation because my colonel got her put on JSOC's targeting list and a special forces squadron. operating out of HKIA, went behind Taliban lines and grabbed her and my three interpreters kids and these two postions.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And she was eight months pregnant. So we were very concerned of having four kids and a pregnant lady getting through this crowds. Right. And so like to say that that was like a lightning bolt again. No, that was a miracle. It was a miracle. That was a miracle. And so we were over the moon. Okay.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
So it was solely to get them away from the Taliban. Okay, okay. Because if we left them behind, they would get murdered.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
So that was actually over a couple of day period of Ramstein air case. That was the first time that we realized that there was something going on between them because you know, What John Doe told me a couple times, like, hey, she's attached to the baby, but when she has a baby, it'll be fine. Like, it'll be good.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And then what she was saying when we had everything arranged, and it wasn't a guarantee go to America type situation, right? There's 80,000 people going all over the world. And so we're advocating, like, saying, hey, like, you have to send, like, these people helped us. They dissipated the Taliban. You have to send them to America. And so we had successfully arranged that.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And once that happened, it became, well, he promised me that if I came, I didn't want to come, but he said, if I come, I wouldn't have to like, let her go with you. And so like, that was the first time I realized there was any disagreement at all. And, you know, I don't know what this guy, I don't, I don't know if they have the same
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
culturally uh the same page as spouses right because typically in my training experience the the afghan men leave their home and they don't really care what their wife says and so there was it was a unique uh dynamic a unique dynamic so and when do you find out he's on a watch list oh gosh Yeah, I'll probably get yelled at for that. So this is what happened.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
We get to these states about 10 hours before their official flight comes in, like the president had commandeered basically the commercial fleet. So they're pouring into the country. They're doing the best. People are vetting them as best they can, right? There's obviously been some failures with that. So we get to Dulles and we have all the documents, right? All of our documents.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
In fact, a lot of it will be kind of focused on some government action that's happened to our family. I would say describing us, we're a family of five, grown up traveling with the Marine Corps. I've had a child born at every duty station. I'd say we're a pretty archetypical military family.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
So I go back there. It takes like seven hours to process in. And it's crammed full of people the whole time. And at the very end, like, I don't know, one in the morning, they're like, oh, you're all done processing. You need to take a COVID test. I'm like, COVID test? Okay, let's go take a COVID test. And people got tuberculosis, but let's go get COVID tested.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And they take about 20 military-aged men and they put us in.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And me, yeah, because I'm, this, my guy. And they drive us out into the middle of Dulles Airport. And there's this huge hangar. almost like a Bond movie, like where like a prototype plane is going to be revealed. And there's like 500 beds and it's the only place that has not been crammed full of people this whole time.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And there's like uniform customs and border patrol guys with like plate carriers and ARs. And I'm like, this doesn't look like a COVID place. And so I'm trying to figure out what's going on. And so then this uniform customs and border patrol agent comes in and is like, what were you doing in 2014? Like, what are you doing? Like going at my guy. And I'm like,
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Like I told you, I talked to this guy like five weeks before. Right. And so what concerned me is he was in this detention facility and then he's sitting there talking to another man in Pashto. And most of our allies were like Dari speakers. Like there's some Pashtuns, but for the predominantly the Pashtuns are Taliban. And so, um,
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
He had not really talked to anybody in four or five days that I've been around this guy. And he's like chatting away. I'm like, who's his friend to somebody who spoke English? And they're like, oh, this guy's from his home village. Like they know each other. And then when I find out about 10 minutes later, I went up to the Border Patrol agent. I'm like, hey man, like what are we doing here?
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
He's like, oh, this is the inconclusives where people flagged for a match on the terror watch list and we're vetting them. And I'm like, holy cow. Right. Because I have a child from a capture or kill mission of Al Qaeda. I've got a dad who went to the Taliban shadow governor.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Oh, and I forgot to mention this guy tells my turp before he comes to American lines like, hey, I have a lot of militants in my phone. Will this be a problem when I come to American lines?
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
don't tell joshua though he's like don't tell joshua and i'm like you know task force already tracking this guy so no it didn't make a difference because we know where you are and like and that actually was corroborated my board of inquiry we had someone come from jsoc and testify yep we knew this guy had dirt and so um i had some red flags going on yeah you send me a video i have a video of it because i'm sitting there at dolos waiting for him because i thought same thing she's like where are you for the covid test i'm like
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And so again, kind of thinking that facts matter and like you should report stuff like this, you know, See something, say something. So I immediately reported to my chain of command through our NCS liaison. And it kind of like nothing happened. And obviously that is when we like immediately requested like they're going to get vetted. They're probably going to get deported.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
We should probably like now is a good time to separate her. And my interpreter's kids also came with that. So it took them a couple of days to get their act together and actually do that. But like I think it makes a lot more sense to the American people how this conflict started with they know the guy flags. And with the context behind that.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And so like, that really was the turning point where we're like, Hey, maybe I was projecting some compassion I had for all these allies that went to war with us. And maybe I should have been a little more cautious of the outset, because to be honest, like,
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
We faced a decision point in the evacuation where my colonel was like, hey, you're going to probably have to choose between these Afghans and your little girl. Because the assets we're using to get them don't give a crap about Afghans. And they'll probably just stick a gun in their face and take her. And they're not going to waste their resources getting these random people. Right.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And I literally had to advocate to take all of them.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Yeah. We actually had a team that was funded by the Mercury One Funds, like volunteers, to go get them all. They had 9,000 a head or whatever for the private aircrafts. set to go. And I think they had an incident at Northgate that night and they canceled all the volunteers going out. And that's when my colonel got them picked up by a national ministry and force unit. And so like,
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
I guess the peace of mind, knowing that there was Americans who were volunteering to go behind lines when it sounded like no one else was doing. Oh, my gosh. Yeah.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
So I want people to understand. We were so devastated when she got turned over and we couldn't understand why. Why would that happen? But when this historic event kicks off and you're getting texts and calls from people and you're able to get real people moved inside to safety and a new life, I mean, especially from like 8,000 miles away, it's so weird.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
You're so far from it, but you're changing lives. And all these volunteers are doing that too. It was very clear that that was a larger purpose. We had a vision to save this one child just because we were in a place to do it. But there was a bigger plan that ended up her life, her existence, saved dozens and dozens of American interpreters that worked with us and their families.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And I'll tell you one story for your audience. There was one group. They had Australian visas. Glenn, I worked with one Australian ever in Afghanistan. And I call this man as I'm dangerously driving and texting all the way up to DC to fly to Afghanistan. That's what my first attempt to go. I'm like, hey, sir, remember me? I'm at MARSOC. I'm working volunteering to vet all these groups.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Do you know anybody running the Australian response to the Kabul evacuation? And he goes, oh, my brother is running the Australian Army's response in Doha. Here's his number. And so I then called Australia. I called Doha while dangerously driving to D.C. And they're like, we have bad comms right now. We can't reach them. We'll send an email.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And I've got like 14 people in a ditch of water at two in the morning outside Abbey Gate. And they got like a two month old and like a 60 year old, like in a range of people here. And they're Hazaras. They're Shia Muslims. They're both ethnically and religiously persecuted by the Taliban. And the matriarch of the family is an advocate for women's rights. Like they're dead. They're dead.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
They're so dead. And so I'm like. you see any Americans around? And cause we were using like a signal on a phone, right? Like, like everybody else was doing. And my guy wasn't at the gate at that time and he wasn't able to get the Marines. So, so she hands the phone to American and I heard this female voice like, hello, like super weirded out. And I'm like, Hey, my name's major mass.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
I've been vetting these people. They have Australian visas. Are there any Australians? And she's like, sir, the Australians aren't doing 24 hour ops right now. They don't come on until six and it's two in the morning. And I'm like, I was like, she goes, what do you want me to do? It's like, I want you to pull these people in and sit them down and wait for Australians. Come.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
So she hands me off to a captain. I do the same spiel. And this is what he says to me. He's like, sir, he goes, I'm looking at 15,000 people and I'm playing God on who gets out. So what do you want me to do? And, um, I was like, I want you to pull these people in and sit them down and wait for Australians to come because would it be awful if these people die when they have visas to Australia?
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And, um, we were in the air to Ramstein when Abbey gate happened. And, you know, in the moment, you have so many groups you're working and we would name them very like 14 pack packs or passengers, 14 packs and the gate. I was like, what gate was that? You know, cause I talked to that girl, she was a Marine and, um,
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
You know, I'll never forget sitting in the USO, watching them pull all the bodies off the plane at Ramstein, because they were taking them to launch all the wounded, and wondering, like, did that girl that just helped these people die doing that?
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
I would love to.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Absolutely. I talked to my... I guess friends that I'd worked with in the past that were, uh, the SJs on the ground there. And like, he's telling me things like you would not believe what we just went through. I'm a major in the Marine Corps. I'm a judge advocate. And I just cleared an airport and ran concertina wire around it. And we're probably in a gate overrun again. Things are not going well.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And like, uh, just what they went, he said is the worst thing he'd seen in five deployments in the GY.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
No, so this is what they tell me. He's held for about 24 hours, and then a Border Patrol agent says, hey, man, this is a really bad dude, but he brought your daughter to the U.S. Forces, and your organization got him out of Afghanistan, so we let him through. And I'm like, whoa, no. That's when I reported it up the chain.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And my command was like, get your daughter and get back here, because I've been gone for like a week working. So that's what we did. We just did what we were told. And we were, I guess...
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Like, yeah, almost three and a half years going on.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
So I think that, first of all, we have some restrictions on commenting on the state court cases. So I can't answer all the questions relating to that. Here's what I want to know.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
So I'm nervous about getting into too much with it. Don't say anything you're not supposed to. But I guess what would be important for folks to know is if someone, you're an adoptive parent, if someone came along and said, we're related to you and we're going to sue you to get them back, what's the first thing you'd ask them? DNA. DNA. That's the first thing we did.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And then kind of hemmed and hawed and the story changed about how they were biologically related to them. And that just kind of backed them into a corner of this is a lie. And so I honestly think that big picture, these people don't have authority over her. If she went back to their custody, It's really it's we're talking Jane and John. Yes, they don't have legal authority.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
They told the FBI that we finally got their statements where they said, oh, her two uncles are the authority for her life. I don't have the authority to let her go to America. And but we have now and I'm going to focus on the government's actions. This we have the Department of Justice filing parroting what these mega law firms have been representing them saying.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
based on information they have that is directly contradictory to what the DOJ has filed in court. So to the FBI, they said, we're not in charge. But the DOJ is filing saying they are. How is that possible? How do you have statements that you haven't disclosed to the courts in the United States? Is it true it's Hunter Biden's law office?
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
I believe one of the firms, there's been several law firms that have represented it. I believe it was the same one that represented the president's son.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Right.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Yes. So next next week we have oral argument in front of the Virginia Supreme Court and they make a decision. But, you know, our biggest concern is that there has been a successful effort from the very same bureaucrats that tried to shut us down in 2019 about telling the truth. I mean, essentially, looking back, we were whistleblowers like this is. like not in accordance with everything we know.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And we were right. And I think they're very concerned about that getting out. And that's why I've had my military orders change about what we can talk about. We've experienced like over classification of information, like clearly unclassified documents marked secret, no foreign. We've had federal agencies telling us what we can and can't talk about.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And honestly, absolute abuse of power to shut down the evidence that
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
So I would say that we're hopeful that that'll be the case. But there's so much they're correcting that was just, broken in our system before. For us, it's an issue of priority. I think that if an objective person looked like, I guess, let me caveat with one more thing. We went through a board of inquiry and you said you can't fight the government. That's true.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Unless you have a little bit of due process, then they have to give you stuff and it's harder to hide things. And so they ran our family through a recycled allegations, exactly what these mega law firms, we defeated them in court, proof were false. And so we went through that process and it was brutal, but you know what happened? They had to give you the evidence.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And so now it's consolidated in one place and there's classified, all of the classified information that I had on deployment is now in one place. And in all of the unclassified, we had 14 gigabytes of data that we never had before. And so like, although that was a brutal process, that was one way you can fight.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Well, we've explained it as a Taliban Elaine Gonzalez situation.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Yeah, these are not relatives. They probably knew they weren't from day one. They were probably sent forward by the Taliban shadow governor to collect her from the Americans. And so they can't go back without her. Like this guy's told me personally, like, yeah, we want to go back. Like everyone wants to come to America for the money, but everybody loves home. I don't judge people for that.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
But this is really the Taliban is going to decide her future. Like this guy, his entire family is under their sway. If he says, if they're like, hey, I'm going to kill your family if you don't come back with a little girl. They put us, the Taliban denounced us on their social media. They've called you out by name. Yeah. We've had the state. They called you guys out by name. Yes.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Yeah, on their website, little talking head saying, you should make a T-shirt. Absolutely. My buddies were like, how'd you do that? I've been trying to get that for years. It was kind of a joke. But but what's more concerning is the State Department has filed affidavits against our family, basically insinuating the Taliban has asked them to do this.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Like the Taliban doesn't like this and it's hard to negotiate with them. Like, I'm really sorry that my child is inconvenient for you negotiating with the terrorist organization that you're funding. But like, I don't care. Like, get out of here. What U.S. agency files to void someone's parental rights because the Taliban asked them to?
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And then I get the whole like, oh, well, we're asking you not to talk about this. Right. Sure. I'm not going to talk about this. Like the American people should read some of these affidavits.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Her brothers are her brothers.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And I want to add one thing. In this process, these mega firms don't care who gets hurt, right? It's winning at all costs. And they have gotten a letter writing campaign going, not just to make a firm, some other related organizations that support that type of thing, but they wrote over 7,000 letters to Congress.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And in this, they're talking about supporting their narrative, holding major mass accountable, and it's insinuating that our Rangers who like bled, doing what we tasked them to do to go rid the world of these terrorists. They're calling them war criminals and they killed an innocent farmer. And honestly, that just burns, you can say many things.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Right. Not, no, these, these, these Rangers came and testified in open, like in a public proceeding. Right. It was, it was sealed from as far as like, it's a public record now. So it's a matter of record. And then that was all placed into our board of inquiry. And so that is a public record available for FOIA and privacy act. So like now you can go read their 200 page testimony before.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
That was hidden, so you couldn't defend. Correct. And so what we want is, we think these guys, they're under nondisclosure agreements because of the unit they're serving in. So when you can't, when your guys can't defend their own actions, who should do that? Well, I think it should be the SECDAF. I think they should come out and release everything.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
If these folks want to attack our veterans and say that they committed war crimes, and we have video of them engaging in hand-to-hand combat and grenades and shooting people at point-blank range and having guys wounded and pulled off on stretchers off the objective, paralyzed, release that stuff and defend these men. They should be at the White House getting awards, not getting called...
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
what um tell me that scenario what happened sure so um i was deployed in 2019 in afghanistan i was attached at operational headquarters of the four star in overall command of both u.s and nato forces and so i i will never forget i was walking to dinner one night with our staff my colonel was a senior uh staff judge advocate phenomenal leader really appreciated my time under him
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
war criminals by lesser men than themselves.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
We have hope. There's a lot of folks, when they actually hear the truth, that have jumped on and tried to get it to decision makers. We're hoping that her life again is prioritized by the administration. They did it the first time. And honestly, the only reason she didn't come back.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
It really is. And what it's become is bureaucrats will say whatever the law, they'll say that the law is whatever they want it to be for that particular instance to get whatever outcome they want. And it doesn't matter if it's true or just or right. And, you know, and that's really hard for someone who like, I really mean it when I swear an oath to uphold the constitution of the United States.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
As a prosecutor, I would not even dream of prosecuting someone that wasn't, I didn't believe violated the law. And then you would try to pursue an appropriate punishment for that. Like I, I was a government hack. And seeing that system weaponized and abused the way we've gotten to do that firsthand, it's been incredible.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
But on the flip side, it's so encouraging to see progress in those departments. And I think the louder people squeal in resistance to that progress, you're probably on target.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Yeah, and there's a lot of fallacies with that. First of all, they're not her Afghan family, and they never were, and they probably knew that from day one. Like, that's the unfortunate reality, and I don't know what their why is, but... It's just not true. So what do you want me to do with that?
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
When this guy flags on the watch list and we're legally obligated to take care of our child and told him that from day one, what do you want me to do? What would you do? If you're like, oh, this guy flagged after all of that concept context, you would immediately exercise what care for her, which is what we did. And that was the plan the entire time.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
In fact, what I think was most telling was every single person who had firsthand knowledge of this,
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Yeah, and the ranger who recovered her off the battlefield, he said something that struck me. He said, they asked him, why do you remember that night? And he said, it's because it's the first time I could put a face to evil. And he was talking about her biological mother. We're talking about 20 years of war, you know, pretty much culminating in the evacuation of Afghanistan, right?
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And to tell you how encouraging it is to them, it's like their why. Like, I helped that person. And when they found out that she's safe and home in America, they were over the moon.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
But he said, he said, what the heck are we going to do with this baby? Walk into dinner. And what baby, sir? And he said, oh, the operators had knocked over an Al-Qaeda facility last night, and there was only one survivor. It was a baby. And we didn't know if it was boy or girl or much details about it, but it sounded like it was bad.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Well, we appreciate your prayers, first of all, because, you know, she's been preserved time and time again. So we're confident seeing that that providential hand, that that will continue to be the case. you can advocate, call your congressman, call the White House, ask the president to change U.S. policy.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Because really, all we need is the truth to come out and lift your thumb off the scale there, Department of Justice. What policy needs to change? So the United States, air quotes, some bureaucrat in the DOJ, has filed parroting these claims. And so I really think they need some adult supervision and to go pull this class. Have you talked to Pam Bondi? Not directly.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
We have had a whistleblower complaint formally routed. We routed it to the president via Congress. And we've had several congressmen sign on to that and send it to the SECDEF, SEC state, and the AG's office. And my understanding is the Department of Justice has reached out to state and DOD and asked them if they want to continue to stand beside the Biden administration's attack on our adoption.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Because they're basically the lawyer for the other federal agencies. So they're like, hey, you guys want to keep doing this? And so we would ask in the name of justice and all that's good and right to stop lying. for these mega law firms and release everything. We've asked that. I asked them to declassify all of this three years ago.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
I've asked repeatedly and just gotten shut down, denied, like witnesses denied, documents denied, like nothing. Like it's, it's, they want you to in the dark and gagged as they're beating you. And, um, All I need is the truth to come out. That's all she needs. But really, it's not, like Steffi said, it's not about us. She's not chattel. It's not between us and them.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
It's what is in the best interest of this real five and a half little girl that went through so many terrible things. She deserves what's in her best interest. And what the previous administration's DOJ has done is tried to preempt even considering that question. And I can tell you as a fact, there's like 8% of the information available to the courts to make this decision.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And so I really think the United States owes a duty of candor to the courts of the United States, and they need to release all of this. You can't You can't omit key facts, critical evidence, and pretend like this is justice for this little girl.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And so your gut reaction and the reaction of folks from the rangers on the ground to medical staff to us was like, well, what can we do? You immediately volunteer. How do we make sure a safe outcome for this child? And it kind of developed from there. And we learned more about it over time.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And now we have like eyewitness testimony and declassified information from the most sophisticated unit in Afghanistan at that time in a 19 year, you know, developed theater with with I guess, a significant amount of intelligence about exactly who was there, exactly what were they doing, and where they were from. Okay, but the actual mission that night has been classified, right?
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
So a portion of it has been declassified, and two eyewitnesses have testified... That they were there and they saw... They were there and saw and recovered her.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
mom and dad dying? Well, I guess I should probably just give you an overview of the mission. Okay. So it was 6 September 2019 in the period of darkness between the 5th and the 6th at night. That's when they own the night. So it was a Ranger Regiment mission, which was one of our most sophisticated units in Afghanistan at that time.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And so they infiltrate to an area where there's a known Al-Qaeda compound, and they're trying to capture or kill three Al-Qaeda leaders. And they also had another series of compounds nearby that had more fighters in them.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And so they had two platoon-sized elements of Rangers in the cover of darkness, basically sneaking up on these compounds, surrounding them, and then issuing a demand to surrender or die. And they were briefed. And what happened exactly as they were briefed, they expected them to fight to the death.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And that's exactly what happened in brutal close combat over an hour and a half where they sustained multiple U.S. casualties. Two guys partially paralyzed, almost a dozen, I believe, rangers wounded. And then a dozen of the Afghan partner force were also wounded in a very kinetic engagement.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
So a little bit of both. So the multi-purpose canine handler, or dog handler is how we colloquially refer to them, he described when they initially breached the structure, seeing a man holding a little baby, which we believe was her, and having an AK-47 and firing at them, engaging them. And then that weapon jammed. And so the man disappeared. The baby was no longer with him.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And a grenade rolled out. So he says he had a distinct memory of looking down and seeing this grenade. And as he described it, it was like a homemade explosive. And so he says, I covered my dog.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
I yelled grenade because there was Ranger stacked up on the breach and he said even though I was the closest one somehow I didn't get hit and his several of his buddies did got fragmentation wounds and So they had to they were forced to with knowing there's a child in there throw grenades back in In exchange there was an exchange of grenades at close range and they had sympathetic detonations of other explosives going off from the grenades I threw into the room and
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And from there, they did a series of what they call barricaded shooters. So it is a suicidal terrorist who will barricade themselves in with the presence of their family in a room and engage whoever's coming in that room and not surrender no matter what. They will even blow up their families rather than surrender.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And that's exactly what they experienced in room after room after room through this relatively small leadership compound. And so you asked, where did she recover? So as they culminate and they get to one of the last rooms in this structure, they had run out of breaching explosives. And so they used what's called a Carl Gustav or a goose gun, which is a bazooka for lack of a better descriptor.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And they used that to blow a hole in the final room to clear it of the remaining terrorists. And that blast killed that original, what we believe was the biological father. And the ranger testified under oath that he observed what ended up being her biological mother
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
run out of that hole that they created screaming at him as he's like obliquing around a corner covering whoever's going to come out and exploded a a suicide device about 15 feet from him so that was so on her she blew herself up correct and she was holding sparrow so he didn't realize that at the time so as an american we treat you know friendly enemy we treat wounded
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And so she was incapacitated. He dragged her behind a berm, checked her medically, noticed that she had the signs of recently giving birth. And he's kind of looking around with his night vision and saw her moving out of the corner of his eye. And so she was about six weeks old.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
she suffered a fractured skull a fractured left femur so bad they had to put a rod in to put it back together and second degree burns on her face and neck from from the carl gustav round or the mom's vest cooking off you know it's it's hard to say with that many kinetic events happening around her what exactly caused it but i mean we're talking six inches and she's you know six inches higher and and she's she's in vital areas and an inch an inch deeper into her skull and she's she's she's dead and um
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
what was more remarkable is there's an afghan partner force there and they were engaged in clearing that room that they just breached and uh they had they sustained a casualty and um were very angry about that and so they wanted they they literally came to our our rangers and like let a shooter in the head like just maybe the baby like let's just throw in the creek
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And so they didn't want her to grow up to be a foreign terrorist in their country because they're engaged in a brutal civil war at that point with a lot of foreign terrorists. And these are the cultural experts. It's their culture. Who knows better than them? And so our guys physically resisted murdering our little girl now on objective.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
And like, honestly, the moral courage while you have your own guys bleeding and you're in a kinetic firefight, they still have that instinct as an American soldier to protect innocent life. I mean, I'm humbled.
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
So we've gotten to meet a bunch of phenomenal Americans at every level of government over the last five years in this. And one of them was the...
The Glenn Beck Program
Ep 246 | EMERGENCY PODCAST: Save ‘Baby Sparrow’ from the Taliban | The Glenn Beck Podcast
he was what's called a civil affairs officer for the special operations task force afghanistan and and i had some of those same questions as i'm kind of researching this and we didn't know all this at the time but over time we've learned and um he had asked the same question well how do you safely you know advertise in an area controlled by al-qaeda or hakani network in afghanistan how do you safely advertise that you've recovered a child and then we had a lot of reports of